The paintings of Hannah McCartney ’18 will be exhibited from May 4-28 at the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center’s Art Studio, 301 W. Main Street, Troy, Ohio. Titled Isle of Inspirations, the exhibition is part of the Senior Painting Series. The exhibit and reception, which will offer refreshments, are free and open to the public.

The Isle of Inspirations is a series of oil paintings that is a culmination of McCartney’s historical and creative research. This series’ reference photos were taken on her travels in Ireland last summer and include locations such as the Cliffs of Moher, Trim and Glendalough. These paintings were created to capture Ireland’s most beautiful locations and to perhaps transport the viewers to those locations.

This series of landscape paintings are reflections of the environment in which I was working, traveling and researching while in Ireland this past summer. I went to Ireland to conduct archaeology field research, begin working on my senior history thesis, and gather reference images that I could use to create a series of paintings during my senior year. One of the reasons I chose Ireland is due to the fact that it is a country that has an array of landscapes that vary in diversity and accessibility.

Meanwhile, all locations incorporate both elements of the water and land in each scene. I wanted to create this series to allow the viewers to perhaps transport themselves to these locations and to gain a better insight into the beauty that is Ireland. Furthermore, I wanted to create paintings that had an ethereal quality but were still true to the landscape. Hence the colors being accurate to their original reference and created with a more brush-like quality that ensures that it is more of a painting rather than photo-like.

I chose oil paint as my medium of work due to the value of hue that comes from the paint itself, as well as the buildable quality that the paint allows when creating different layers and textures. These specific locations were chosen due to the personal importance held by me. These are all locations that I have resided in or visited for a longer amount of time. Overall, Ireland has been the country that has had the largest impact upon my life through all of my travels in Europe, and I wanted to share some of the inspirations that I had with others through these paintings. Hopefully, the viewers are able to leave this exhibit with a desire to further view more of Ireland and perhaps a better insight into the beauty of this inspirational island.

Isle of Inspirations is a five-painting series that consists of the following locations: Glendalough, Inishbofin, Trim and the Cliffs of Moher. I was really excited about doing this series, not only because my love of painting, but also my love of Ireland. Ireland has been a country that I find myself always coming back to and has been my favorite place of residence. Ireland offers locations that range from different types of landscapes, compositions and colors - making it an ideal place to base a series of paintings off of. I did this painting series as part of an independent painting course with Professor Ed Charney [professor of art at Wittenberg], and I feel very lucky to have been able to do this. I am so grateful for the immensely positive impact that he has had on my work and my painting experience over the past four years.

I am excited in particular about the exhibit at the Troy-Hayner Center, due to the fact that it is a location that both the community of Wittenberg can visit and is available to communities outside of Wittenberg. Our motto here is "Having Light We Pass It On To Others." I hope that with my painting location being located outside of Wittenberg, I can perhaps share some of the light I have experienced through Wittenberg University.

Hannah McCartney ’18
Major: History
Minor: Archaeology, Pre-Modern and Ancient World Studies, and Studio Art with a concentration in painting
Hometown: Greenville, Ohio