Kultivate Arts

Saoirse reviews Burnsey’s Gallery:

Burnsey’s Gallery is the creation of Caelin O Báire set upon a rich multicolored bucolic lakeside mountain range. I arrived at her studio on one of her colorful entry points positioned with a great view of the gallery she built. Excellent lighting, expansive windows, detailed woodwork, this is a stop that immediately charmed me. I turn around before walking inside and I see a pleasant table under a apple tree in full blossom. Give Bruno a greeting, her German Shepard. To work with this VKC pet simply type in ‘Bruno Help’ and he will tell you all about it.

The art I found inside was personal, varied and diverse. The artist has been in world almost a year and this gallery displays her explorations as well as her personal growth. The artistic motif feels as if I am peering into the artist’s mind. There is a self portrait inside the front door off to the right. This portrait brings a realness to in world with her artistic garb and the offsetting lamp. There are no accidents in this portrait as it provides a deliberate open view of the artist herself. Periodically when I visited there would be a “Paint Me Easel” in the same spot, I recommend that you use it if offered.

The main room is spacious with the outside light coming in at all possible angles. There are plenty of comfortable places to sit in this gallery so I sat in the middle of this lovely room. There is a self portrait with smoothed down edges that models the owner and her dog, elemental and natural to view. It hangs here on the wall speaking to me with slight colors on the artist and on the pet saying ‘Judge her not’. I believe our artist has a tender heart in her work. Sliding my eyes down and to the right the mood shifts dramatically with a city image and two fantastical images that are unique to our world. Below the elemental self portrait I see the rich colors of sunrise on the city. On this wall, the images on the top row, including the natural self portrait, are starkly colored. The next row the colors are vivid and scenes are lively in a nice compliment.

One favorite of mine is ‘The Eternal Suspense’. This image displays figures dancing in water moving seemingly in a circular motion which is actually spherical. I see a repeat later in the gallery of the artist’s interest in spiral motion in image. Interesting string accents the dancers left back of image. Lighting is either sunrise or sunset with mild shadows. This pieces tells me that the artist saw these amazing dancers somewhere in world and focused in closely on something special to her. The focus rewards in this finished portrait.

I paid attention to the overall flow of the gallery as I walked through it, carefully considering the artist. The large room channels us through to a smaller room. In the connecting area, there is a ladder to the second level as well as an image using a closeup spiral in the dessert to convey spacial design and colors in the larger image. A breathtaking piece subtly in this walkway but a sleeping cat.

The smaller room is equally charming and has a guest book as well as a tip “weed”. I signed the guest book and watered the weed. The images here are each very individual to me. One has a soft and inviting bed in an unusual location indicating power that may be intended as subliminal to us. I really enjoy the image of a last stop gas station before the desert. The isolation speaks to the feelings of isolation and of last chances I have had myself. I feel most people have such feelings and will also appreciate a positive flavor to this same image that is comforting and is familiar. Sneaking up on a water lily I see a crane behind a rock. This image portrays soothing water with gentle color.

The upper level room she makes a foray into the surreal with a captivating center image of a wooden animal. Muted colors and experiments with lighting contrast the images within the image. The final image I see is a gayly lit ferris wheel in the fall. The image has a delicate light separating part of the image as fully lit and the other as shadowed. This delicate line is part of the structure of the piece. Outside of this room the artist left us a telescope to use to view the mountainside.

Returning to the main room, I walked out the back door up a stone walkway to Camp Caelin. A real visual treat with flowers, raised rooted trees rolling grassy landscape. There are three very individualized two-person camp sites around in a semicircle. Within the camp ground I found abandoned glasses atop a stack of books near an outdoor tub. The details will amaze you when you visit.

In the middle of this place is a circle of stones with one large one in the middle. Most have heard of the most famous of the Irish Stone circles, Stonehenge, and this is similar to many that have been restored in Ireland recently. The Irish stone circles were built from as far back in history as 3000 B.C. to as recent as 1500 B.C. and no one knows the exact purpose. There is a common thread with stone circles and the artist has captured that element. Facing the axial stone you will see either the rising or setting sun at one of the solstices or equinoxes. Many agree that these stone circles were used of religious or organizational purposes and perhaps astronomical as well. I have contacted the artist regarding a retreat for artists at this place in the future. I walked out to the lovely table under the apple tree and finished this article. What a wonderful day. Artfully Yours, Saoirse Heart