- 2 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:16Hello and welcome to the National Gallery of Ireland in the heart of Dublin, where today
00:21we're unveiling a painting by the winner of Landscape Artist of the Year, Kim Day. It's
00:27the first landscape painting the gallery has ever commissioned, so the stakes are high,
00:31and I for one am very excited to be back home on Irish soil. Standby for a special episode
00:38of Landscape Artist of the Year. From over 2,000 applications, just 48 artists were chosen
00:47to paint a series of stunning views across the UK, competing for a £10,000 prize commission.
00:55The winner of Landscape Artist of the Year is Kim Day.
01:07Kim's commission will take her across the Irish Sea to the west coast of County Mayo to paint
01:13a view of Ireland's holy mountain, Crowpatrick.
01:17It's part of our psyche, morning, noon and night.
01:23She'll be exploring Ireland's wild west coast.
01:27Genuinely, it takes my breath away. I feel quite emotional.
01:31Discovering the significance of the mountain's religious history.
01:34It feels particularly special in here. It's just like, yeah, all tingly.
01:39And finally, making her own pilgrimage to the very top of Crowpatrick.
01:44It's beautiful. You feel like you're at the centre of the world.
01:47Right, here we go. Three, two, one.
02:07APPLAUSE
02:11Winning Landscape Artist of the Year has been just an incredible experience.
02:15After winning, I'd just be getting on with other things
02:18and I'd be like, oh, I've won the competition.
02:20And then I'd be really happy and joyful.
02:23It's trying to contain some of the excitement
02:25and not go shouting and telling everybody.
02:28Just wonderful.
02:30Kim won a place in the competition
02:32with her evocative, semi-abstract view
02:34of the sand dunes in Studland Bay, near her home.
02:39One of the things that really struck us is your use of colour.
02:43Yeah.
02:43This stunning mix of soft pastels
02:47and then some areas are really intense.
02:50At her heat in the Lake District,
02:52she enticed the judges with a fantastical interpretation
02:55of Derwent water and the surrounding mountains.
03:00Kim showed us that she can really respond to place.
03:03It's magical, deep and rich.
03:06And she showed her artistic range at the semi-final
03:09with a more realistic rendering
03:11of the 19th-century Ouse Valley Viaduct in Sussex.
03:16I get the sense of the light coming through the trees
03:19and the beautiful luminosity.
03:21At the final, Kim wowed the judges
03:23with a zoomed-in composition
03:25from the base of the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland
03:29and an enchanting commission piece
03:31of the view from her studio in Dorset.
03:34This feels really harmonious and really gorgeous.
03:37This hits the sweet spot.
03:39It sort of glows from within.
03:40It's very beautiful.
03:41The winner of Landscape Artist of the Year
03:44is Kim Day.
03:48When Stephen announced my name,
03:50I just felt really emotional.
03:52It's just like, as soon as he said it,
03:53I was just like, oh my God.
03:56I'm immensely proud.
03:58I have a lot of practice being immensely proud of her.
04:00She's always making things.
04:01But, yeah, this has been quite something very exciting.
04:13So, what is it you're having to do today?
04:17On space computers.
04:19Since winning the competition,
04:21Kim has returned to her day job
04:22as a film scene illustrator,
04:25working alongside husband Peter
04:27in an office at the end of their garden.
04:29Right.
04:29Good luck with you, Laura.
04:30Nice commute.
04:32See you later.
04:34If I was trying to explain to a stranger what I do,
04:38if you see a scene in a film
04:39and you think that that's just the real world,
04:44it isn't.
04:45The whole thing's been built,
04:46painted, lighting, everything.
04:49My job is to try and help illustrate that
04:52before that happens.
04:53For over 20 years,
04:54Kim has helped create visual worlds
04:57for countless blockbuster films and TV series.
05:02Some favourites, it would be The Matrix 4,
05:05it would be Wonder Woman,
05:07Game of Thrones was wonderful,
05:09Star Wars.
05:11Yeah, I've been very lucky.
05:12At the moment, I'm working on
05:14A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
05:18It's a specific character's story
05:20in the world of Game of Thrones.
05:23The thing I love most is working out the light.
05:26That's the one thing that is really kind of intangible.
05:29The things that it can do
05:31and the changes it makes to the colours.
05:34So it's like you're working out these weird, like...
05:37And it's just...
05:39I love it.
05:42Kim has always fitted her painting around work.
05:47And her painting shed down the road
05:49is where it all happens.
05:53In terms of splitting time between work and painting,
05:57it's actually a real juggle.
05:59I grab it where I can get it.
06:01It'll be at night time,
06:02maybe in the evenings, on the weekends.
06:05I think part of the major motivation
06:08of doing my own painting
06:09is that the film work,
06:10I'm always working to other people's formula,
06:13and the painting is just me.
06:15I create my formula.
