A solo exhibition of new and retrospective paintings by Fermanagh artist Rachael Johnson opens in The Strule Art Gallery, Omagh on Friday May 1st, 2026 and runs until May 30th.
Rachael was born in Leeds in 1962 and educated in Enniskillen. She left home in 1980 to study Fine Arts and spent some years travelling and working abroad. When she returned to Ireland she worked as an illustrator and community artist in Dublin. Inspired by worldwide travels she began to develop and exhibit personal artwork.
Rachael is currently living and working in Derry.
Rachael uses mixed media to create collage paintings on canvas. Creative material can include oil and water-based paints, inks, pastels and charcoal, textured & handmade paper, organic material, fabrics & natural fibres, metal, stone, wood and glass.
Adventures in N Africa, South and Central America, Australia, India and SE Asia fuelled an interest in the role of the arts in ancient, traditional and ceremonial healing practices. Ritual, animism and archetypal symbols are common themes in her personal artwork.
Rachael completed an MA in Art Psychotherapy in Cork Rachael currently lives in Derry and has been working as an exhibiting artist and HCPC registered Art Psychotherapist in Northern Ireland for over 20 years
Recent exhibitions include the Clinton Gallery, Enniskillen, The Red Stables Gallery, Dublin and The Laneway Gallery, Cork. She is a member of Visual Artists Ireland (VAI).
“Pareidolia is the human tendency to seek meaning in elusive imagery. I never know in advance what I’m going to paint. I apply, rearrange, remove and reapply layers of colour and texture with no direction in mind until a particular curve or colour resonates with something forgotten, hidden or lost. Emerging from sensory memory to find familiar form in the visual world, an inscape is alive with agency and inhabited by shapeshifters.’
More information: https://struleartscentre.co.uk/absinthe-absence-by-jackie-hudson-lalor-2/
