SIDNEY NOLAN Ancient Head ll. (from The Celtic Image Series),1987 - Spray paint on linen ©Sidney Nolan Trust

Dreaming The Land, natural pigments mulled in oil on linen, 70 x 100 cm

Imagined Primordial Landscape, natural pigments mulled in oil on linen, 70 x 100 cm

Remaining A Perpetual Possibility, natural pigments mulled in oil on linen, 70 x 100 cm

Go, go, go, said the bird…, natural pigments mulled in oil on linen, 70 x 100 cm

Fiona McIntyre

DREAMING THE LAND

26 May - 1 October, 2022

Press Release 12/05/22

Sidney Nolan Trust

The former Herefordshire home of the famous Australian artist Sir Sidney Nolan opens its
two latest exhibitions on Thursday 26 May.

“In Dreaming The Land, Fiona McIntyre expresses an imagined landscape inspired by a synergy
of objects and place. Through a series of successive mini-residencies, the painter,
draftsperson and printmaker has conjured a substantial and extraordinary body of new
artwork which is presented in the Library of 17th century Rodd Court.

McIntyre’s art is underpinned by drawing. The artist spent short winter days engaged with
the immediate location and flora of The Rodd, drawing at the river or in Rodd Woods. If the
weather was too unkind, she retreated indoors to focus on strange and fantastical artefacts
such as an Elephant skull from Nolan’s personal archive.

New paintings are infused with the dynamics of the weather and light in this border
hinterland and also with Nolan’s unique vision - strange perspectives are at play. Alongside
drawings and paintings, the exhibition includes new etchings and wonderful examples of the
artist’s sketchbooks which are an important part of McIntyre’s making process.

In tandem with Dreaming The Land, a series of Sidney Nolan’s late spray paintings known
collectively as the Celtic Image are shown in the main gallery. The large monochrome
canvases were created in 1987 following the artist’s final visit to his ancestral home in the
Burren, County Cork, Ireland. A forth-generation Australian of Irish descent, Nolan wore his
‘Irishness’ as a badge of honour and used it to help shape an anti-establishment persona.

It is the first time the complete Celtic Image has ever been shown in the UK and the
exhibition investigates Nolan’s lifelong fascination with ancient civilisations and cultures whilst
revealing his return to abstraction during the last ten years of his life at The Rodd”.

Antony Mottershead - Creative Producer at Sidney Nolan Trust

Fiona McIntyre: Dreaming The Land, 26 May – 1 October 2022
Sidney Nolan: The Celtic Image, 26 May – 16 July 2022