06:17It's that freedom, mixing a paint,
06:20or seeing two colours come together
06:22and it's just like,
06:23oh, look, it's a bit magic going on there.
06:26And it's just joy.
06:28My dream would be
06:29to just be free to paint all day long, every day.
06:33It's just that little space of...
06:36..air, you know, where you get to breathe.
06:39In terms of describing my art,
06:42I think what I'm doing
06:43is taking the landscape
06:44and using it as a kind of conduit
06:47for talking about feeling, really,
06:50and you can do that with colour, I think.
06:54I think this commission is a really big deal.
06:57I think as it's coming closer,
06:59it's just getting more and more excited,
07:01probably more and more nervous,
07:02but you'll never know with Kim.
07:04It's just insane.
07:06You know, growing up, you don't think,
07:07oh, yeah, I might have this little opportunity
07:09to get a painting in the National Gallery of Ireland.
07:13It's just a dream.
07:14Even when I'm talking about it, I get all tingly.
07:17Like, I just... My head goes all tingly.
07:19And, yeah, so I'm just really super excited.
07:24I've been to Ireland a few times.
07:25It's kind of majestic, really.
07:27There's just this beauty to it.
07:29Irish people really feel so connected to their own landscape
07:32because it does have its own quality
07:34and it must be in the bones.
07:38I've got everything there that I need.
07:40So I'm good to go.
07:48Before taking on her commission,
07:50Kim has made the trip to the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin
07:53to find out more about the brief.
07:58If I just think about painting, I'm fine,
08:01but then if I think about painting and then it hanging here,
08:03I'm going to be like, ah!
08:05So I'm just thinking as far as the painting
08:07and I'll worry about the rest afterwards.
08:12Founded in 1854,
08:14the National Gallery of Ireland houses over 18,000 artworks
08:18with a renowned international collection.
08:23Alongside famous Irish works.
08:27Kim is meeting Head Curator Brendan Rooney
08:30to find out more about her commission.
08:34Kim, welcome to the National Gallery of Ireland.
08:38Congratulations.
08:39We're very excited about collaborating with you
08:41with your commission.
08:42This is the first commission of this kind
08:44that we've ever undertaken
08:45to work with an artist on producing a landscape painting.
08:49Yeah.
08:50We showcase some of the finest art in Western Europe
08:53and the collection also includes
08:54the most comprehensive collection of Irish art in the world.
08:58And what we thought would be really exciting
09:00would be to look at some of the gaps
09:02in that depiction of Ireland.
09:03So what we're proposing
09:04is that you paint Croke-Patrick,
09:07the legendary mountain on the Western seaboard,
09:10and see what you make of that.
09:12Fantastic.
09:13I mean, it's a surprise to me actually
09:14that you say that there is a gap there.
09:17Artists have painted both the mountain itself
09:19and views from the mountain,
09:21but not in huge numbers.
09:22Yeah.
09:22And it is conspicuously absent from our collection.
09:25I hope it's something I can fulfil.
09:28I'm sure.
09:28In terms of scale,
09:30do you have any stipulations?
09:32No, it's an open brief.
09:34I suppose many of the exhibition spaces in the gallery
09:36are quite conventional in terms of their scale,
09:39so perhaps not something that's five metres tall.
09:42No, no.
09:42But no, we will leave that to you.
09:45Yeah, I think I'll just go with my gut on that
09:47and, yeah, hope for the best.
09:52Before she sets off for County Mayo,
09:54Brendan is keen to show Kim a painting of the West Coast
09:57by Ireland's most celebrated landscape artist.
10:03Paul Henry is inextricably linked
10:05with the depiction of the West of Ireland.
10:07It's almost as if the West looks as much like
10:10Paul Henry's paintings
10:12as Paul Henry's paintings look like the West.
10:14He had a feel for the essence of the place.
10:17Yeah, I can really see why.
10:19I think something about the simplicity of the form
10:22and the space given to the clouds.
10:24Yeah, he had a real understanding for balance.
10:26And composition.
10:27And composition.
10:28And it's so strong and consistently strong in his paintings.
10:31Really, really interesting.
10:35The space itself is just tremendous.
10:38Such a beautiful gallery.
10:40Just inspiring.
10:43Talking to Brendan is really giving me quite a scope.
10:46I just want to get going now
10:47so that I can see where it takes me.
11:00Winner of Landscape Artist of the Year, Kim Day,
11:03is arriving in County Mayo
11:05to research her commission for the National Gallery of Ireland.
11:12Cropatrick Island's holy mountain sits high above the Atlantic shore,
11:17its pyramid-shaped peak visible on the horizon for miles around.
11:27Oh, my God, it's really amazing.
11:31It's unreal, really.
11:32I think it's a lot higher than I was expecting it to be.
11:36Her first stop is the seaside town of Westport,
11:40where the mountain is an ever-present backdrop for the local community.
11:49Westport is such a beautiful place.
