I was an A&E nurse in Cork hospital for 15 years, now I’m an artist

ÚNA Keating didn’t always want to be a nurse, but she was a damn good one.

“I worked full time in A&E as a senior nurse for 15 years and I loved it,” says Úna, who has three grown-up children.

“It was a privilege to be able to do that, and then the game was up.”

Úna turned to art after a serious injury. Working on her felting for a year, she had her first solo exhibition in the Ionad Cultúrtha in Baile Mhúirne in August.

The Ionad came to me last year and said would I be interested - so I worked on it for the last year, and I exhibited 14 decent pieces for the exhibition.

Now she is gearing up to show her work at ‘Art on Main Street’ in Macroom, for the month of March - in an exhibition called ‘Perspectives from the Ditch’.

The space will be shared by artist Michael O Muirthile, who runs the studio.

Did Úna always want to be an artist?

She laughs.

“I wanted PE or art college; I repeated my Leaving Cert for those and instead I was offered nursing. I had been offered nursing the year before also but wasn’t aware of it. 

Because of cutbacks, they were taking on no new nurses, but I wasn’t made aware of that at the time.

She took up the offer the second time around and started work in the Regional Hospital, Cork, (now CUH), in 1987.

“Oh my God!” says Úna. “Nursing set me free. I left home for a fantastic career. I made amazing friends for life. They have your back. Nursing was always a very positive thing for me. I spent 15 years in surgical wards, I worked for a time in Nenagh where my husband, Frank, went for work. Coming back to Cork, I was delighted to get a full-time position in the A&E where I worked for 15 years.”

They were the best years of her life.

“Nursing was very rewarding,” says Úna.

But her rewarding career ended abruptly one night when she was on duty.

“I was at work one night, two o’clock in the morning, looking after a very ill patient,” says Úna.

“All of a sudden, I could hardly stand. I felt a feeling of impending doom. I sensed something was badly wrong. I burst a disc in my back. Basically, I ruptured a disc in my back. It was a very rare thing to do. I knew it was all over,” says Úna.

I knew the game was up. It was a very serious injury, and I knew that I needed major surgery.

How did Úna feel?

“When it happened, I felt relief, would you believe?” she says.

“The pain was extraordinary. I thought, I’m done with nursing. It’s over. It’s out of my hands. I offered it up to the universe. It took a year to recover.”

She offered her gift of healing to her dad.

“While recovering, my dad was suffering from a terminal illness,” says Úna. “I was his advocate. I was there for him. And that was a privilege.”

People often called on Úna.

“I was often called upon on many occasions when a statue in the local church had to be tidied up or murals painted in the local school.

“When the kids were small, I was often called upon to create a backdrop for the school play,” says Úna.

“I always had an active interest in art even while working as a nurse.”

Úna, having lost her promising career as a nurse, and her identity, felt a bit lost.

“I did a self-help course called the Artist’s Way facilitated by Andrew Carr in Cork. Each week, there were exercises to do, and I took it very seriously,” says Úna.

The course helped unlock my creativity and it boosted my confidence. Art became my escape.

Úna continued in her role as a carer for the sick.

“Dad passed and then my mother got sick during Covid, and it was the same scenario,” says Úna.

She had an art critic to consult about her art.

“I kept doing my art,” says Úna. “I’d come up to mother and ask her, ‘What do you think of that?”

Úna got places with her art.

“I had my first art exhibition in the School of Music with 40 other artists,” she says.

“I put it out there. I exposed my art and it was a very positive experience. I even sold a few pieces!”

Úna had to have a second surgery.

“I had emergency surgery on my lumper disc.

“I was retired out of nursing, and I thought, what do I do now?”

It was a tough time.

“Mum passed. I was still in a lot of pain.”

Úna got a new identity.

“I walked in Gearagh woods and Kilmurry with my beloved dog, Fudge, who passed away recently,” says Úna, breaking down at the memory of her precious pet.

“Fudge and I walked constantly. Fudge mimicked me, she was so clever. When I limped, she limped. Fudge took on my pain. She was very funny, and I miss her terribly.

Fudge was my therapy dog. She was with me all the time, from the beginning of my journey.

The two were constant companions.

“We were out and about together so much, I was known as the ‘woman with the dog’. People never knew me as ‘the nurse’.”

Úna took in her beautiful surroundings with her artist’s eye.

“I painted what I saw when I was walking, and I created greeting cards featuring the beautiful countryside, selling them to local shops.

“I had to walk every day and swim every day so I could stand up straight,” says Úna. “That was my homework.”

Úna’s artwork progressed by creating a canvas by wet felting.

“Felt is like wool,” she explains. “You can tear it apart. It’s a process of wetting the felt and kneading it and you create a type of background, and then I use wool and other felt, then a needle to needle whatever I want.

“I wanted to work with something tangible,” says Úna. “To make my artwork accessible and funky for people to enjoy.

“When I’m doing it, I go into another zone. Things can start falling and I’m in my own world. Hopefully that reflects in my work as well.”

A friend saw Úna’s felt work and recognised her talent.

“They suggested I have an exhibition,” she says.

I thought, never say no. I had four pieces of feltwork done at the time. I said I’d go and do it. It was a challenge. I worked hard for one year.

Úna got great satisfaction from felting.

“It was amazing to be able to do it. I worked hard and I developed it. It was pure enjoyment and great therapy.”

Her exhibition, Draíocht Mhúscrai, was a resounding success.

Úna got a new identity.

“It’s like it has been my saviour. I’m a totally different person now.”

One person who knows her art champions Úna and her new-found path in life.

“My godmother, Marie O’Sullivan in her 90s, has a great critical eye for art and when she gave up being a doctor, she went back to college to study art appreciation.”

Marie gave Úna another identity.

“She calls me a primitive artist,” says Úna.

What does that mean?

“It means I’m not trained!” she says.

Úna has come a long way.

“I started off wondering if I could draw a straight line when it all happened. It developed from there.”

Fudge wasn’t the only loyal friend on Úna’s journey.

“I couldn’t have done what I have done without the continuing encouragement of my friends, who kept asking me for paintings or pieces of work over the years and telling me that they liked what I was doing.”

So how is Úna, a recognised artist, doing now?

“I was very busy working full-time as nurse,” says Úna. “But this has totally released me.”