James Manley SRUA
I was born in St. Helens in 1934 Although Art was not one of my subjects, it was as a trainee teacher at De la Salle College that I was introduced to painting and I loved it. We moved to County Down in 1970 where I found the mountains, the sea and the confidence to exhibit. My job as a teacher in residential Special Education left me with very little spare time. Whatever techniques I employed in painting had to produce instantaneous results. I took a while to arrive at a thoroughly mixed media incorporating water colour, acrylic, pastel and collage. It did the trick. Perhaps it was the spontaneity and pleasure of combining these elements manifested themselves in the finished work. Over the years they have won me several prestigious prizes. Now I am no longer pressed for time, my techniques have hardly changed. Neither have the themes. Interaction between landscape, humans and wildlife has been there from the beginning. Outsiders whether by accident or choice, man or beast, fugitive or fish struggling to cope in the wild have all found themselves the subjects of my works. I have exhibited solo and collectively throughout Ireland and the U.K. and my paintings are in many public and private collections. The most recent being the National Self Portrait Collection, Limerick. Among the awards were the Magonigal Prize, Oreachtas 1979, Patron’s Prize, Limerick EVA,1984 , Percy French Watercolour 1984 ,Landscape Prize ,RUA 1997, Elmwood Gallery Smallworks 1997, Painting Prize, IONTAS 1999. As artist–in residence I have enjoyed productive stays in Illinois, Bellorus ,Spain ,Croatia and Latvia. For further reading please refer to Irish Arts Review, Volume 27 ,No.3.