11:51Just seeing the mountain as we came in,
11:54it's like, oh, my God, it's just stunning.
11:58You can really have a sense of why everybody who lives here,
12:01it's like part of who they are,
12:03because it's just a beautiful sight.
12:08Kim has arranged to meet Westport journalist Liam E. McNally
12:11to learn more about the history and significance of the mountain.
12:20You're very welcome to Westport.
12:23And we're all excited about you being here and celebrating the Reek.
12:26That's what we call Cropatrick.
12:28It's the great cathedral of the West.
12:31It's also, of course, our weather vane.
12:33We can look at Cropatrick and say,
12:35oh, it's going to rain, or it's not going to rain.
12:38It's part of our psyche.
12:41Morning, noon, and night.
12:43I think it's a really beautiful thing.
12:45Wherever you grow up,
12:46if you have this sense of connection to the land in that way,
12:49I think it keeps people centred.
12:53We have a lovely Irish term.
12:55Och o'hookish, which means your sense of place.
12:59Yeah.
13:00And it's very big in Ireland, the sense of place.
13:03Wonderful.
13:04There's a huge, huge history attached to Cropatrick.
13:08Yeah.
13:09The mountain is associated with St. Patrick.
13:11But he only came in 441.
13:14Oh, okay.
13:14There was pagan worship here for thousands of years before that.
13:18And Cropatrick was the center of all that.
13:21And, of course, when St. Patrick came then,
13:23the whole idea was to replace one with the other,
13:27bringing Christianity to Ireland.
13:28Yeah.
13:28This is from an American artist, Henry Bruckner, from 1872.
13:35Okay.
13:35It's a lovely depiction of St. Patrick casting out pagan snakes,
13:40because we have no snakes in Ireland.
13:42No, no.
13:43No?
13:43St. Patrick got rid of them.
13:44Yes.
13:45That's the folklore.
13:46Yeah.
13:46But this is all imagery for the great battle between good and evil.
13:51Yes.
13:51That's what it is.
13:52Yeah, the metaphor.
13:52Yeah.
13:53I have one final thing to share with you.
13:55Yeah.
13:55This is a man from your own country, Mr. Thackeray,
13:57who wrote the Irish sketchbook in the 1800s,
14:00and he was here in Westport,
14:01and this is how he describes it.
14:03I caught sight of the most beautiful view I ever saw in the world, I think.
14:08The bay and the reek, which sweeps down to the sea,
14:11and a hundred islands in it,
14:13were dressed up in gold and purple and crimson,
14:16with the whole cloudy west in a flame.
14:20Wonderful, wonderful.
14:21I mean, it's fantastic, actually, to hear him say the colours
14:24and just how that was such a huge part.
14:27I think I'll keep that in mind, definitely.
14:29I think so.
14:29It's a good read, this.
14:30Yeah.
14:31Beautiful.
14:36Inspired by her chat with Liam E,
14:38Kim finds a spot by Westport Harbour
14:40to sketch her initial impressions.
14:46I've chosen this spot
14:47because it's a combination of both the mountains
14:51and the immediate environment
14:53where people come to walk and look at the mountain.
14:59It's just got a view through the pub behind and a tree.
15:06Just because it's very quick,
15:08I've got these water-soluble pastels,
15:11so I can just make great big gestures
15:13and then just wash them down.
15:15It's like watercolour, but it's just a bit easier.
15:20After chatting to Liam E, I just think the big takeaway
15:23was this real sense of the history of the mountain.
15:27The landscape that you live in is like it holds on to you.
15:31The mountain, it's just there.
15:33You know, if you're going for a walk, you're going to see it
15:36and you tell the weather by it.
15:39I'm thinking, how can I somehow illustrate
15:41that sense of the humanness of the mountain?
15:45I don't want to draw lots of people on a mountain.
15:48At the moment, it's just more about a sense of tone,
15:51but I think in the long run,
15:53I think that's really where I'm trying to go.
16:02Even if I don't really capture what I'm feeling,
16:05if I take it back to the studio,
16:07I'll be like, yeah, I remember being here.
16:09It's like when you, I don't know, smell something
16:11or hear a song, it just takes you right there.
16:25Although Crowpatrick is a significant religious landmark in Ireland,
16:29there are surprisingly few paintings of the mountain
16:32held in public collections.
16:36This graphite and wash sketch by Dublin artist George Petrie in 1823
16:42is a view from the top of the mountain
16:44and captures the detail of the rugged landscape.
16:51James Arthur O'Connor's oil painting from around the same time
16:55is a more romantic view of Westport Town,
16:58with the famous mountain peak lit by the warmth of the sun behind.
17:05Kim has been given an open brief
17:07when it comes to which view of the mountain
17:09she'll choose for the commission.
17:12So, to help her get more of an understanding
17:15of where Crowpatrick sits in the landscape,
17:17she's exploring the coastline of Mayo.
