Galway Advertiser 1990/1990_09_06/GA_06091990_E1_008.pdf 

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F R A N K CONWAY-OUTSTANDING IN HIS OWN F I E L D
You may not have heard the name Frank Conway before but if you watch televi sion or go to the cinema or theatre, you most likely have seen his work. He has design ed sets for Druid Theatre, for the Abbey Theatre for the Gaiety, for films and for T.V. advertisments.
Television fans will recently have seen his designs in adverts like the Heineken Utopia pub scene and in "How's the Toyota" He has also designed the set for the film of John B. Keane's play, The Field, due to be released later this month, and is current ly working on Druid's next show, Lovers Meeting. Frank was Art Director for several other films in cluding Da, the adaptation of Hugh Leonard's play, The Woman Who Married Clark Gable and Pigs. With such a record Frank Conway can be regarded as one of Ireland's leading designers. Galway people will have a chance to see how he creates his designs, at an exhibition of his drawings and model sets now show ing in the Arts Centre, at 47 Dominick St next week. It runs until the end of the month and shows how he follows the design through from the initial idea to the finished product. "At school in Sligo I lov ed d r a w i n g , " reveals Frank. "When my sister was killed in a road acci dent, I was encouraged to join the local drama group and it started from there.'' After school Frank went to the National College of Art and Design in Dublin where he concentrated on theatre design. He worked in the Abbey Theatre and then went to London where he studied and worked. During his career he has served as Head of Design at the Abbey and as Associate Designer with Druid. "The first step in design ing is to work out a concept of the play, to try to get to its core. The process is to devise a space for actors to reinforce what the play is about."

RUTH McHUGH-EXPLORING EMOTIONS THROUGH ART
Local artist, Ruth McHugh will have an exhibition of her pain tings "Wheron" in Nuns Island Arts Centre from next Saturday September eight.

Artist Ruth McHugh in her Artspace Studio.
This is Ruth's first solo show although she has been painting for 10 years and takes part in many group shows in the last three years. She started studying art in the Galway R.T.C and continued in the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. She graduated from there with honours. Ruth is well known in Galway both for her work, and as a founder member of Artspace. This artists' collective established four years ago has created an environment and structure where artists can work together. "We had several group shows, but now people are beginning to take off and go in individual direc tions," she explains. "After a certain stage there is no point in going on with group exhibi tions." Ruth is looking forward to Wheron opening in Galway although she ad mits a one person show is a daunting prospect, especially on home territory. It doesn't seem she has much to fear, Wheron, which is an exhibition of mixed media on paper and canvas, visited Wexford earlier in the summer, and * was very well received. Ruth finds it hard to describe her work, and says with a laugh, if she could do that she would be a writer not an artist. and they show how the per sonal is political. Aspects which are everyday seem to b e , broadened into something bigger. Ruth uses a lot of pink, and feels this may be the female element in her work.

Frank Conway (above) with the model of the Bailegangaire Set.
there I got confidence to try. My first play , Oedipus, was for Druid." Working on films is very different from plays. pletely transform the pub." Frank will have a series of drawings from The Field on display at the Arts Centre. Many of them are signed by John B. Keane. "In all I have scale models from five plays, photos from some of the plays, costume drawings from Druid's Playboy and The Field drawings. The five scale models are from The Death of a Salesman for the Gaiety, Big Maggie and The Death and Resurrection of Mr. Roche for the Abbey, and Bailegangaire, and their next play Lover's Meeting for Druid. They are fascinating, miniatures of the final set, made with items such as tops of paint tubes, wheels from toy cars and other everyday materials. It's a fascinating exhibi tion which gives people a chance to see a little theatre history. Whether you want to buy or browse, it is well worth visiting.

Illusions and Dreams
"I use figures, and each figure in my work is representative of a dif ferent part of one person. It is a way of exploring emotions." A lot of her work has to do with illusions and dreams. She uses the term sty lite to describe it. "I started exploring this area when I was in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annamakerrig last year. The idea comes from medieval times when ascetics sat on pillars observing life. Figures in the paintings can also be suggestive of characters like Mad Sweeny in Irish literature." Ruth loves the whole idea of working with elevated figures. "It's like somebody up there with concepts and ideals - the artist as observer. There is also a certain amount of posing involved, which is a lightheaded view of a lot of the posing associated with art. "I think a lot of my pain tings are very theatrical,

A Woman Artist
" I never thought of myself as a female artist when I was in college. Then when I came out I realised how few there were. There is a certain respect for male artists who live a different lifestyle, but I have found social prejudices to women artists. It can be as simple as somebody fin ding it unfeminime for a woman to have paint on her hands." She likes using mixed media because it allows her great flexibility. "Since Impressionism there has been an em phasis on immediacy in art, and the Japanese have had an influence too. I like capturing things quickly and then building up techniques, which is possi ble when you use different media." Her feelings about the exhibition are a mixture of apprehension and expecta tion. As for the future, she says there a r e oppor tunities coming up and she will have to grab them. "Generally I don't like to talk about my work, I just prefer to do it."

The Field
"Designing something like The Field is more ad ministrative than creative. For instance we had to find a suitable church which was very difficult. We had to strip the village of Leenane to bring it back in time, and we had to com

Playboy
For the last few years he has freelanced. "I have found it easy enough to survive, but recently I set up a theatre company in Sligo with three other people, and my involvement with Seven Woods has meant turning down a lot of work. His work with Seven Woods is partly respon sible for this exhibition. "There are a couple of reasons. One is that Liz from the Arts Centre con tacted me and asked if I would be interested. I was, partly because I want to raise money for Seven Woods next production. The company's next play is The Playboy of the* Western World which Frank will direct, and will bring on tour. He is familiar with the Playboy having designed the set for Druid's much acclaimed production. It was through Druid he first became interested in directing. "I got so much freedom

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NEW PUPILS WELCOME Call R e o i n a 2 2 2 6 ?

Siobhan McKenna (above) bringing Frank Conway's set to life in Druids production of Bailegangaire.