This Energetic Thing : Visual Artists Newsletter, Painting special edition
VAN’s March/April 2022 issue of The Visual Artists’ News Sheet has a thematic focus on painting
One of many painting articles and artist dialogues:
This Energetic Thing
NICK MILLER AND SALVATORE OF LUCAN DISCUSS THE ALCHEMY AND MELANCHOLY OF PAINTING.
See PDF
CLICK IMAGE TO READ

Visual Artists Ireland Ireland text: Newsletter Editions
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Film Launched: Patrick Hall in Conversation with Nick Miller

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfDzFlpw4qg
https://www.facebook.com/events/277674024199211
On 6 Nov. 2021, The Model was delighted to welcome Patrick Hall and Nick Miller to discuss their collaborative exhibition, Patrick Hall; Beginnings, curated by Nick Miller.
This recorded conversation presents an enlightening insight into the works from the past and present of Hall’s long artistic career, from his emergence as an artist in London in the 1950s, to works made in the present day at his studio in rural Sligo.
The title of the show nods to the defining courageous nature at the heart of all of Hall’s work, and the way in which he approaches the act of drawing and painting with a beginner’s mind.
Special thanks to our sponsors; the Arts Council Ireland, and Sligo County Council.
Show extended until 30th Jan 2022
https://www.themodel.ie/?exhibition=patrick-hall-beginnings
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Zurich Portrait Prize | National Gallery of Ireland
National Gallery of Ireland
An exhibition of shortlisted portraits will go on display in the Gallery from 13 November 2021 to 3 April 2022. The exhibition will then travel to Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, where it will be displayed between 23 April and 17 July 2022.

Portrait of Patrick Hall – painting | Nick Miller | 2021 | Oil pastel and paint on linen | 102 x 92 cm
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Patrick Hall | Beginnings
The Model | 23rd October - 23rd December 2021
Catalogue with essay (pdf)

Working Drawing 9 | Patrick Hall | 2021 | Watercolour and Ink on paper | 25.5 x 25.5 cm
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the way that we went | Ballinglen Museum of Art

Benwee Head (1998), Nick Miller, Oil on linen , 183 x 183cm
the way that we went
Ballinglen Museum of Art
Ballycastle, Co Mayo
5th November – 18th December 2021
In an exhibition curated by Anne Mullee for the Ballinglen Arts Foundation.
Showing this never before exhibited painting:
.
Coming out for a first ever showing after 23 years in studio storage, I am delighted this painting will be seen in Co Mayo, where it was made on site in 1998 - the first large scale TRUCKSCAPE I ever made, as a novice 4 tonne truck driver reversing ever closer to the cliff edge. A painting that holds all the thrill of adventure & discovery – of being able to paint on site, in nature at scale but protected from the elements.
Details & Press Release
Connect
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Patrick Hall in conversation with Nick Miller

Patrick Hall in conversation with Nick Miller
To mark the occasion of his exhibition, Beginnings, at The Model, we are delighted to present this very special gallery conversation between Patrick Hall and fellow artist Nick Miller. Beginnings, which is curated by Miller, brings together works from the past and present of Hall’s long artistic career, from his emergence as an artist in London in the 1950s, to works made in the present day at his studio in rural Sligo. The title of the show nods to the defining courageous nature at the heart of all of Hall’s work, and the way in which he approaches the act of drawing and painting with a beginner’s mind.
More details: https://www.themodel.ie/?exhibition=patrick-hall-beginnings
2pm. Sat. 6 Nov. Free, advance booking is essential.
Book Here
Read More....Barrie Cooke archive: A treasure trove of unseen writing by Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney reveals a vital creative friendship
https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/big-fish-hughes-heaney-cooke
Feeling nostalgic and celebratory today- posting these 3 portraits of Barrie Cooke in his honour- On the day an extraordinary archive is published released by Cambridge University’s Mark Wormald - It Documents an amazing trinity of creative friendships between Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney and Barrie Cooke-A treasure trove of unseen/unpublished works and poems by all three. I was very lucky as a young painter to have wandered into their orbit and drank a bit of the heady wine.
Posting three portraits I did of Cooke 1997, 2009 and 2013 and some photos-
Barrie Cooke, 1997. Oil on Linen. 98 x 98 cm Niland Collection, The Model, Sligo