17:21And what better way to experience the mountain range
17:24than by boat?
17:30You get to see it in its full glory here,
17:33but also just there's a body of water in front of it.
17:37It's just, like, spot on, yeah.
17:46There's just rainfall, so it's created this mist
17:49across the front of the mountain.
17:51The changes are just instant.
17:53It gives you a lot to work with,
17:56which is, really, you can ask for more.
18:02The mountain changes a lot with the sun.
18:04You know, you can see how the bit of sun comes on,
18:06it brightens it.
18:07The rain is on it.
18:09It's like that.
18:17The west of Ireland has one of the most famous coastlines
18:20in the world.
18:22Just north of Crowpatrick lies Ackle Island.
18:27Driving into Ackle is just so stunning.
18:30The skies are so big here,
18:32and the cloud formations seem to be really consistently similar.
18:36Like cotton ball, you know, they're just so high.
18:39It's very distinctive to hear.
18:42Kim's come to explore the island
18:44and its connection to Ireland's best-known landscape artist,
18:48Paul Henry.
18:52Henry lived on Ackle for nearly ten years
18:54and was endlessly fascinated by the rugged contours of the landscape
18:58and the power of the elements.
19:04This painting is Acklehead, painted in 1918-20.
19:09What I like about this painting
19:10is it really has that sense of the cloud formation,
19:13like everything is just, there's so much space,
19:15because that's how it feels here.
19:17It's just like it just goes up and up and up, you know.
19:19And that kind of grey slate blue,
19:21which is really a colour of the mountains,
19:23it's very much a sense that these are the colours of this place.
19:28And Brendan did mention that it's like he gave
19:30the feeling of Ireland to Ireland,
19:32and with these paintings, it's almost like they had something
19:36that was like, yes, this is us, this is our place.
19:41Following in the footsteps of Paul Henry,
19:44Kim is making her way to the Atlantic shoreline
19:46to paint her own study.
19:53The dramatic limestone white cliffs of Ashleem
19:56rise 100 feet above the bay with awe-inspiring views.
20:05It's a strange thing.
20:06There's just a beautiful land.
20:08I feel quite emotional about it.
20:10I don't know, I'm going to get emotional now, actually.
20:12But, yeah, genuinely, it just takes my breath away.
20:16Kim settles on a spot near the cliff edge for her study.
20:24I've been talking about the clouds a lot,
20:26so I've decided to make this painting about the clouds.
20:30So it's almost two-thirds sky,
20:33and then I'm just going to put this section
20:35where you just see the Atlantic at the bottom
20:38and the edge of the coastline and the cliffs.
20:46When I start painting, I just start with the facts.
20:50Once that's all down, it's like I can get rid of it,
20:53and then I start thinking about the emotional feeling.
20:59Once I do that, I think the colours, I push them around
21:02and make them maybe slightly less comfortable with each other.
21:08I once tried to describe to somebody how much I loved colour.
21:12It's just like, if I could live inside colour, I'd be like...
21:17I'm so happy.
21:19And that's where I am when I'm painting.
21:21I'm almost inside the colour.
21:27Hello, Shoebe.
21:29I'm brilliant.
21:34Paul Henry did a brilliant job with clouds.
21:37You really felt the form coming backwards and forwards as a 3D object.
21:41That's a complicated thing to sort of just do in very quick brushstrokes.
21:46I haven't gone down that line quite so much on this,
21:49but I've just given a sense that the slight shadows under the cloud,
21:52you know, the light hits the top.
22:00Coming out to Ackill, it helps get a sense of the overall place.
22:04If you're at Westport, you're kind of underneath the mountain,
22:06you're almost in it.
22:08You come out here and you realise, actually,
22:10it's a vast expanse of islands.
22:12So it's really nice to have a sense of the whole place
22:14because then it informs a little bit more
22:16what you're doing with Kropatryk.
22:26I'm kind of in a quandary at the moment
22:28because I've kind of got it nice and gestural
22:29and I feel like if I keep working on it,
22:31it's going to tighten up.
22:34I think I'm happy to end now.
22:50On the rural coastline of County Mayo,
22:53winner of Landscape Artist of the Year, Kim Day,
22:56is researching her prize commission.
23:04Known for its ever-changing mood,
23:06the landscape surrounding Kropatryk
23:08has long inspired the work of artists, poets and writers.
23:14Keen to weave a sense of emotion into her work,
23:17Kim is meeting award-winning Irish author Mike McCormack.
23:22Hi.
23:23Hello, Kim. How are you?
23:24I'm happy to meet you.
23:25Whose novels are set here in the landscape of the West Coast.
23:31Welcome to the west of Ireland.
23:33Thank you. It's great to be here.
23:34This is where I spent my childhood.
23:36I lived in a house just about 100 yards back the road
23:40and we're right here under Kropatryk.
