Samuel Walsh

He now lives and works in Clonlara, Co.

• Name — Samuel Walsh • Born — 17 September 1951 • Birthplace — Wimbledon, London, England • Occupation — Artist • Spouse — Ursula Brick • Parents — Thomas 'Tommy' Walsh and Margaret 'Gladys' Hanley • Children — 3

Walsh was born in Wimbledon, London on 17 September 1951, to Irish parents. His father, Thomas 'Tommy' Walsh, was originally from Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland and his mother Margaret 'Gladys' Walsh was originally from Limerick, Ireland. He spent his early years living near Wandsworth Common and was schooled in Spencer Park School (closed 1985). Walsh's family returned to Ireland, while he continued to live and study in London. He joined his family in Limerick, Ireland in 1968. Upon relocating to Limerick, he was educated at Villiers Secondary School where he sat the Irish Leaving Certificate (he was inducted into the Villiers School Roll of Honour in 2012). After completing secondary school, he studied at Limerick School of Art and Design, Limerick; Mary Immaculate College of Education, Limerick; and the National College of Art & Design, Dublin.

Walsh married Ursula Brick, a Senior Lecturer at the Limerick School of Art & Design in 1978 and they had three children. Ursula died after a short illness in 2023.

• Illustration — Ver XVIII (Fouquet) Acrylic/Oil/Canvas 50 × 50cm Samuel Walsh, 2014 • Illustration — Testa I Acrylic/Oil/Wood 40.5 × 40.5 cm Samuel Walsh, 2006 Walsh is closely associated with the beginnings of the Exhibition of Visual Art (EVA/EV+A/eva international), Limerick, Limerick. In 1987 he founded the National Collection of Contemporary Drawing which hangs in the Limerick City Gallery of Art. Walsh is represented in Ireland by the Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin where he held his first solo show (with that gallery) in 2014. Walsh has exhibited his work in group exhibitions throughout Europe, the US and Asia. He has been selected for all open submission exhibitions in Ireland, particularly the Royal Hibernian Academy RHA, Dublin annually since 1982 and EVA International, Limerick in the 1980s/90s. He first showed at the 246th Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 2014. Walsh's work has dealt with a variety of subject matter using an abstract visual language throughout his career: the Stations of The Cross ('Fourteen Points of Entry', 1991, now in the collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin); the encroachment of and into an individual's personal space ('Ambit' paintings, 2001–2002); his father's wartime experiences ('Airborne Drawings' 2002); interpretations of ancient classical art motifs ('Frieze' paintings and drawings 2006–2007). In November 2007 a major body of work by the artist based on 'The Divine Comedy' by Dante Alighieri opened at the Limerick City Gallery of Art. The 'Inferno' section travelled to CIAC, Pont-Aven, Brittany, France in May 2008 and was shown in its entirety again at Triskel@ESB: Caroline St., Cork in January 2010. He showed new paintings at VISUAL, Carlow in September 2011 entitled: 'The Coercion of Substance' that subsequently travelled to Drogheda, Co. Louth and Letterkenny, Co Donegal. He was included in 'From Edge to Edge: 100 Years of County Clare Art', in Glór, Ennis, Co Clare in 2016. Walsh has been selected for international artist residencies in Switzerland in 1990, France in 1995 & 2002, the US in 2009, Berlin, Germany in 2012, 2015 & 2018 and Madrid in 2016. Following an artist's residency in Berlin in 2018, Walsh began making drawings, studies and paintings based on 'The Odyssey' by Homer. The paintings in particular follow his continued approach of combining line and form in equal value. He has said that in his early art school training, he was encouraged to 'give [his] lines character'. In these 'Odyssey' paintings, the lines represent characters, so introducing in linear form the many participants in this famous piece of literature, all of which are identified through different colours. He continued to create a number of works based on Ancient Greek themes and characters. His work is in collections in Ireland including the National Gallery of Ireland, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Crawford Gallery, Cork; the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon; University College Dublin, University of Limerick, Trinity College, Dublin; Office of Public Works, Dublin; The National Self-Portrait Collection of Ireland, National Self-Portrait Collection, Limerick; University College, Cork; Leinster House, Dublin; County Collection, Ennis, County Clare; Dublin Dental School & Hospital, and in international collections in France, Croatia, Hungary, England & Switzerland.

Walsh is sometimes confused with the English artist of the same name who died in 1989. Despite the coincidence of Irish parentage, neither man ever met.

• Year — Exhibition — Location • 2007 — Frieze — RHA Ashford Gallery, Dublin • 2007 — The Divine Comedy — Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick • 2013 — The Seasons — The Drawing Project, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin • 2014, 2017, 2022 — The Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin • 2021 — Segments — SO Fine Art Editions, Dublin • 2021–2022 — More Segments — Normoyle Frawley, Limerick • 2022 — The Odyssey — RHA Gallager Gallery, Dublin. • 2023 — The Odyssey and Segment Drawings — Ballinglen Gallery, Ballycastle, Co Mayo • 2024 — The Divine Comedy — Bourn Vincent Gallery, University of Limerick

In 1997, Walsh was elected a member of Aosdána, a body administered through the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon to recognise outstanding contributions by individuals to the creative arts in Ireland. He is a Fellow of the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle, County Mayo. Walsh was awarded the Savills Art Prize at VUE Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) Gallagher Gallery, Dublin in 2017 for an artist over 65 who has had a major exhibition of their work in the previous year, and who has also made an outstanding contribution to the visual arts in Ireland.