Studio Viewing Room | online only exhibition: setting suns - close horizons
Studio Viewing Room
First exhibition of small works from the studio
Full info and to view : setting suns - close horizons
online only exhibition until 31st January 2021
New dip pen and ink drawings from lockdown walks in Sligo

190th RHA Annual Exhibition : Royal Hibernian Academy | Invited artist

Together and alone, May 2020
Oil on linen | 102 x 92 cm
On show at the 190th RHA Annual Exhibition 20 October - 13 December 2020
currently only viewable online during Level 5 Covid 19 restrictions
RHAVIEWINGROOM
Thanks to the wonderful Eithne Jordan RHA for the invitation to show a piece in this year’s exhibition.
This piece is the first new painting made during lockdown 1, once the nerves began to settle. The subjects include an intense escapee ‘coronal’ like Poppy from a hedgerow, a white clematis and assorted bits of found sea sponge with a starfish peaking out.Read More....
Artists’ Voices: Life in a Pandemic | National Gallery of Ireland
https://www.nationalgallery.ie/what-we-do/library-and-archives/esb-centre-study-irish-art/artists-voices-life-pandemic
EPISODE 1 | Nick Miller in conversation from his studio in County Sligo
Born in London, Miller moved to Ireland in 1984 and now lives and works in Sligo. He is a painter who works in the genres of portraiture, still life and landscape. Focusing primarily on local subjects, including the rural landscape of north-west Ireland, he has developed a vigorous painting technique that merges representation and expressionism. He was the winner of the National Gallery of Ireland’s inaugural portrait prize in 2014.
In this episode, Miller discusses his work, including From Cogan’s Shed, and talks about aspects of his life during the COVID-19 emergency.
This conversation was recorded on 8 May 2020.
Listen on Soundcloud, below:
https://soundcloud.com/ngireland/artists-voices-life-in-a-pandemic-nick-miller

Harper's Magazine, July 2020
Harper's Magazine: July 2020
A letter from Ireland
Bogland By William Atkins
Climate change, and the peat industry’s dying days: (PDF)
See Online Version
Among the images reproduced for the essay by William Atkins is this painting made on the high bog on Carran Hill, painted from my mobile studio looking towards Sligo in 2001 & 2002. It is one of the early TRUCKSCAPES first shown in the RHA Dublin in Figure To Ground in 2003.
From Carran Hill to Sligo, 2001-2002. , Oil on linen, 214 x 186 cm. (Private collection, Ireland)

Courtesy of Oliver Sears GalleryRead More....
The Time of Our Lives | Oliver Sears Gallery | Online
The Time of Our Lives
Oliver Sears Gallery
Online exhibition 14 April - 29 May 2020
View on: oliversearsgallery.com
The Sea 7-1-20 | Nick Miller | Watercolour on paper| 30 x 40 cm
The Time of Our Lives
The future can go and be
bloody terrifying on its own
for all I care. Me and my girl
are stepping out for the past.
We’re putting our best foot
backwards, heading for home.
What we'll do when we get there
we haven’t decided yet.
For the time being at least
we’re having the time of our lives
all over again.
Hugo Williams
All Over again
Most mornings for the last few years, the nearby sea calls me from the comfort of my bed to swim alone. In the water I am free of the “bloody terrifying” future and the persistent past. The sea’s indifference to my fate offers a strange freedom, a universal encounter and a salve to the self, particularly in this time of extreme existential anxiety. Putting “my best foot backwards”, I attempt paintings to extend and hold this brief daily meeting with nature in my life. And then, like waves, “all over again’’.
Nick Miller
2/4/20