Art Books

O'Donoghue/Ross and his family collaborate on creating unique art books of an unusual nature. They are widely appreciated and highly sought after volumes.

The photo here shows a selection of books on display in an exhibition of O'Donoghue/Ross at Mallow Castle.

In completing these magical books, O'Donoghue/Ross avails of different methods to create the pages. He may combine a number of individual watercolours into a bound volume, or he will create digital images, printed on vellum. His daughter D'Ana is assigned the task of affixing these to heavy handmade Indian paper, which O'Donoghue/Ross then works on further to add individual motifs and annotations. Upon completion, D'Ana varnishes and polishes the pages to give them a soft, golden finish. When the pages are ready, D'Ana binds pairs of them together with fine canvas and sews them into a signature to make the pages into a 'book'.

Eoghan, in the meantime, has been creating the chosen cover or box for the book, be it of steel, wood, leather or ivory resin. He works with his father in deciding the choice of embellishment, including hammering the steel, carving the wood, fitting the leather, casting the design in pewter or ivory resin, adding materials such as foil, molten glass, or even gemstones.

O'Donoghue/Ross was commissioned by the noted collector, Robert Pierse of Listowel, Co Kerry, to create one of his most ambitious books, a Homage to Ancient Irish Manuscripts, which has been on display at several venues, including the Downpatrick Centre in Northern Ireland at Easter in 2003. A facsimile of the famous 8th century manuscript, the Books of Kells, also in Mr. Pierse's collection, was on display as well; but the crowds came to see the Homage. For the length of the exhibition, they waited in long lines to view it.

To view the Art Books Gallery, click here