The most famous of Barry Maguire's paintings is this depiction of a child sleeping under a quilt of the Irish countryside.
By Tim McLaughlin
Barrie Maguire stands in the center of the Celtic-Iberia Traders Shop in New Hope, reminiscing about his annual trips to Ireland. His white beard accentuates his smiling, freckled face. When he talks, his enthusiasm shows in his hand gestures, which start off small, but soon incorporate his entire upper body when he recalls his experiences in Ireland.
“I can never get used to driving on the left side of the road,” Maguire says, reenacting a drive through the countryside. “Whenever I see someone in front of me I freeze up and think ‘Oh no, he’s on my side!'” His body gets tense as he mimics swerving off the road, “We were going around a corner, and I panicked and swerved into a ditch! Then I heard Karen say ‘Holy Mother of God!’ I looked up, and sure enough, there was a statue of the Virgin Mary right in front of us!”
On St. Patrick’s Day, Maguire and his wife, Karen, were at the Celtic-Iberia Traders Shop for a show of Maguire’s work, including his most popular painting, Marin’s Quilt, which shows a young red-haired girl curled up under a green quilt made of the patchwork Irish countryside. This playful fantasy inspired a whole series of paintings titled the Irish Quilt series. Maguire says, “One of my friends calls (Marin’s Quilt) ‘Maguire’s one hit single.’ The first one sold right away at a gallery show, and I’ve been doing more with the idea ever since.” In fact, you can now buy an actual 33” X 44” baby quilt based on the painting, with a hedgerow, thatched cottage, peat pile, and medieval ruin carefully stitched on green sateen.
His second painting in the series featured his mother piecing together a quilt of an Irish landscape. Maguire, who lives in Narberth, says his mother, also an artist who is of French and German descent, was a bit resentful about posing for the painting. “She would always get upset that we considered ourselves Irish.” But in the painting, Mrs. Maguire’s face glows with a gentle smile while her hands carefully work over sections of farmland, crafting a beautiful patchwork of green fields, stone walls, and miniscule farmhouses.
Inspiration for Maguire’s paintings comes from his yearly trips to Ireland. “We go every year, and I take hundreds of photographs,” he says. He doesn’t paint from real life. “I don’t bring an easel with me,” he admits, “so I suppose it’s cheating.”
Maguire, who was once the creative director for Hallmark Cards, has also done a series of portraits of Irish writers including James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, and Oscar Wilde. He also paints horses, which are so much are part of Irish culture. One painting from the horse series, Piebald-Soul, was on display at the show. It features a horse rearing on its hind legs, drenched in moonlight and surrounded by stars. Alongside the painting hung a copy of Denise Blake’s poem “Wild Horses,” which was the inspiration for the piece. He also has a series of traditional Irish musicians, including Grafton Street buskers, a young girl in pigtails playing a bodhron, and fiddler Patsy Whelan, a New England-based pub owner who appeared recently at The Shanachie in Ambler.
Celtic-Iberia Trader Shop owner Mike Burns was thrilled to have Maguire on hand for the one-day show. “We’re always excited to show local talent,” Burns says, “Because most of our artists are Irish and Spanish, it’s very difficult to get them here for a gallery show.”
Barry Maguire certainly proves that you don’t have to live in Ireland to channel the Irish spirit. To learn more about Maguire’s work, or to purchase prints, visit www.MaguireGallery.com. Celt-Iberia Traders is at 15 W. Ferry Street, New Hope, PA 18938. It carries high quality gifts and art from Spain and Ireland, much of which is available for online purchase.