Cork artist's work influenced by remarkable women in her life

Thirteen generations of her family made it their home, so it’s hardly surprising that artist Mary St Leger feels a real sense of place in the Co. Cork town of Doneraile.

She comes from a long line of strong and independent women who have had a profound influence on her art practice.

Her paintings almost always portray women, and she is also an accomplished sculptor and has exhibited both in Ireland and abroad.

Her family, the St Legers, lived at Doneraile Court situated in Doneraile Park, a beautiful amenity in the town consisting of a 160-hectare landscaped parkland and wildlife estate.

It’s walls resonate with their rich history. The St Legers retained unbroken possession of the property from around 1629 through to 1969, when it was taken over by the Department of Lands and today is managed by the Office of Public Works.

One of the best-known of those who lived at Doneraile Court is Mary’s seven times great-grandmother Elizabeth St Leger, the daughter of Elizabeth Hayes and Arthur St Leger, Viscount of Doneraile, who was a Freemason.

When the Lodge was hosting a meeting at Doneraile Court, the young Elizabeth witnessed a portion of the mysterious ceremonies taking place from an adjoining room and attempted to flee in alarm, but she was overheard.

In order to preserve their secrecy, the Lodge then decided that the only course of action open to them was to admit her to their number.

Elizabeth subsequently underwent the ceremonials she had already in part witnessed and thus became the first woman to be admitted into the all-male preserve of the Freemasons.

By all accounts, she attained great eminence and became a well-known figure in Masonic ceremonies and public processions. Elizabeth is even referred to in chapter eight of James Joyce’s Ulysees:

“There was one woman, Nosey Flynn said, hid herself in a clock to find out what they do be doing. But be damned but they smelt her out and swore her in on the spot a master mason. That was one of the St Legers of Doneraile”

Elizabeth’s future husband, Richard Aldworth was also present at her initiation.

“I think it’s no coincidence that Elizabeth was perhaps married off to another Freemason, Richard Aldworth, and she had to move from the cozy environs of Doneraile over to Newmarket, which was not nearly as nice,” mused Mary.

‘What I really do admire about her is that she gave her son the name St Leger as her brother Hayes, the Viscount of Doneraile, died in 1767 without an heir. The title was revived in favour of Elizabeth’s son St Leger Aldworth, so I have her to thank for the name not dying out.”

Over the generations, as fortunes waxed and waned, Mary’s own widowed grandmother, Elise St Leger, made the journey back to Ireland from Africa with her children.

“Granny was a free spirit but a bit impractical to say the least. She lived for a while on a fishing trawler which was moored at Cheekpoint in Co. Waterford, making a modest income translating folk stories from Zimbabwean, her tales, Out Of Africa, were performed by broadcaster Candy Devine on RTÉ.

“She found an old ruin of a house where myself and my mother Geraldine, who was known at the time as ‘a deserted wife’, went to live with her. I really felt apart from the other kids. For a start, I wasn’t related to anybody, we lived in the middle of nowhere and were considered odd, so I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb.

“I spent my time reading and drawing. We had an old Stanley stove, one tap, no toilet and plastic over our beds because it rained so much and there were leaks. Yet I spoke with an accent like the Queen.”

Living right beside the sea could be dramatic when there were south- easterly gales.

“I remember my mother covering the floor with straw and bringing in the chickens and the donkey, and the next day when the storm was over sweeping out the straw.”

Mary feels that growing up with two strong unconventional women really informed her art.

One of her recent exhibitions was entitled Women hold up half the sky.

“In reality, women hold up most of the sky,” she said.

Her mother, Geraldine, got a job in a shop in Waterford city, travelling there on her Honda 50 which ‘she swapped for a donkey.’

“She was some woman really,” said Mary.

“She used to make little craft animals in her spare time which she dressed up, and made little petticoats for them, and my job was to sew on the petticoats for which I got five pence for each one sold.

“Eventually, mum moved back to her relatives in Doneraile Court and was very close with Mary St Leger who was married to Hugh, the last Viscount Doneraile, who died in 1956.

“Mary did not like to drive so my mother drove her everywhere. By that time the family fortunes were flailing so they grew strawberries and daffodils and put them on the Mallow to Dublin train to sell at the markets.“

Mary joined her mother in Doneraile, and sat her Leaving Cert in one year at the local school as she had previously not completed her education.

“I was in my early twenties then, and did not have to wear the school uniform, just a blue dress, and of course I had to give up smoking.”

She went on to study at the Limerick College of Art which she adored, and then to Birmingham where she obtained her Masters in Fine Art.

The lure of Doneraile was never far away, and when Geraldine broke her hip, Mary moved back from the UK with her husband to take care of her mother.

They built a granny flat on the side of their cottage, which now serves as her studio.

Mary’s art continues to flourish and she recently sold a painting at the very prestigious Chelsea Art Society summer show in London.

The painting, entitled Human conversing with a bird, was bought by a man who sent Mary a message about his reason for buying it.

“He told me he had never bought a painting in his life and had seen it and really liked it, but left.

“As he was walking down the road a bird pooped on him, so he took it as a sign and went back and bought the painting,” she laughed.

Mary is also very involved in her local community and is Chairperson of the successful Doneraile Arts festival and a founding member of ‘Art for the heart’, a group which promotes positive mental health through creativity.

“We organise events for Culture Night, Samhain, The Wren, International Women’s Day and also have ‘Paint and a Pint’ once a month in the Glenanaar pub.

“It does not matter whether you can draw or paint or not. You could bring your crochet, or simply draw a line on a page - ‘take a line for a walk’. It’s an opportunity to connect.”

Living in Doneraile has meant that Mary no longer feels like a sore thumb.

“Doneraile gives me a sense of place, it’s a feeling of belonging.

“It’s not just the history of my own family but also the history of other local families who are connected to Doneraile Court which forges a connection, as well as the wonderful community who live here and come from everywhere.”