23:43Literally, it was straight outside my back door.
23:45It came to your back door, yeah.
23:47So the mountain's always been present in my visual imagination,
23:51literary imagination, religious imagination.
23:54When I was a child, there was a night pilgrimage.
23:57If we looked over at the pilgrim path,
23:59it just became a continuous stream of light.
24:02People going up with flashlights.
24:04Oh, that must have been magical.
24:06It does look like something out of a film set.
24:08God, I wish I could have been in your shoes there.
24:12Yeah, that was very striking.
24:14On a day like today, it's kind of shrouded in mist
24:17and it kind of retires away into itself.
24:20And then there are other days when the light fills with moisture
24:25and it just seems to magnify it and make it more vivid.
24:29Yeah, it's almost like right next to you.
24:31Oh, like a giant.
24:32You could reach out and leave your hand on the side of it.
24:34We have that reach, as we call it, to our back.
24:37Yeah.
24:37And we have the sea to our front.
24:39We live between those two things.
24:41Yeah.
24:41I think there's something really beautiful
24:43about being on this kind of divide
24:44of two huge elemental things.
24:48Oh, absolutely, yeah.
24:49And it was kind of the massive ambient presence in our life
24:53and it had mood and colour.
24:55Yeah.
24:56Sometimes it was brown and sometimes it was slate blue.
24:59Yeah.
24:59As a painter, I'm fascinated by that,
25:02by the way, you know, light can affect colour.
25:05Yeah.
25:06I've lived away from here for over 30 years now.
25:09But every time I put pen to paper, you know,
25:12my pen just veers off in this direction
25:15to this landscape, to these mountains.
25:18So it has this magnetism.
25:20It casts light and shadow,
25:23not just on us but within us as well.
25:26This is our sacred mountain.
25:28This will stick with me for a long time.
25:35Keen to put these thoughts down in paint,
25:37Kim has come to nearby Bertra Bay,
25:40a narrow sandy peninsula two and a half kilometres long,
25:44known for its striking views of Crowpatrick.
25:50We have just gone from grey cloud cover and mist to stunning
25:55and the green's almost like fluorescent green.
26:04It was wonderful talking to Mike.
26:06It's just really lovely to get a kind of first-hand sense of place,
26:10just being on the edge of the Atlantic,
26:13backed up by a great big mountain,
26:15and being part of his being, you know.
26:18It's just inside of everybody that lives here.
26:25It's a nice spot here, partly because you've got
26:27this beautiful graphic element of the grass.
26:31There's a point where the glowing green grass
26:34just intersects with the houses,
26:37so it's like a full stop,
26:38and then you look straight up into the mountains.
26:42The mountain is like some kind of slumbering creature.
26:45There is this kind of mythical element to it,
26:48like you can just imagine it suddenly waking and yawning,
26:52you know.
26:53It's almost like it's protecting the village.
26:55It's nice to think of it in this way,
26:57like it's there for the people,
27:00and they take care of it too.
27:03Using the pens and crayons is just a nice way
27:06to add a little bit more texture.
27:08It gives a little bit more depth.
27:10But yeah, it just adds a bit more interest, I think.
27:19The sketch is great in terms of being able to remember
27:23certain elements of the light
27:25and the shifting nature of it.
27:27I think I can take those things
27:29and bring them into the commission.
27:31It's very easy to, you know,
27:33go off on your distracted, painted trail.
27:36So it would be good to have it there.
27:38Just keep that in mind.
27:48Since the time of St. Patrick,
27:50the mountain has become an important site
27:53of pilgrimage for Christians.
27:56And now over 100,000 people
27:58climb to the summit each year.
28:04Today, Kim will make her own artistic pilgrimage.
28:11I'm really excited to get up there
28:12and just experience the mountain first-hand.
28:16I don't know in terms of fitness.
28:17I think I'll find out on the way, won't I?
28:21I have to carry up my board
28:24to do my painting on,
28:25and I don't want to put it in my bag,
28:27so I've just taped it on.
28:28Hopefully it won't sail me away
28:30with the wind at the top.
28:32Like Kim, today's pilgrims
28:35aren't necessarily inspired
28:37by religion or faith.
28:40Hi, Kim. How are you?
28:41Lovely to meet you.
28:42Likewise.
28:43Welcome to Kropatry.
28:44For locals Louise Killeen,
28:46Jean and Jean-Anne,
28:48the ancient pilgrimage
28:49has taken on a more 21st-century significance.
28:54In terms of living here,
28:55is the mountain important to you?
28:57It is.
28:57In the last number of years,
28:59the amount of, we'd say,
29:01charitable events has exploded.
29:04I actually did an event myself.
29:06Okay.
29:07This great idea of a bra chain
29:09was put to me by the charity
29:11that I support, Mayo Cancer Support.
29:13A bra chain?
29:14A bra chain, yeah.
