Athlone man wins ÉIRÍ arts competition

Athlone native Lee Fenlon was recently named one of the winners of the EÍRÍ arts competition which was created to raise awareness of inspirational female figures from Irish mythology.

It was conceived and organised by Athlone-born Professor Ralph Kenna, co-director of L4, an international collaboration of four universities, one being Coventry University, and the Irish Post newspaper in the UK.

Lee, who is also the resident Stain Glass faciliator for Athlone Family Resource Centre created a glass art piece of Boand, goddess of the River Boyne, based on descriptions and lore from old Irish poems. He also included an ancient Newgrange in the background.

Speaking of his surprise to be named one of the winners of the arts competition, Lee said: “To say I was shocked when I got the e-mail telling me I was one of the winners is understating it. I was delighted with the news and midweek the Irish post officially announced the results with write-ups on the entries and artists which were quite humbling and exciting at the same time.”

“I chose Boand, goddess of the River Boyne for two reasons, the first being that when researching for a previous project on Sinann, goddess of the River Shannon, both hers and Boand's stories were almost identical. Descriptions like headstrong and defiant were similar phrases along with the tale of the rising rivers at Connla's Well and the nine hazel trees. After reading poetry recently translated from old Irish on the Story Archelogy site concerning Boand I got descriptions such as 'white breasted' and 'sea cow' also describing white or pale. I used these along with a reference to a trusty wolfhound and of course Newgrange on the Boyne to build up the piece.”

Lee also chose the goddess of the River Boyne because his mother's maiden name was Boyne.

Lee, who now lives in Walderstown, first began producing the glass art of Boand in May 2022 and finished the project in early October. He started learning about stained glass in December 2018.

“My brother had bought all the required tools and some glass in 2012 and actually taught himself with the help of YouTube. He had put it all to one side after a health scare and when he saw me trying to be detailed, making mosaic steps for my garden in 2018, he suggested I give the glass a try given all the tools were there gathering dust. He taught me the rules and limits of glass cutting, patterns, different types of glass and all the other steps in making a finished piece. It took off from there with the intention of making windows for around my house when I was skilled enough but months later I posted a picture showing off a window I made on Facebook and a lot of friends liked and were interested in it so I've posted all my work there since.”

The former Athlone Community College student was approached by a friend in the Athlone Family Resource Centre about running a class for them after learning about glass art. "I gladly jumped at the chance. The centre was making an outdoor sensory area so it was decided that the groups would make a set of three windows to fit in three window openings in that area. The first window, the Butterfly Window is framed and in place in the sensory area, the second 'Bee' window is on my bench 80% complete and will be finished soon.

"The third window has yet to be drawn out and started but I have a few ideas for the last one. The groups the centre put together for the projects were a good mix of people, all engaged and taking great interest in the work, the resulting windows showing that effort. That said, there were great chats, laughs and oceans of tea drank with all groups."

He likes all styles of stained glass work. "I'd go from trying to make something Tiffany style with vibrant flowers and landscapes to trying to modernize the subject such as iconic musicians. I've currently got Freddie Mercury on my table waiting to be finished. I like the challenge of making the face and pose resemble the picture or photo, almost like a glass photograph," he said.