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Out and about in West Cork #167
The Southern Star's West Cork photo roundup includes the opening of the Members and Friends exhibition at Uillinn, with Majella presenting a 25-years award to Ann Davoren.
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Majella O’Neill Collins
An eminent Irish artist, lives and creates her art on the picturesque Sherkin Island, located just off the West Cork coast in Ireland.
Born in 1964, she began her artistic journey at the prestigious Limerick School of Art and Design. These formative years were pivotal in the development of Majella's unique style, providing a forum to delve into and experiment across a spectrum of artistic mediums, including painting, drawing, and sculpture. These years were not only formative in terms of her artistry but were also a time when she fostered deep, lifelong friendships that would influence her philosophical and activist perspectives.
Following her graduation, Majella dedicated years to traveling both nationally and internationally, refining her artistic techniques. This journey led her to discover and forge a lasting bond with oil paints, her preferred medium that remains central to her artwork. This connection underscores her identity as a modern Irish painter whose work continues to evolve.
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“The sea, you could paint it until you die because it changes all the time.”
Majella O’Neill Collins
In a fateful turn of events in the early 1990s, Majella found herself drawn back to Sherkin Island, her father's ancestral home. The allure of the island, steeped in a legacy of creativity celebrated by Irish artists, poets, and writers, ignited a profound inspiration in her. It was on Sherkin Island that she encountered an extraordinary level of creative expression, unmatched in her travels, solidifying her passionate engagement with the ocean and natural landscapes. Here, amidst this wellspring of inspiration, Majella met her husband Michael. Together, they started a family, creating a home rich in art, culture, and the rugged beauty of island life.
It is from here in her small studio on Sherkin Island that she began to build her profile, both nationally and internationally. Majella O’Neill Collins' artwork has found a home in numerous private and public collections across Ireland, Europe, the USA, and Australia. Most notably in the collections of actors George Clooney and Jeremy Irons. She has exhibited work in both solo and group shows from the Fuller Building New York, The Hunt Museum Limerick, Florelli Gallery Rome, Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre and the Yellow Door Baltimore. Her ability to encapsulate the serene and dynamic nature of her Irish homeland has positioned her as a central figure within the Irish art world.
Majella’s dedication to art extends beyond her own work, over the years she has championed many local and national artistic causes. Her activism focuses on the intertwined balance between creativity, culture and local community.
As a facilitator on the BA Visual Arts Degree Programme on Sherkin Island, Majella has been instrumental in its development, from its inception as a pilot programme in 1999 to its recognition as an Honours degree by Dublin Institute of Technology. In 2022 the program was advanced to include a Masters Degree in Art and Environment in conjunction with Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) Her contribution to Irish education reflects her dedication not only to her craft but to fostering future generations of Irish artists.
From the years 2003-2009 Majella was a chairwoman of the board of directors of the Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen. During her tenure she was a driving force in the development, funding and construction of the new purpose built art and exhibition facility which opened in 2015. This landmark building now serves as hub for creativity and expression servicing the south west of Ireland artistic community.
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Since the year 2000, Majella played a pivotal role in founding the acclaimed Cork University Hospital (CUH) Millennium Collection, now home to works by numerous leading Irish artists. The work can be viewed in the corridors and wards of the CUH and grows year on year. Her continued involvement with the CUH Arts Committee underscores her commitment to the arts community in Ireland.
Majella's work is a testament to her profound relationship with the island—a life enveloped by vast waters, governed by the capricious weather, and illuminated by an ever-shifting palette of light. Majella's paintings are a visual exploration of her experiences in this isolated, rural, and enchantingly beautiful part of Ireland. Her intuitive and experimental approach to painting reimagines the perception of her surroundings, allowing her art to echo the profound sense of belonging to the wild Irish landscape.
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Four decades on the island
“After a while, I don’t hear or see anything. I just get so engrossed in what I’m doing that three or four hours could pass.”
Majella, in her studio on Sherkin Island
Exhibition opening at West Cork Arts Centre, 2006. From the centre’s print archive.
Credit: UWCAC
Signing of the Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre construction contract with MMD Construction, 2013.
Credit: UWCAC
Members Exhibition opening at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, 2014, with a page recalling Skibb. ’86, the first exhibition at West Cork Arts Centre.
Credit: UWCAC
President Michael D. Higgins and Sabina Higgins at the official opening of Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, 11 June 2015.
Credit: UWCAC
Sherkin Island Development Board and BAVA graduation, Sherkin Island, 2025.
Credit: Emma Jervis
BA Visual Arts graduation ceremony with TU Dublin, 2025.
Credit: Emma Jervis
Selected exhibitions
2026: Members and Friends 2026, Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen
2026: Common Ground, Cahir Arts, Cahir
2024: Allegory of the MV Alta (solo), Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen
2024: Open Doors Open Minds, The Yellow Door, Baltimore, Co Cork
2019: Crossing, Cork Airport Terminal, Cork
2017: Artist Conversation Series, Hunt Museum, Limerick
Earlier shows include the Fuller Building, New York and Florelli Gallery, Rome.
Collections
Private and public collections across Ireland, Europe, the USA and Australia, including the collections of actors George Clooney and Jeremy Irons, and the Cork University Hospital Millennium Collection.
In the press
In Focus: Island Landscapes | Decentralised Integration
Visual Artists Ireland marks 25 years of the BA in Visual Art programme on Sherkin Island, with Majella, artist and course facilitator, on how the island shapes its students' work and resilience.
The artists of Sherkin Island off West Cork: 'You might not see anyone for a couple of weeks'
The Irish Times visits Sherkin Island's artists. Majella features as painter and facilitator of the island's visual art degree, shown in her studio among large canvases based on oil tankers.
Testimonials
"The infinite ocean and its stranded shipwrecks have long held a fascination for visual artists..."
“Core to her expression is the language of paint itself. Gradations of tone, virtual modelling with pigment, traces of gesture are all central to her articulation.”
“Majella makes paintings which try to make sense of what it means to live in this remote, rural and beautiful part of the world”
To ask about work currently available from the studio, or for exhibition and press enquiries, please get in touch.
