Margaret Irwin West is a painter and printmaker who was born in Madhya Pradesh, India and has been living and working in Connemara since 1991. Her work is deeply influenced by the traces of human habitation and it’s ‘interference’ with ancient landscape.
She took her training at the Atelier of the cubist painter André L’Hote in Paris. Tuition was based entirely on observation and analysis of the live model, emphasising concerns of volume and weight. These values still predominate in all her work particularly in landscape.
Later she studied intaglio printmaking, etching, at the graphic studio Dublin. This medium soon became her chief means of visual expression.
Margaret states: “My work remains figurative though from these observed images I seek to draw out greater resonances that suggest their social and cultural context. Generally I don’t want people to feel entirely comfortable with what they see.’
Margaret was elected to Aosdana in 2019.