A Lasting Imprint: How James McCreary found a home for the art collection of a lifetime at DCU
James McCreary is one of the quiet heroes of the Irish visual arts community. An artist, master printer and avid collector, he has now donated a “treasure trove” collection to Dublin City University (DCU) in the hope that it will inspire a new generation of art lovers.
A selection of 24 fine art prints from a collection of more than 160 works is now on display in DCU’s St Patrick’s campus. “The stuff has been in drawers for years. It needs to be up on walls,” says James as he proudly inspects the prints, hung in a light-filled space overlooking the Quad.
James’ artistic journey had humble beginnings. Growing up in north Dublin in the 1950s, he recalls how his mother would give him old ration books to draw on. At this time in Irish society, there was little encouragement for art and creativity, but he vividly remembers one teacher in Marino who "let us draw for half an hour every week for some strange reason."
To further illustrate the culture of the times, James recalls borrowing history of art books from the library, only to find multiple pages had been removed by staff. “Anything in it that had a breast or anything to do with nudity had been torn out of it.”
Leaving school aged 15, he worked for two years in the renowned Harry Clarke stained glass studio. But his art career was put on hold when he went to work for his father’s steel construction company for 15 years. Gradually, he returned to art, painting in his spare time and submitting work to exhibitions. But it was at a night class in printmaking at the Graphic Studio in Mount Street that he found his true calling. “I gave up painting because I just loved printmaking.”
His newfound passion eventually led to employment as the studio’s print technician. Wishing to find more converts to printmaking, James and his colleague and friend, the late Mary Farl Powers, established a visiting artist scheme, which invited renowned Irish and international artists to work at the Graphic Studio. With no email, they took a direct approach to recruiting talent. “We used to go round grabbing artists at exhibitions,” he says.
A by-product of his work with many leading artists was that they would routinely gift him a print from each set. It was the start of his impressive collection that includes work by artists such as AR Penkk, Mick Cullen, Richard Gorman, Anne Madden, William Crozier and Jane O'Malley.
The task of sifting through James’ hundreds of artworks fell to DCU’s Cultural Arts Officer, Marcella Bannon. She contacted James when a mutual friend told her the artist was looking for a home for his collection. However, she admits “my eyes lit up” when she first visited his house in Drumcondra and saw the quality of the work.
“It was just a treasure trove of all of these fabulous artists across 45, 50 years, and there was such a rich mix of different printing styles, different themes, and works representing specific moments in an artist’s career that you rarely get to see today.”
The collection also bears the name of James’ wife, Elizabeth, known to all as Betty. The title reflects the rock-solid partnership that has made such a long artistic career possible. During his many years working as an artist, she has been an enduring source of support and encouragement. Betty is clearly proud of what he has achieved, and when asked about the exhibition, simply says, “It’s lovely.”
And as for his decades-long obsession with printmaking, she jokes that “it keeps him busy. He’s not sitting around the house annoying me!”
Prints from the collection will, in time, grace walls around the University’s campuses. James hopes the artworks will have a positive influence on the life of the University. “With the students, they'll see things, but you're not forcing it on them.”
He hopes that students might some day buy a fine art print. He points out that it is a more accessible art form, whereas "very few people can afford to have a good painting on their wall."
The collection also represents a new resource for academic researchers and will benefit specific programmes at DCU, including courses offered by the School of Arts Education and Movement, which offers a module on printing.
As for James, he continues to make art, although he admits “my shoulder’s gone” after years of operating manual printing presses. His work reflects his love of nature and his fascination with Japanese prints. More recently, he has been working on a series of prints inspired by Irish fields, shaped in particular by hillwalking expeditions to places like the Cooley Mountains.
But after so many years making and collecting art, he won’t be drawn on the question of what makes a great print. “If we knew that it would be easy, wouldn't it?” he laughs.
