ABOUT EILEEN
In her home studio, she has been creating art made from everyday objects, animating them in unusual ways. She enjoys upcycling things that others might discard into art.
Her sculptures have been exhibited at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, the Kingston Design Showhouse and in the 2022 exhibition “Shelter” curated by Melinda Stickney-Gibson for the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild. In 2021, Eileen was the recipient of the Robert Angeloch Printmaking Award from the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum.
The Ladder and the Dress
With a breeze of delight, a new beginning.
With the ease of a pencil across paper and its trust in the moment,
She brings the joy her mother invoked as she aged into her wisdom.
Her command touched something unspoken, something ancient,
Something eternal, enduring.
The mists of Inverness, the winds of Stromness, the old world of Dungarvan,
These linger about the pictures, the objects, the fruit of the long-awaited adventure,
Their playful, contemporary alure belying their Celtic-Viking spirits
In a dance of impetuous celebration.
Yes, celebration! The ladder, the stairway to heaven, the classic signifier
Of elevated liberation. The dress, a surrogate of the feminine,
At once divine and quotidian, both Saint and girl-next-door.
Like her they manifest at the gate she walks through,
At the pencil on paper, the paint on canvas, the torn and the tender,
They manifest
When she trusts the moment.
June 17th, 2022
Stephen Derrickson (1952-2023)