We caught up with the fabulous artist Andrea Redmond.

You can find her on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/redmondajm/

or Facebook Cailleach Moon Cottage

or email her andreajeannemarieredmond@outlook.com

Her work can also occasionally be found at https://www.inveraritygallery.com/

Tell us a little about yourself, who you are and what you do.

I am a grumpy little old lady who lives a very solitary existence in a very remote valley in Donegal. I share my ancient cottage with partner Frankie, rescued pups Ozzy and Teddie, and five rescued cats, a few hens, wild deer and children and grandchildren who live in Belfast and Montreal. I was born in Quebec and grew up on Prince Edward Island, of Anne of Green Gables fame. My family physically left Ireland in the late 1800s but never spiritually or culturally.

My background has been in the community arts and rights activism, working in women’s and Traveller groups. I went back in my late 40s to fulfil a dream and achieve my PhD in cultural anthropology.

Where are you based?

Our cottage is situated in a remote valley near the Gweebarra River and the Glenveigh National Park, Donegal,Ireland. Our cottage is well over 300 years old on a mountain road built for horse and cart.

How would you describe your spiritual pathway?

I have always been a solitary practitioner. When I began nearly 55 years ago, [after a very vivid dream in which three aged sisters called me to join them], at that time there wasn’t the diversity of paths, so I call myself a Witch with leanings. I am also a member of OBOD, but in the main I follow my own path, which has been influenced by family culturally and spiritually.

My father, a head master in Canada, introduced his students and us over 50 years ago to foraging and environmentalism; he grew up with First Nation relatives and was a deeply spiritual man. He was also a rights activist working to support First Nations, Prisoner rights and the French language. My Mother was a massive influence; her life was focused on nurturing everyone who crossed her path. They both had a fundamental influence on my spiritual path, as did my Grandmother Annie Carragher, a very spiritually devout woman, whose family originally came from County Monaghan. I believe it was the very close relationship I had with her that has influenced my artwork and depiction of the Goddess.

How did you begin creating artwork?

I come from a family of women crafters and artists. Annie quilted, and I played under her frames as a small child. Often relatives would visit and sew and invariably begin to tell tales of ghosts and the ‘Good People’. My mother Margie worked with dried flowers and fabric. I was given the freedom from a young age to explore my creative self.

What inspires you?

As anyone who sees my work will notice, a focus on honouring older women is nothing new. 20 years ago I created an installation piece along a road in Belfast of 15-foot wooden cut-outs of inspirational older women from the area, an Easter Island of Granny’s. My paintings today are an invocation to the goddess in her many forms but primarily as the Cailleach or crone. I honour her wisdom and my female ancestors such as Annie.