FASHION
Sarah Walker.
and having looked at pictures of the city I already had many of the colours in my
head, she says. After a couple of days I developed an idea to make an installation
within the gallery.
The busy arts centre was a far cry from her usually more tranquil work space.
I was looking to do something challenging and out of the norm but it wasnt
easy, admits Walker. The space where I was working was quite tight as I was in
the exhibition centre and there was a summer school with lots of people walking
around. Im used to working in a very calm setting, so that was difficult at times.
Creating a piece of art that represented her new base in Valparaiso was also a
fresh and fascinating challenge for the softly spoken artist, who is known for her
sensitive use of line and colour in her depictions of the trees, wild grasses and
flowers of the Beara Peninsula. She worked with gouache an opaque waterbased paint on paper and introduced tearing, layering and the application
of vertical bands of masking tape. The technique echoes the vertical lines and
colours of the bustling trade port the corrugated facades and painted surfaces
of a city that is in a permanent state of revision and improvised repair.
The final installation was a departure from the soft landscapes and the trees
and fauna of her beloved west Cork. Her love of trees, however, found their way
into this new artwork as Walker used torn, layered paper to reflect the many huge
Gomero trees that impressed her as she wandered through the city.
Once I started working on the installation I liked how it was coming together,
she says. I set myself a mammoth task for my limited time there and had to work
really hard to finish the installation on time. She kept returning to the local art
shop to buy more gouache, paper and masking tape. They were so confused
about what I was doing! she jokes. Luckily it was really well received and locals
from Valparaiso including the shop owners came for the opening and got the
idea, which was very satisfying.
24 October 2026
Back home in West Cork, Walker returned to work at her delightful waterside
studio and gallery, where she displays her work and hosts exhibitions of local and
visiting artists. In her free time she can often be found out at sea with Kieran,
her husband, fishing for shrimp and helping to manage his oyster beds and
mussel farm. Walker, who moved to Beara in 1991 to fill a temporary role as an
art teacher and ended up staying, also runs Bohar Bui in Cleandra, her parents
unique holiday home. Designed by her architect father Robin Walker, its an
extraordinary place that is highly popular as an artists retreat and holiday let.
But thoughts of her Valparaiso adventure were never far away. Sitting in the
quiet of her home, a distinctive blue-painted house where she raised her three
sons who are now grown up with sweeping views across the Atlantic, she
began to wonder how she could repurpose the installation for her forthcoming
exhibition at the Oliver Sears Gallery in Dublin. The concept the colours, the
vertical stripes, the subject matter were all ready and waiting. Luckily, all her
hard work had not been lost as she had carefully taken apart the installation,
which was created from A4 pieces of paper, and put them in Kierans suitcase
when he came to visit her in Valparaiso.
Once I was back in the studio I started to recycle the whole installation into
framed works that I could exhibit, explains Walker, who created 20 pieces for
the exhibition nine Wear & Tear pieces, three exhibits of trees made from torn
paper on paper and eight canvases. Oliver curated a wall of the Wear and Tear
and Resilience pieces, which was my second round of the Valparaiso pieces,
and also two walls of oil on canvas paintings representing the brightly painted
corrugation on most of the buildings in the city, especially those in the hills.
There was another wall of the tree pieces made in the same way, so torn painted
paper on paper.
She was working on the new pieces the day Justine Fairgrieve strolled in and
spotted the work. And it has opened a new world for Walkers art and creativity.
Justine said she thought it would make a beautiful print and so they scanned
it and made the fabric print from it, says Walker. She also asked me to paint
some of the pieces from the collection and to paint onto pieces of clothing. That
was such a different experience for me. The result is a limited capsule as part of
Noon by Noors spring collection, where Walkers art has been translated into silk
satin and georgette prints on dresses, scarves and tailoring. Working with Sarah
brought another creative voice into the collection. It was about translating her
art its layers, gestures and imperfections into pieces that come alive through
movement, explains co-founder and designer Shaikha Haya Al Khalifa.
Looking to the future Sarah is unsure where the fashion collaboration will lead
but for now its a really exciting project that has taken her to Valparaiso and on
to Athens for a photoshoot and London for the launch. Its quite the change for
the artist whose greatest love is being in the quiet of her studio creating her work.
Next up is a residency in the Tyrone Guthrie centre, where she will make time for
some much needed reflection. Ive been so busy over the last year working on
various exhibitions of my own and other peoples work in the gallery that I need
some time out to think about the next step.
THE IRISH TIMES OCTOBER 2026 20 years of thE GLOSS d e l l e e w B Je M www.th egloss.ie e d o h n r l r i e m o o st o tr s a e e r u
CONTENTS the gloss E D I TO R JE NNIFE R STE V E NS D EP UT Y ED ITOR S Í O MHA CO NNO LLY MASHA MEL STYLE E D I TO R AISLINN CO FFE Y B EAUT Y ED ITOR SARAH HALLIW E LL CO N T R I B U TI N G E D I TO R PE NNY MC CO RMICK A R T D IR EC TOR PATRICIA C MAR INHO D IGITA L ED ITOR RACHE L HE AL
THE FIRST WORD The Edit restaurants, books, trends, culture ROGER VIVIER AW27 PHOTOGRAPHED BY FRANCESCO BRIGIDA This Month Tim Walker: Fairyland Annie Mac at Guinness Jazz Onóra, Capel Street Animals at the Abbey Theatre T For music lovers, Annie Mac returns to Cork this his month we are
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FASHION Sarah Walker. and having looked at pictures of the city I already had many of the colours in my head, she says. After a couple of days I developed an idea to make an installation within the gallery. The busy arts centre was a far cry from her usually more tranquil work space. I was looking
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