Art works
Art Works
By George Callaghan
Published by Larkfield Press
ISBN 0-646-42985-X
George Callaghan is a consummate artist in many fields — painting, jewellery making and playing beautiful harps, sculptures of found industrial objects, highly individual figurines and furniture. He exhibits regularly in Tasmania and Ireland.
But given his beginnings in the harsh industrial landscape of Belfast, where he was expected to follow family tradition in the clamour of the shipyards, it could have been otherwise.
From there he took a career in advertising and when he came to Australia was appolnted at the ripe of old age of 25 as Art Director of Leo Burnett advertising agency in Sydney. He now lives in Hobart with his wife and family.
That’s a potted outline of a man who turns his talents from painting to jewellery to making beautiful harps, sculptures of found industrial objects, highly individual figurines and furniture. Musically gifted, he plays the guitar and is a singer, but has a particular love of the harp.
Today George Callaghan has regular exhibitions in Tasmania and Ireland of his charming, styised paintings, and can sometimes be seen at Hobart’s Salamanca Market playing one of the beautiful harps he has made.
This book is a series of reminiscences, poems and notes accompanying photographs of the sculptures he has assembled from the detritus of the modern world, some of his jewellery with its distinctive Celtic overtones and his delightful other worldly paintings of people or places.
Written, designed and photographed by the inimitable George Callaghan, as you might imagine. A small gem in itself, winner of the gold PICA in the category of books in the 2004 PICA Printing Awards and judged as the best printing entry overall to take out the major printing Platinum — also a tribute to the quality of this publication printed by Newprint, Huntingfield, Tasmania.
An award winner all round really. LV
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