Dublin Artist Captures the Arans

Island Images Weave Rings of Silver and Gold
Special to The Irish American Post

The Ring of Aran, a natural companion to the claddagh, celebrates the heritage and culture of the Aran Islands. Created in time for Ireland's millennium celebration, the first Aran ring was presented by designer Thomas Taaffe Brady and Declan McDonnell, mayor of Galway, to 105-year-old Bridget Dirrane, on Jan. 1. 

Ireland's most senior citizen, Dirrane, is a native Irish speaker from the Aran island of Inishmore, who witnessed three centuries of life when the new year rolled around. She now lives in Saint Francis' Nursing Home, Newcastle, Galway City.

The ring was presented to Dirrane who emigrated to the U.S. in 1927 and was a campaign worker for John F. Kennedy in his run for the presidency, She spent many years of her working life in the Boston area and recalled her lifestory in A Woman of Aran, by Rose O' Connell and John Mahon (Blackwater Press, Dublin).

She returned to the Aran islands after 59 years of living in the States and has been visited by the former U.S. Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, and also by her brother Sen. Edward Kennedy.

"My parents, two brothers and I often traveled to Galway during our school holidays where we stayed in beautiful Connemara on the shores of the Atlantic," he related. His summers were spent learning Irish, swimming, or playing on sandy braches, fishing, or watching turf boats -- the Galway Hookers -- sailing to and from the Aran islands or watching the local people going about their daily lives. "The Aran Islands are Galway Bay's crown of pearls," he enthused. 

The idea of the ring came up in 1998 after a visit to the Aran Islands that year, his first expedition there since he was a teenager. "The magical Celtic energy of the rugged and wind-swept landscape reinspired me. Creativity flowed when I returned to my studio," recalled.
Subsequently, Brady wanted to either illustrate an Aran image for his heritage print collection or design jewelry that would celebrate the heritage and culture of the islands. Deciding on the latter process, he figured that a ring would be best.

As a child, he said he had always wondered where the turf boats were traveling as they sailed back and forth into Galway Bay. "I remember asking a local fisherman here where the boats were heading. He said, 'those boats were sailing to the land of Tír na nÓg, land of eternal youth.' This was a magical response for a child to hear, an image I never forgot," Brady said.
"Not being an islander myself, I was very conscious that the first ring produced should be given to a native Aran islander. I was most honored when Dirrane received the first Ring of Aran on the first day of the new century," he added. The elderly woman cannot not now be persuaded to remove the ring, Brady said. "She is wedded to it," he laughed.

In the early 1980s, Brady studied graphic design at the Dublin's College of Marketing and Design and advertising at the city's College of Commerce. As a student under the tutelage of distinguished Irish artist George Collie, Brady picked up the high points of fine art.

After college, he worked as a junior designer in a couple of small Dublin design studios and as a designer specializing in TV graphics for a Dublin video production company. He then worked for a Dublin ad agency before deciding to go it alone in 1986. 

Brady now works from his home in the Dublin suburb of Ranelagh and exhibits his work only at trade shows,with sales through retail outlets. His illustration work is for the tourist and corporate gift markets. Recently, he was commissioned to illustrate the famous thoroughbred racehorse, Vintage Crop, for the Irish National Stud.The horse is owned by Irish industrialist Michael Smurfit. Brady's Salmon of Knowledge image is also used as a corporate gift by the Jefferson Smurfit Corporation.
 
 

How It's done Thomas Taaffe Brady's jewelry is manufactured by Jewel Art of Dublin and is available in sterling silver and all carats of gold, with each ring accompanied by a romance card explaining in Irish and English the story of its origin. It takes Brady up to half a day to craft each Ring of Aran, saying said he was inspired by the Celtic god of love, as well by images of the wild Irish salmon and the knots on the Aran sweater. Depending on the extent of precious metal in each piece, the silver rings range from$52 to $208 and gold rings retail from $52 to $285. To find out more about the Ring of Arran, contact Jewel Art, 6 Maple St., Northboro, Mass., 01532, (508-531-8681 or e-mail: USA@JewelArt.ie). Brady can also be contact directly at  info@irishimages.com.