29:15I have some of the photographs
29:17from the day.
29:18We were hoping to achieve
29:20the longest bra chain in the world.
29:22Just went round in random circles.
29:23I just want to imagine
29:24what that would look like.
29:25Yeah, yeah.
29:26I personally had gone through
29:28a cancer journey.
29:29Being on the mountain
29:30is like being in life.
29:32You know, you experience everything
29:33from joy, happiness,
29:35to like pain, sadness,
29:39and it's different for everybody.
29:41It was fantastic,
29:42the response we got.
29:44It was such a great
29:45way to increase awareness
29:46about breast cancer.
29:48I feel that people who,
29:50you know, come here
29:51with their charities,
29:52it's almost like
29:52their own pilgrimage, really.
29:54Absolutely.
29:57It was so lovely meeting Louise.
30:00Her relation to the mountain
30:01was that it was there for her
30:03when she needed something
30:04that she could rely on.
30:06I think anyone who's going through
30:08any kind of emotional challenge
30:09in their life,
30:10getting out and walking,
30:12there's just something about
30:13the simplicity of it.
30:16You get a bit of perspective.
30:28I don't know whether it's just
30:30all the oxygen you're breathing,
30:31but you're slightly lightheaded.
30:33But the views, you know,
30:34it changes every minute.
30:35You've got something new to look at.
30:37Just stunning.
30:43Everyone who's coming down
30:44seems in such good spirits.
30:46I'm hoping it's going to be the same.
30:49Is this your first time
30:50in this part of art?
30:51Yeah, I mean,
30:51I've been around Ireland,
30:52but this is my first time
30:53at Westport,
30:54and we went to Ackle Island as well,
30:56so it's just beautiful.
30:58There's 365 islands in that bay.
31:01Right.
31:02One for every day of the year.
31:03It's a beautiful part of the world.
31:05It's the Wild West out here.
31:07All right, enjoy the trip.
31:10Bye-bye.
31:11Bye-bye.
31:15Sometimes I get a bit vertigo-y,
31:17so I'm a bit like,
31:18I'm not going to look too much
31:20at the view,
31:20because I'm like,
31:22wee-wee-wee.
31:24But it is absolutely stunning.
31:35For 1,500 years,
31:37pilgrims have been climbing
31:38these 746-metre slopes,
31:42traditionally in bare feet.
31:46Can I ask you
31:47why you're doing it
31:48with your bare feet?
31:49I do it just to remember things
31:51that have happened in my life,
31:53and it focuses the mind.
31:55You have to tread carefully
31:56about things you do.
31:57Yeah.
31:58Well, I hope the rest of your journey
31:59just goes smoothly.
32:01I'm not ready.
32:01We're about to go yet.
32:02Yeah, yeah.
32:04After a three-hour hike,
32:08Kim finally reaches the summit.
32:13Woo!
32:19Gosh.
32:22That's tremendous.
32:27It's beautiful.
32:29You feel like you're
32:29at the centre of the world,
32:31just seeing this view.
32:35It's almost like you get,
32:36like, a taste of the planet.
32:44To open up the chapel,
32:46built in 1905,
32:47is priest in charge,
32:49Father John Kenney.
32:53Hello.
32:54You're welcome.
32:55So nice to meet you, Ken.
32:57Lovely to meet you too.
32:58We call this St Patrick's Oridry.
33:00OK, yeah.
33:01There he is.
33:01And you've climbed to the summit.
33:03Yes.
33:04Well done.
33:05Congratulations.
33:06It's not an easy task.
33:08We come here on pilgrimage.
33:10You can see we're setting up here
33:12for a little prayer service now.
33:13Yeah.
33:13It makes the visit to the mountain
33:15special for people.
33:16It feels particularly special
33:18in here as well.
33:19Yes.
33:19It's just like a,
33:20I don't know,
33:21yeah, all tingly.
33:22It's a very special place.
33:23And because it's such a holy mountain
33:26and a place of pilgrimage as well,
33:27we like to respect it.
33:29Yeah, I mean,
33:29it's such a beautiful space.
33:31What would you say
33:32the power of the pilgrimage is?
33:34It's appealing, I think,
33:35because everyone has a journey in life.
33:37Mm-hmm.
33:38And even people who come here,
33:40they might be doing it
33:40for a sporting reason,
33:42they might be doing it
33:43for a sponsorship,
33:44apart at all from doing it
33:45for religious reasons.
33:47Yeah.
33:47It turns into a connection with nature
33:49and you have to feel close to nature
33:52when you're on a mountain.
33:53Yeah.
33:53Yeah.
34:00Kim decides to set up
34:01just below the summit
34:02to do the final study of her trip.
34:06We're just looking across
34:07the side of the mountain
34:09before you get to the really high peak.
34:15The island shapes are really unusual
34:18and they're kind of wispy.
34:20They look like paintbrush marks.
