Turning to art in times of trouble

Economists are rarely short of theories on how we should find our way out of the country"s current malise. Professional artist Marguerite Dolan has her own views on how people can escape the torrent of gloomy economic news - by painting pictures. 'I suppose, more than ever, people need to de-stress, and painting or attending an art class forces people to totally switch off and become immersed in it. It is a break from the doom and gloom of reality. All the problems of the world can be resolved around the table and there can be great fun,' she said from her home in south Meath, where she also works. Art classes For just over seven years, Dolan has run her own business painting and holding art classes from her Batterstown base, teaching eager students how to turn ideas into art. Between her business and her role as a mother of four, she could probably tell the financial gurus a thing our two about how to run an economy. Conducting your own business, she has learned, requires plenty of dedication, discipline and the willingness to put in the long hours. Many of the pictures she paints are of animals, hunting scenes or snapshots from the countryside around her. So far, the recession hasn"t darkened her door and she hopes it won"t. She has become even more convinced about how art is a perfect antidote to the credit crunch and all that goes with it. 'My numbers haven"t gone down since the start of the recession because I think people really need that switch off, they need to paint or play music or something. I know it has to affect everybody sometime, somehow.' As a teacher, she is constantly amazed at the amount of talent there is in people just waiting to be discovered. She has combined teaching with her painting, well aware of just how difficult it can be to make a living solely as an artist. 'What I find from teaching art is I get great pleasure from it because I find people who have never painted before and when they come to the art class they say 'Oh I don"t know if I will be able to do that or not". I would advise them to paint something they would like and once they are shown how, it is like turning on a tap. They can"t believe they can do it. They discover this hidden talent. There"s so much of it out there and it"s the same with music and other arts. I"ve students from 20 to 80.' To underline her point, Dolan points to a local fundraising event she attended recently to raise finance for the Blackhall Gaels ladies" football team. Her daughter, Jane, plays for the side and is also a regular on the Meath football and camogie teams. 'They held an American Tea Party to raise funds and I just couldn"t get over the amount of local talent, singers, comedians, it was mind-blowing, there"s so much talent out there when it is tapped properly.' Originally from Batterstown, Marguerite Dolan attended art college in Limerick soon after leaving school. However, life was to lead her down another path. She became a lab technican to earn an income while painting all the time. Inevitably, she was drawn back into the art world - and it was where she felt most comfortable. Flowers 'I never painted commercially until a local ICA branch asked me to do a demonstration in flower arranging. I used to do flower arranging up in Dunboyne. They knew I was a painter and they asked me if I would give them an art class. Then I started to give a class in my kitchen, then a class in the golf club in Dunshaughlin,' she recalls. The teaching gradually developed and, with the help of a grant from the Meath Leader Programme, she commissioned local builder Val Ledwith to build a dedicated studio beside her house. There were quite a few obstacles to be overcome before her dream of building her own studio became reality. There were forms to fill out, projections, a business plan to put together but she knew that, with the studio, she would be able to hold her classes at home and earn an income from it. The studio cost €78,000 to build. She received a grant of just under €16,000 from Leader to help her along the way. That was almost seven years ago. Now she has people anxious to learn the mysteries of the art world attending her classes from as far away as Castleknock, Athboy, Navan, Trim and Maynooth. More recently, she has joined forces with Dunshaughlin artist and great friend Jacinta Eiffe Faherty who has a framing business. Both Dolan and Faherty have had work commissioned by private collectors and public organisations. 'With working in tandem, we do workshops and Jacinta would produce the frames and often people would go home with their picture framed,' she says. During term, Dolan conducts five weekly classes, three at night, two in the mornings while all the time working on her own individual projects. Recently, she took a group of aspiring artists to see some of the world"s great artworks in Italy. Art and business are two activities that form a strong strand throughout Marguerite Dolan"s family history. Her late brother, John Caffrey - known to his family and friends as simply 'Caf" - made an impact in both worlds. John, who was a sales director and one of the founders of Bailey"s Irish Cream, started painting commercially in the late 1990s, years ago after his wife passed away. John also became ill and one of his exhibitions raised over €60,000 for Dublin"s Mater Hospital. He also raised another big sum for Beaumont Hospital from an exhibition, which was opened by former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. Marketing 'Because John had a businessman"s attitude, which I wouldn"t have, he put huge prices on his paintings, and that"s where the marketing comes in. John got Bertie to open the exhibition in the Merrion Inn and he raised something like €45,000 for the hospital. John had been ill with cancer and he died shortly after that at 58.' John"s and Maguerite"s father, John Caffrey senior, grew up in a building where the modern Caffrey"s Pub is located in Batterstown before he moved to Limerick to become one of the first air traffic controllers at Shannon Airport. Maguerite was born in Limerick, but when her father offered her a site in Batterstown, she decided to move to the Royal County where she has remained ever since. Now she is playing her part to fight the recession and all that goes with it through the soothing effects of art. Do you have a positive story to tell arising out of the current recession? If so, email jimmy@meathchronicle.ie or telephone (046) 907 9619 and tell us about it.