Kevin McSherry

I paint because I want to speak with you. I teach because I want to connect with you.

I started drawing very early. In fact I can’t remember exactly when. We all drew, my brothers, sister and I. We used to lay on the kitchen floor with a piece of paper and colouring pencils, absorbed in creating pictures for mum. Mum would be ironing or making something for lunch in the kitchen and the BBC would be on the radio. I was fascinated by what my eldest brother could draw initially -he was naturally gifted and bright, so we had to work hard to keep up!

After a school life, where I was largely absent in spirit, I was politely invited not to come back after the summer break at the end of my ‘O’ level exams. I was sixteen years old. Furthermore, the prevailing attitude at the time was that it’s impossible to make a living through art (there’s more than a grain of truth in that). I had absolutely no idea of what to do with myself after school ended.

For many years, my illustration work appeared  regularly in the Irish Times, Sunday Business Post and the Wall Street Journal, amongst many other papers. You can look at my illustrative work here.  I loved most of the work I did for those papers

I helped set up and establish the Illustrators Guild of Ireland and was Chairman for the first five years of its existence.

I’ve been involved in exhibitions in Le Louvre in Paris and the International Cultural Centre of the City of Nantes. My work hangs in the British National Collection.