34:24It almost feels slightly fantastical.
34:27I mean, if you did this for a fantasy film,
34:29you know, you'd be like,
34:30yeah, someone made that up.
34:36The sea is just kind of
34:37a really funny colour.
34:39I mean, you might look at it
34:40and go, oh, it's kind of blue,
34:41but it's actually sort of like a silvery grey
34:45with a kind of slight lilac-iness to it.
34:49It's interesting.
34:51Sometimes it's good to actually
34:53not go for the drama
34:55and just think about the palette
34:56and just the sense of, like,
34:59softness that you see.
35:00Yeah, it's just sort of like
35:02the kind of greeny, goldy, brown.
35:09Thinking about this being a place
35:11of pilgrimage and penance,
35:12there's a darkness
35:13to where that stems from.
35:15I think that maybe
35:16there should be something
35:17that describes that darker side
35:19of your interior self
35:21through colour.
35:23I don't know if I can do
35:24all of those things
35:25in a painting,
35:27but I will think about it.
35:31I'm leaving it that simple.
35:48As a final farewell,
35:51Kim has come to enjoy
35:51some traditional Irish music
35:53and a song written by local musicians
35:55about their beloved mountain,
35:57Crowpatrick.
36:02Oh, sticks for their weight
36:04Well, they'll help you
36:06They'll keep you from falling
36:09and breaking your neck
36:11Nice and busy
36:14That's the old trick
36:16You'll stick to the padlock
36:19Being here and meeting
36:23and talking to so many people,
36:25it's just got such a lovely energy here.
36:28You're not waiting
36:30To save your scent
36:33And then just the landscape itself,
36:35you know,
36:36as a separate thing entirely,
36:37it's profoundly beautiful.
36:40One step forward
36:42Put your sight back to
36:44Get the way that's your bottle
36:47I'm really conscious
36:49of an English girl
36:51coming to Ireland
36:52painting this sacred place, really.
36:55As much as I don't want
36:56to let myself down,
36:57I want the people here
36:59to feel like I understand them
37:02and their place
37:03and I hopefully achieve that.
37:07MUSIC PLAYS
37:08MUSIC PLAYS
37:12CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
37:26Back from her trip to Ireland,
37:28winner of Landscape Artist of the Year
37:30Kim Day
37:30has begun work on her prize commission
37:33to paint a view of Crowpatrick,
37:35the country's sacred mountain.
37:42Coming to the decision of what to paint
37:44is difficult
37:44because there's part of your head
37:46which is going,
37:47I know what I can do
37:47that's pleasing to people
37:49and it's like avoiding
37:51too much of that.
37:56The view that I decided to go with
37:59was as you're starting
38:01on the beginning of the path
38:03to walk up Crowpatrick,
38:04for me the idea was
38:06this sense of taking a path,
38:08going on a journey
38:09and sort of not really knowing
38:11the end destination.
38:12I just liked the idea of it.
38:17I really wanted to add
38:19the drama of light into it
38:21which is slightly also the metaphor
38:23of the path of light
38:25and the faith
38:26and, you know,
38:28showing the way.
38:29MUSIC PLAYS
38:34I put the sketches up here
38:35just because it's just nice
38:36to have a quick reference, really.
38:41I think with the painting at Alco
38:43the clouds are such a big deal.
38:45They're just these big billowy,
38:47round, cotton wall clouds.
38:49It's definitely come back
38:50into the main painting.
38:51MUSIC PLAYS
38:55I have St. Patrick
38:57guiding my way here.
38:58He's doing his best for me, I think.
39:01He's here, present,
39:02as witness to my painting.
39:06It's just a real mixture
39:07of feelings for the unveiling.
39:09I think I just want people
39:10to feel it more than
39:12it be about the painting.
39:14It's just that kind of
39:15the energy and the light.
39:16That would be
39:17the best result for me, I think.
39:26MUSIC PLAYS
39:28Today, Kim's winning commission
39:30will be unveiled
39:30at the National Gallery of Ireland
39:32in Dublin.
39:35It's a month
39:36since she visited County Mayo
39:37and her artwork
39:38is now complete.
39:41It feels a bit crazy
39:43being in this position,
39:44having my painting
39:45at the National Gallery of Ireland.
39:47I feel really proud of myself.
39:49I just feel like,
39:50oh, wow, Kim,
39:51like you're here.
39:52I think when it comes
39:53to the actual unveiling,
39:55my head will just be
39:56a bit all over the place.
39:57But, no,
39:58I think I'm going to enjoy it,
40:00hopefully.
40:03As an audience of friends,
40:05gallery staff
40:06and volunteers gather
40:07in the impressive shore room,
40:09there are three guests
40:10in particular
40:11who've been looking forward
40:12to this moment.
40:16I'm really curious
40:17about what Kim's done
40:19because we've seen her work
40:20quite small,
40:21but I wonder
40:22if she's going to go bold.
