Hingham gallery celebrates Vincent Crotty's 20 years in America
Irish artist Vincent Crotty, from Kanturk, County Cork, arrived in Boston in 1990, hoping to further his art training and launch his career as a visual artist. “My expectation was that I was here for two months,” says Crotty. “I was totally motivated, but I didn’t think it would take 20 years!”
Now a dual citizen and longtime Dorchester resident, Crotty’s work has been exhibited and collected in the United States Ireland, and beyond.
Looking back on his two decades in the Boston area, Crotty gives thanks to John and Maureen Connolly, owners of the Aisling Gallery in Hingham, who encouraged his painting career right from the start. On Nov. 19, Crotty and the Connollys will mark their 20-year affiliation with an exhibition of “Recent Paintings” at the Aisling Gallery.
Crotty recalls his first meeting with the Connollys soon after he arrived in Boston. “Someone said there was a new Irish gallery in Hingham. I took a bus down from Quincy Center in heavy snow. I was wearing Wellingtons. I brought some paintings down in a black plastic rubbish bag!”
“John Connolly told me that I needed five years, at least, to get more training in drawing. I nearly died....But I started showing my work there right away, and the Connollys gave me 100 bucks to buy paints.”
Soon enough, Crotty’s work began to sell, and over time, he has developed a reputation as a passionate, original, and prolific artist. “Maureen and John were showing my work at festivals all over America,” Crotty says. “The phone calls would come… ‘You sold three’… ‘You sold five.’ People were beginning to collect my work.”
It was an auspicious beginning for the young Crotty, but his path as an artist has not been a quick or easy road to success.
“In my second year here, I got very depressed, and then all the paintings showed it.” he says. “Maureen calls it my ‘Brown Period.’”
After secondary school in Ireland, Crotty had trained in sign painting and faux finishes, and he has often supplemented his art career by continuing these old-world trades in decorative painting. His fanciful signs and atmospheric interior designs can be seen in many restaurants, pubs, and churches in Greater Boston.
Crotty has been recognized with numerous awards, in juried shows from Duxbury to Wexford, Ireland. He has been commissioned to paint portraits of well-known figures in the Irish arts, including musicians Joe Madden and Larry Reynolds, and poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill. His work has been featured on many book and album covers, and his paintings are in demand for personal collectors and Irish organizations.
“I have a lot of gratitude for the Connollys,” Crotty says, reflecting on his career. “They helped establish my name as an artist, which is essential, to survive at what I do. They are always enthusiastic and supportive. They’ve given so much to Irish cultural and community causes. They’ve put on evenings of poetry, Irish literature readings, music lessons. They’ve built a South Shore community among people who otherwise wouldn’t know each other.”
The Aisling Gallery has become a well-known landmark for Irish arts on the South Shore. Maureen Connolly exhibits Crotty’s work year-round, but the upcoming show will feature new paintings that are some of Crotty’s personal favorites — a mixture of Ireland and New England, “from intimate, small-town streetscapes to the misty vistas of the Irish coast.”
“I do operate on both side of the Atlantic,” he continues. “When I first came here, I lived in Quincy for two years, Mattapan for three years… then six months in Hull, and Dorchester ever since. The South Shore is full of fabulous memories for me. It’s the place where I found my joy.”
Vincent Crotty’s “Recent Paintings” will be on display from Nov. 19 through Christmas, with an opening reception Nov. 19 from 7:30 to 10 p.m. The Aisling Gallery is located on Route 3A in Hingham. For more information, call the gallery at 800-752-9389.
Waiting for Twitter to feed in the latest...