Art & Exhibits

Thursday, July 4 thru Sunday, July 7, 2024

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The Marblehead Festival of Arts 2024 exhibits and showcases artwork by artists residing, working, or affiliated with art associations in Essex County, Massachusetts, and invites guests to view pieces selected by expert judges in juried exhibits.

Founded in 1962, the Marblehead Festival of Arts has a rich history of producing a premier summer arts festival that has become a forum for artistic expression over its 50+ years of operation. The festival features art exhibits at six different venues: Abbot Hall, The old Town House, St. Michael’s Church, Old North Church, Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead, and King Hooper Mansion which is the home of the Marblehead Arts Association.

I have had 3 paintings accepted into the Marblehead Festival of Arts this year. In the Painting Exhibit at Abbot Hall — Emerald Woods; in the Senior Exhibit at the UU Church on Mugford St. –Charlie on the MTA; in the new International Exhibit at the UU too — Mathair Gach Duine (Gaelic: Mother of All)

The International Exhibit is juried and showcases original artwork, including crafts, digital art, drawing, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. The artwork is created by immigrants and first-generation to the United States representing their country of origin. I was honored to receive an award for Outstanding Work in the International Exhibit with my painting Mathaír Gach Duine (Irish Gaelic: Mother of All).

I gave this creation an Irish title to defy the unjust law that forbade Irish people to teach, learn, write, or speak Irish when my father was a boy in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I also signed it with my name spelled the Irish way, which was also not allowed: Silé Ó Farahaín.

The painting is done in acrylic on canvas and reflects my Irish-American heritage. The gold background, the spirals in the oceans, and the knots of the trees’ roots are a nod to the Celtic style of art in the Book of Kells. The trees, themselves, represent the fact that the ancient Irish worshipped trees. Ireland is a tiny land that has sent a huge percentage of its population everywhere around the world because of hardships in the country and also because of the daring spirit of its people. Those Irish emigrants made huge contributions to the world, and I am proud that I can carry on the customs of my father’s country.