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My name is Eamonn Dowdican. I was born in Terenure, Dublin in September 1959 and moved to Sligo in 1978, mainly to study art in the Art department at the Sligo Institute of Technology.

After a really enjoyable foundation year, working with talented lecturers such as John O’Leary, Seán Larkin and Nuala Moloney, I decided (for many reasons) to postpone my art studies and pursue other interests outside the world of art.

I became a salesman for a local tile company in 1980 and after that entered the very uncertain and competitive world of traditional signwriting, mural painting and house painting. I even spent time working with local ceramic tilers to subsidise my income.

As the years passed and on the advise and encouragement of a good friend, I began to paint again and experiment with different drawing and painting styles and develop new techniques of my own.

I started working in St Anne’s Youth Club, Sligo during 1997-99, mainly teaching children’s art classes. During my first children’s art exhibition I decided to start an adult art group with night classes at St Anne’s.

I held my first adult class at my Market yard apartment in Sligo on a Monday night in September 2004 with 6 people in attendance. This became 11 as a Tuesday class was started and a class for the Resourceful Women’s group in Cranmore brought 10 more to our new group.

The classes quickly extended to the Northside Centre Sligo as we began morning and afternoon classes there in 2007. We still hold two classes in the Centre every Thursday evening during the art term.

After years of renting various rooms in Mullaghmore and traveling to Riverstown Co Sligo, I opened my own art room in Grange in September 2013 next to my residence.

We held the first of six art exhibitions at the Hawk’s Well Theatre Sligo in June 2005 and have had exhibitions every year since at various venues such as the old schoolhouse in Mullaghmore, the Yeats Centre Sligo, my art room in Grange from 2014 to 17 and Grange Parochial in 2018 for the first time

Our exhibitions in 2020 and 2021 were postponed due to the Covid 19 restrictions. The 2020 and 2021 Online exhibitions were in aid of the Society of St Vincent de Paul in Grange Co Sligo.

We have traveled to Italy and Spain with several groups since 2010, painting in the beautiful Italian countryside and the mountains of Spain.

We’ve even twinned with Color Expo – an art group from St Pathus in France. We regularly travel to them, and they to us, to exhibit each other’s paintings.

We were their guests in April 2018 and they will be exhibiting their paintings at our next art exhibition in Grange.

At present we have art classes in Grange every day during term times

New beginners and painters at every level are welcome to join us either on term by term basis or at a Saturday afternoon visitor spot (when available)

We paint every day during term except Sundays.

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VOUCHERS AVAILABLE

Please ring or text (Eamonn) for more details at

085 233 7413

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