Passional
Passional
Sarah Lewtas
Is i St. Martins i Londain a bhain an t-ealaíontóir Sarah Lewtas a céim B.A. amach le hónóracha. Tá sí ina cónaí i nDún Lúiche le corradh agus fiche bliain, ag tógáil clainne, ag cruthú garraí orgánach agus ag gabháil den ealaín. Is iomaí cearn den domhan atá siúlta aici, ó Nicearagua go dtí an An India. Thaispeáin sí a cuid saothair ar fud fad na contae agus níos faide ar shiúl. Tá Sarah ina bailitheoir, i gcónaí ag cur rudaí i dtaisce; cruinníonn sí cnámha, píosaí adhmaid, seilidí agus go leor rudai eile, go minic ar feadh tréimhsí fada. Sa deireadh, déanann sí na cnuasaigh seo a fhigh le chéile mar shaothar ealaíne a chuireann siombalachas nó meafaracht in iúl. Tá tráthúlacht agus sioncroineacht le tabhairt faoi deara fá chleachtas ealaíne Sarah. Thig lena cuid foinsí a bheith aisteach go leor - damháin alla, seilidí, ronnaigh agus a leithéidí - ach is ealaíonta deismir a athraíonn agus a athchóiríonn sí iad sa dóigh is go gcuireann siad samhlú nua agus léirmhíniú úr ar fáil.
Tá dearcadh uilíoch ag Sarah: níl na nithe a ndéanann sí taiscéaladh orthu sonrach do chultúr faoi leith ar bith, tá siad mar a gcéanna dúinn uilig. Is ionann “Passional” agus taispeántas a chuireann síos ar an ghrá, na buaicleibhéil gur féidir lenár mianta a bhaint amach, déine agus laigeacht na staide seo. Deir sí féin “leanann an saothar seo téama a bhfuil baint aige le spreagadh agus cíocras an duine agus an neamhsheasmhacht nádúrtha atá ag na staideanna sin". Tá sé ráite faoina cuid saothair gur ionann é agus "íomhaíneacht ar an bhfochomhfhios"; cuireann Sarah ar ár gcumas teagmháil a dhéanamh le coincheapanna teibí nó fiú smaointe atá ceilte orainn. Déanann sí seo go himfhiosach ach fosta go hanailíseach, mar shampla, tá beatha iomlán an duamháin alla thar a bheith mothálach as siocair nach bhuil an dara suí sa bhuaile aige ach leanstan leis ag giniúint fiú amháin go dtí go dtabharfaidh sin a bhás. Maidir leis an tseilide, atá déghnéasach, ní fios dó cad é an rud éad ach is dócha go maireann sé de bhrí go nglactar leis go neamhchlaonta. Tá na leideanna scaipthe fríd an tsaothar go léir. Is cinnte gur taispeántas é seo atá cleasach agus coimhthíoch.
Úna Campbell
Passional
Sarah Lewtas
Sarah Lewtas originally obtained her B.A. Hons degree at St. Martins, London. She has lived in Dunlewey for over twenty years, raising her family, creating an organic garden and making art. Sarah has also travelled far and wide from Nicaragua to India. She has exhibited extensively throughout the county and beyond. Sarah is a collector or indeed a hoarder; she gathers things, bones, wood, snails etc. sometimes over a long period of time. These gatherings finally culminate to speak symbolically or metaphorically as a piece of art. There is an aptness and synchronicity running through Sarah’s artistic practice. Her sources can be quite strange, spiders, snails, mackerel and the like, but her artistry is in reassigning and replacing them so that they make a new representation and a fresh interpretation.
Sarah has a universal perspective: the issues she explores are not culturally specific they are particular to us all. “Passional” is an exhibition that comments on love, the levels to which our passions can reach, the intensity and fragility of this state. She says herself “this work revolves around the theme of arousal and desire, and the inherent instability of these states“. Her work has been spoken of as “imaging the subconscious”; Sarah makes tangible for us abstract concepts or indeed buried ideas. She does this intuitively but also analytically, for instance a spider’s whole life is highly sensitised as it is absolutely driven to reproduce even to the point of self- destruction. A snail, a hermaphrodite, knows no jealousy but exists perhaps on impartial acceptance. The clues are littered throughout the work, it is an intriguing and curious exhibition.