Passion is probably the word used more than any other to describe Glenbeigh, Co Kerry-based artist Pauline Bewick. Those who have met the tall, striking blond with the enchanting gap in her front teeth say she has a passion for her work, her opinions, her family and every project in which she is involved. This firm sense of self, and self-belief, comes through in all her interviews and appearances.

Bewick’s unusual outlook may be due to her unconventional upbringing. Her mother, Harry, abandoned her alcoholic husband in England to raise Pauline and her sister Hazel on a small farm in Kerry. After a few years, they wandered Wales and England living in a caravan, railway cottage, houseboat, gate lodge and workman’s hut while the young girls attended a variety of progressive schools.

Without bounds
Pauline began painting at the age of two and was strongly encouraged by her mother. Works from this period survive thanks to Harry’s love and caretaking. The mother saw her daughter’s potential. She would say things like: “You are a genius; no need to wash up, you go and paint.”

Most people are told what not to do from a young age but Bewick’s freedom allowed her to feel that anything is possible. The artist is not limited by one medium – she paints and creates pottery, linocuts, bronzes, wall hangings and tapestries and has written several books – and she does it all from three large studios.

Pat Hayes, writing on the artist for Kenny’s bookshop, says of Bewick’s style: “These dream-like, hypnotic images of the beauty and cruelty of nature, female (and sometimes male) sexuality, fascination with cultures and religion, are images which will remain forever an integral part of the artistic canon which Ireland has given to the world.”

Bewick is probably best known for two exhibitions: Two to Fifty, a retrospective of 1,500 of her works during those ages at the Guinness Hop Store in 1985, and Yellow Man at the Royal Hibernian Academy Dublin in 1996. Yellow Man was a series of paintings and a book that are “based on her ideal being”.

Operatic inspirations
The prolific creator continues to paint and work in other media but lately opera has taken her fancy. Perhaps not surprisingly, the septuagenarian was inspired by the passionate, true love story of painter Oscar Kokoschka and Alma Mahler, the widow of composer Gustav.

Kokoschka was madly in love with Mrs Mahler and, early in their relationship, he illustrated swan skin fans as a sign of his love. The widow was not enamoured and rebuffed him, saying that only if he painted a masterpiece in her honour would she marry him. The artist painted a massive work called Bride of the Wind but Mahler rejected it.

It was war-time so a devastated Kokoschka went off to battle like many of his contemporaries. He was wounded and sent home but, although hopeful her love would return, he was still turned away. In response, the artist had a life-size doll made in her image. He took his highly customised Alma Mahler doll everywhere with him for three years – to the opera, to parties and even on railway carriages.

I won’t give the ending away but, from this nugget of the story, Bewick came up with the opera’s scenario, designed sets featuring swan fans and convinced some pretty heavy-hitters that the opera Bride of the Wind was worth doing.

A section of the opera was commissioned, ‘The Arrival of the Doll’, and it was performed by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra on RTÉ’s Lyric FM. The music was composed by the renowned Raymond Deane and conducted by Fergus Sheil, with libretto Gavin Kostick from Fishamble Theatre, soprano Sylvia O’Brien and baritone Owen Gilhooly.

Energetic and quick
When the opera was broadcast, Bewick told RTÉ how thrilled she was about the project: “I am pretty old and I find it as exciting as anything I have found when I was young. You don’t get that feeling ‘been there, done that’ with this. No way! It’s terribly exciting.”

At age 75 – but looking closer to 60 – she says she is often too energetic and quick for her husband, psychiatrist Tom Melia. Years ago, she decided to sleep in her studio so she could be close to her work and apply any ideas she had immediately.

Bewick has plenty of work left to do. The artist is writing more of the opera with Deane and has been asked to exhibit her work at the highly prestigious Florence Biennale this year.

In Sept 2010, a major exhibition of her work will take place at the Taylor Galleries, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, in conjunction with the publication of a book on her life.