FAMILY and friends of late Alyn Fenn, a noted West Cork artist, are to launch a retrospective exhibition and a charity prints website to perpetuate her legacy.
Alyn was not just a talented painter, writer and poet based in Schull, she left an undeniable mark on her community.
Shannon Reeves, Alyn’s son, said the family wanted to celebrate the way their mother continually gave to her community through art and civic engagement.
The first of the two commemorative events will take place from 4pm to 6pm on Friday August 23rd with the launch of a new online prints store at www.alynfenn.org.
That will take place at The Satellite Centre in Schull, otherwise known as the Old Boys School, and it will be followed from 6pm until 8pm with the opening of a three-week retrospective exhibition of Alyn’s work at the Blue House Gallery at Main Street.
Some of Alyn’s paintings have been digitised and will become available for purchase as prints on the newly created site.
All profits from sale of the prints will be donated to Schull Community Care – a voluntary, charitable organisation with which Alyn was heavily involved until her death earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Alyn’s wide and diverse approach to visual art will be showcased in the exhibition, which will run until September 11th.
Organising the retrospective has been made possible by assembling Alyn’s work from private collections in West Cork and farther afield.
The exhibition will feature huge oils, intricate watercolours and expressive collages that are all a celebration of Alyn’s flair for colour, texture and form.
The retrospective is curated by Alyn’s dear friends, Karen Minihan and Julia Zagar, and it is being kindly hosted by her friends at the Blue House Gallery.
Mother to Shannon, Liam and Cian, and wife to Eugene, Alyn was a proud Schull resident and valued member of the community.
She studied art in America, earning a BFA honours degree from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and an MFA honours degree from the University of Delaware.
Carol retouches the paint on the fox.Throughout her varied career, she worked in arts administration, mural work, street theatre and teaching art in prisons in America.
Aside from her own creative work, Alyn was a keen member of Schull Drama Group as an actor, stage manager, and committee member.
She was also a participating artist and co-ordinator with Sult Scoil Mhuire in various projects in the early 2000s – the most notable of which was the street theatre performance of the Battle of Murahin.
Alyn worked with other artists, too, including Carol James. Together, they created the animal sculptures still adored by the children of Scoil Mhuire National School.
Among her life’s work, Alyn was a member of a committee that initiated the festival Art in Schull between 2001-2005.
She was also a producer and stage manager with the theatre production company PlayActing Theatre in their various productions since 2003.
Alyn served on the board of the West Cork Arts Centre from 2006 to 2007, and as secretary to the board from 2007 to 2015. And she contributed regularly to group and solo shows in the region and beyond.
Throughout it all, Alyn found time to serve her community through civic engagement, volunteering for many years at the Bantry Citizens Information Centre, as well as youth mentoring programmes.
But it was at the Schull Community Care Association, that Alyn was a regular fixture at community events, attending at the weekly Thursday gathering, as well working as a dedicated organiser and committee member.
It was perhaps her contribution to Schull Community Care – which provides essential services to the local community and remote areas, including Meals on Wheels, support for the elderly and family carers, and an ambitious community housing scheme – that endeared her to so many.
The sale of prints through the new website will allow Alyn to continue to contribute in a loving and sustaining way to the people within that association.
