Ursula Boylan O’Gara

Ursula Boylan O'Gara was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1936. From an early age, Ursula and her late brother Steve, instinctively knew how to draw. However, although her parents encouraged art, to earn a living by art was difficult in post second world war years and so she studied business methods and worked within the world of commerce. Having spent several years as a private secretary, she resigned and studied journalism. She worked for a year with Heibon-sha Publishers in Tokyo, preparing material for Japanese children to promote friendship and peace between children all over the world. In 1970 she studied physiotherapy in the U.K., worked for a while in a hospital then opened her own health and sports clinic. Two years later, a serious disc lesion compelled her to scale down her work and on medical advice, she closed her clinic. During those early years, she still retained her passion for art and painted at every opportunity. She received art instruction from an old school friend of her late father, George Collie, Royal Hibernian Academy, in his studio in Schoolhouse Lane, Dublin - returning some years later to study technique. She attended the former College of Art, Kildare Street, Dublin in the early fifties. In the mid-sixties she met the renowned artist Thomas Ryan, Past President, Royal Hibernian Academy, Hon RA, Hon RSA, who gave her solid advice and constructive criticism of her work. Having painted in watercolours in the early years, she switched to oils, which became her medium thereafter. She exhibited her work in several galleries in Dublin, including: The Combridge Gallery, Grafton St., Dublin Guinness Brewery, St. James’ Gate First Active PLC - Supporting the Arts The Killakee Gallery The Iveagh Trust Exhibition The Rocky Valley Studio The Merrion Gallery. The Martello Room, Jurys Hotel, Dublin -opened by Thomas Ryan, PPRHA The Montserrat Gallery, Soho, New York The Amsterdam Gallery Chelsea, New York. Her exhibition of paintings at The Amsterdam Whitney Gallery Chelsea, New York City received television coverage Ursula Boylan O'Gara was interviewed for the NYC TV Show - "Streets of New York" in June 2006 Her work was shown on Irish National Television on an RTE Mike Murphy TV Show - "Will The Real Ursula O'Gara Stand-up!"Future exhibitions: Biennale Internazionale dell’Arte Contemporanea Citta de Firenza - Italia -Jan 2008 The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh – late 2005 Art Domain Gallery, Leipzig, Germany - September 2006. Ursula Boylan O'Gara Received the Certificate of Excellence in recognition and appreciation of the outstanding originality of Art and the Palm Art Award 2006 Silver Medal. The Award was presented by Ulrich Goette Himmelblau Director of Art Domain Gallery, Leipzig, Germany, February 16th 2007 The Palm Art Awards were filmed by Alekto-Film for German Television In 2002, Ursula was awarded the status of State Registered Artist - a consideration given by the Irish Government to artists who show creative and original work under Section 195, Taxes Consolidation Act, whereby the artist submits work of cultural and artistic merit and is awarded Artists Exemption. Married to Donal, a retired Aer Lingus/GPA/Ryanair Avionic Engineer, they have two grown-up daughters, Miriam and Adrienne, both of whom live in the U.K.