Clúdach: Cover

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The striking image on this issue's cover,NiallNaessans'sHouse at Lios na Caolbhaí, continues our presentation of the ways in which the Irish landscape has featured in the work of artists associated with the Graphic Studio Gallery of Dublin.

Niall Naessens was born in Dublin in 1961, and attended the National College of Art and Design. Upon graduation, he began his longtime involvement with the Graphic Studio Gallery by studying etching in the studio workshop for three years. After working in London for a time, Naessans returned to Ireland in 1991 to become artist-in-residence in the City Arts Centre, Dublin. He began his work as a professional print maker at the Graphic Studio Workshop in Dublin in the same year, and served as the workshop's director from 2001 to 2006.

House at Lios na Caolbhaí was shown at Graphic Studio Gallery in February, 2007, as one of a series of etchings that Naessans created after moving his studio to Brandon,West Kerry, in 2004.Measuring 29.5 x 29.5 cm, the crisp details of the print display the artist's shift in subject matter following his relocation, toward creating intimate renderings of his new surroundings. Emma Byrne, a designer with the O'Brien Press, said of this print that it is a "powerful and provocative image; it creates a strong and ambiguous tension, as if the house has some story to tell, of ghosts or dark events." Indeed, the way the field and sky play off one another can readily be compared to Van Gogh's turbulent late paintings.

We thank Niall Naessans for kind permission to present this image to the readers of New Hibernia Review, and also thank Catherine O'Riordain, gallery manager at Graphic Studio Gallery, for her generous assistance. A cornerstone of Dublin's contemporary art world, the gallery's stock includes etchings, lithographs, woodblocks, screenprints, monoprints and carborundum prints by more than 150 Irish and international artists. Its affiliated workshop, which is primarily a print studio, was established in 1961 to provide professional working facilities at an affordable cost to Ireland's leading print makers.