Artist draws on childhood farming memories for paintings (2025)

Growing up on a dairy farm back in the days when the milking parlour was located really close to the farmer’s house, artist Nano Culliton would waken in the summer months to the sound of her dad singing to the cows while milking – a cherished memory that went on to influence her paintings.

According to Culliton: “He allowed me into the pit with him. He said I was too small to worry the cows.

“He died when I was nine. We had to give up the cows then and the land was rented to a local farmer.”

“I think that time really impacted on me as I paint cows and landscapes all the time. I love the peace and sense of self this gives me.”

The artist grew up in Grange Lodge, Mountmellick, Co. Laois, and now lives in Cork city, where she has her own studio and works part-time in St Michael’s Credit Union. She and her husband Steve, who builds models as a hobby, have three adult children.

“I’ve been painting continuously for more than 30 years, it’s the pivot around which my life moves.”

“I have a wonderful supportive husband who has always encouraged me and taken on the household stuff so that I have time to paint,” Culliton said.

Using oils, mostly on canvas, she works from photographs, sketches and small colour studies she does from life,

“I find the painting can be a bit flat if I don’t do some studies on-site,” she explained.

Culliton has exhibited all over Ireland, and has also done a lot of commission work over the years, as she finds that “most people come back for another painting”.

“I took a break from all commission work for the last 15 months to focus on painting for a solo exhibition. I had an exhibition in On The Pig’s Back Café in Douglas, Cork, in January. “

Next up is an exhibition in Abbeyleix Library gallery in Co. Laois from May 1 -31, which will be opened by artist Gemma Guihan.

Culliton will also have paintings exhibited in the Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise towards the end of the year. She said the year has been “exciting and slight scary”.

The artist chose Abbeyleix as a venue for her exhibition because she always looked at the window of the library gallery as she drove through the Co. Laois town and wanted to hang her work there.

“It feels very exposed to have your beloved paintings on display for all to see, but I’m very proud of these paintings. I feel very confident about them,” she said.

Prices range from €150 to €600, as Culliton said: “I genuinely try to keep the prices under control so the paintings are accessible to everyone.”

She greatly admires the work of Edward Hopper and Klimt as well as stained glass artist, Harry Clarke, Ita Freeney, Tom Clement and Vivienne Bogan.

Culliton also said that she is a Baháʼí, with her paintings feeding into her religious worship.

“That’s my religion. I’ve been a Baháʼí since my early 20s. In the Baháʼí faith, work is elevated to the station of worship, so I feel my paintings are a form of worship, celebration, a rejoining in the joy of the natural world, the smell of the land after rain, the feel of an early morning walk with the grass soaking your ankles,” she explained.