40:23It's really frustrating
40:24not having seen
40:26the painting yet.
40:27I have so many questions.
40:29Yes.
40:29And I'm excited.
40:31I mean,
40:31Kim was always really gifted
40:32at capturing the spirit
40:34of a place,
40:34but Corpatrick
40:35is a place
40:35that she didn't know.
40:36And I've just zipped
40:37around here.
40:38Apart from the local boy,
40:39Yates,
40:39we've got, you know,
40:40Caravaggio,
40:41Rembrandt,
40:42Vermeer.
40:43So there's a lot of pressure.
40:47Ladies and gentlemen,
40:48welcome to this very special occasion.
40:50It's the unveiling
40:51of our Landscape Artist of the Year,
40:54Kim Day's prize artwork
40:56of Ireland's beloved
40:57holy mountain,
40:58Crowpatrick.
40:59I've spent many summers
41:01in Mayo
41:01and I've been up and down
41:02Crowpatrick a few times
41:04and it's not to be underestimated
41:06the achievement
41:06of just getting up and down
41:07the thing,
41:08let alone having a go
41:09at painting it.
41:10Before we see
41:11the finished piece,
41:12we're going to hear
41:12from the man
41:13who commissioned it,
41:14Brendan Rooney.
41:15How are you feeling,
41:15Brendan?
41:16I'm very excited.
41:17We're looking forward to it
41:18and it's nice to be doing it
41:19with a lot of people here
41:20as well.
41:21There is a real excitement
41:22in the room.
41:22Do you have any idea
41:23what's under here?
41:25I think it's a painting.
41:28You look so relaxed, Kim.
41:30Are you feeling relaxed?
41:31Yeah, kind of.
41:32I mean, it's strange.
41:34Right, well,
41:34let's not prolong the agony
41:35any longer, shall we?
41:36Right, here we go.
41:38Three, two, one.
41:44Wow!
42:00Brendan, the initial thoughts?
42:02I'm delighted.
42:03The first thing that strikes me
42:04is the canvas and the frame
42:06can't contain the mountain,
42:07which is terrific.
42:08It's a landmark of huge
42:10cultural and historical
42:11and religious significance,
42:13so it can't be contained.
42:15It was also the idea of journeys
42:16and that you don't always know
42:18the end destination,
42:19but you take it anyway.
42:20And that's the wonderful thing
42:21about the pilgrimages.
42:22One very atmospheric painting.
42:25Congratulations.
42:26It's wonderful.
42:27Ladies and gentlemen,
42:28Kim Day.
42:43Kim, I think it's a gorgeous painting.
42:45It's got this fogginess
42:46and fuzziness
42:47that we love
42:47in your use of textures.
42:49I love all the symbolism
42:50that's there,
42:51the little souls,
42:52ascending to heaven.
42:53Yeah.
42:53So the whole religious sense
42:55of atonement
42:56and trying to right wrong,
42:58for me,
42:58it was about the soul of people.
43:00I was looking at the lights,
43:02the burning lights.
43:03It really glows
43:03from a distance.
43:04Yeah.
43:07I'm delighted.
43:08We're looking forward to showing it to the public.
43:10People say sometimes
43:11that landscapes can look
43:12as if they're alive,
43:13you know,
43:13they're breathing things
43:15and it does have that impression.
43:17It's terrific.
43:20I'm absolutely delighted
43:21by Kim's work.
43:23The idea of cutting the mountain
43:24off at the top,
43:25it went beyond your scope of vision
43:27and so you had to go into yourself
43:30and that's what this mountain's about.
43:32It's so inventive
43:33and it really sings.
43:37I'm really proud of what she's achieved.
43:40It's just such a significant moment for her
43:42in her career
43:44and I think she's really grown
43:45in this competition
43:46so it's been a really wonderful journey
43:48for us to witness.
43:52She has stepped up
43:54and given us something
43:54that will sit very confidently
43:56in these Hallows Halls.
43:58It's not easy being a judge.
44:00We have some incredible artists
44:01that come through the programme
44:02and you never ever really know
44:05until that red curtain comes off
44:09but today, you know,
44:11I think Kim really did
44:12all three judges
44:12very, very proud.
44:16It's such an amazing thing.
44:18I feel really high.
44:19There's been something
44:20about doing work
44:21over the series
44:23that has kind of pushed me
44:24a little bit
44:24and so I've really
44:25I've learnt quite a lot
44:27about myself, I think,
44:29and also about
44:31what I want to do
44:32going forward.
44:34So, yeah,
44:35it's been truly
44:36a magical thing.
44:40If you'd like to find out
44:42more about next year's competition
44:43and the work
44:44of the featured artists,
44:46visit skyartsartistoftheyear.tv
45:18where you've been
45:18You can do it
45:19from the end.
45:19So, yeah,
45:27Transcription by CastingWords
Comments