About Liam Holden
where he now lives and works.I was born in the village of Inistioge on the river Nore in Co. Kilkenny. My first venture was to Dublin in 1981, with a scholarship to study at the National College of Art & Design. In 1984 I switched track and took up an apprenticeship with Roger Walker at Lagan Castle Pottery in my home county of Kilkenny. Success came quick when I won the Apprentice Ceramic Award later that year at Kilkenny Arts Week. I went onto study crafts at Grennan Mill Crafts School, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny for a further year.
Spreading my wings again in 1985 I moved to Dingle in Co. Kerry where I spent four summers fishing lobsters with the local poet Danny Sheehy. Through my adventures with Danny I developed a love of the sea that was to have a profound influence on my journey as a painter. Water remains my principal inspiration – horizons, islands, boats and coastlines all feature in the paintings. I work intuitively, applying paint in layers to create texture and depth of colour, and will revisit a work time and time again until I am satisfied with its emotional resonance.
My first solo show came directly from my personal experiences of fishing around the Blasket Islands off the Dingle Peninsula.
In 1994 I moved from Dingle to Tinahely in Co.Wicklow. In 2021 I returned to Dingle where I now live and work.
For the last ten years I have been involved in a project that started with the building of a naomhóg boat, a boat unique to the Peninsula. Subsequently this lead to a number of epic voyages on the sea culminating in the Camino by Sea odyssey.
My paintings are in private collections in Ireland, Europe and U.S.A.
Video by Dónal Ó Céilleachair
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
2019 Blasket Centre, (Ionad an Bhlascaoid) Féile Na Bealtaine May 2nd
2014 Blasket Centre, Dunquin, Co. Kerry, Ireland
2013 Greenlane Gallery Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland
2008 Courthouse Art Centre, Tinahely, Co. Wicklow
2007 Sheen Falls Lodge Hotel, Kenmare, Co. Kerry
1997 Simple Pleasures Gallery, Dingle, Co Kerry
1995 Gravesend Library Gallery, Kent, England
1995 The Wellspring Gallery, Tralee, Co Kerry
1993 Simple Pleasures Gallery, Dingle, Co Kerry
1992 Simple Pleasures Gallery, Dingle, Co Kerry
Group Shows
2009 Greenlane Gallery Dingle, Co. Kerry
2007 Greenlane Gallery, Paris, France
2006 Ceárta Ealaíona Gallery, Dingle, Co. Kerry
2005 Ceárta Ealaíona Gallery, Dingle, Co. Kerry
2005 Mermaid Greenstar Open Exhibition, Bray, Co. Wicklow
2004 Retro Scóip, Siamse Tíre Gallery, Tralee, Co. Kerry
1998 An Oireachtas, Guinness Hop Store, Dublin
1996 Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick
1994 Kerry Airport, Farranfore, Co Kerry
1994 Oilean, An Oireachtas, Dingle, Co Kerry
1995 Samhlaoicht, Siamse Tire, Tralee, Co Kerry
1994 Oilean, An Oireachtas, City Hall, Belfast
1993 Oilean, An Oireachtas, Dingle, Co Kerry
1992 Samhlaoicht, Siamse Tire, Tralee, Co Kerry
1984 Pottery Show, Kilkenny Arts Week, Kilkenny
Collections
Áras Bhréanainn • Public Collection | Baile an Fheirtéaraigh, Tralee, Co Chiarraí.
Office of Public Works – State Collection
Jean Kennedy Smith | Former American Ambassador to Ireland
Work also held in private collections in:
Ireland
Australia
United Kingdom
Germany
France
Italy
Canada
United States