On Friday we braved the wind and the rain and the floods to drive down to Portaferry (though truth be told - there wasn't much in the way of flooding [the local radio stations should check the accuracy of their information more often]) to attend the one man show of local artist John McSorley being held at the artzyard gallery, owned and run by Zoë Mageean.
Despite the weather, there was quite a good turnout and all present were very impressed by John's work.
John is not a newcomer to the scene, he was born in Lisburn in 1948 and has been painting since childhood, with his first one man show being held in Belfast in 1971. He moved to live near Strangford Lough almost 20 years ago and has been depicting the many moods of the are ever since. He has also made numerous trips abroad and his paintings of cities, such as Venice and Paris, are depicted in a similar vein. Preferring to capture the effects of dawn, dusk, moonlight and starlight.
The artzyard is a new gallery, launched in May 2007 with a spring exhibition put together to reflect the rich diversity and talent of artists from the Strangford Lough area, as well as those from other parts of Ireland, from Belfast to Cork.The gallery will hold four large group exhibitions a year – spring, summer, autumn and winter – with smaller group and one person shows running in between.
