Ballycarry artist's work goes on display at Whitehead Community Association's new Welcome Centre

A Ballycarry artist has exhibited her work ahead of the opening of Whitehead Community Association’s new Welcome Centre.
Emma's work is on display in a 'mini gallery' in the centre.Emma's work is on display in a 'mini gallery' in the centre.
Emma's work is on display in a 'mini gallery' in the centre.

Paintings by Emma Geary are on display in a ‘mini gallery’ at the premises on Kings Road, with the Association looking forward to an official opening as restrictions ease.

Whitehead Community Association chair, Martin Clarke said: “We are delighted to be opening our new exhibition walls with the work of such an exciting artist as Emma. Bright and vivid in her use of colour, her work is not only a pleasure to look at but is also great fun, wry and gently comic. We hope that this will be the first in a series of exhibitions from local artists and others further afield. So please when you are passing, come and visit our mini gallery.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Emma, also known as Anarkitty, is a pop-surrealist artist originally from Ballycarry. Currently living outside Belfast, she studied at the University of Ulster and gained a BA Hons degree in Art and Design, specialising in Visual Communications.

Art deco touches in the centre, including a chandelier.Art deco touches in the centre, including a chandelier.
Art deco touches in the centre, including a chandelier.

After graduation, she moved to London for six years where she worked for a number of ad agencies.

She has also worked with such prestigious organisations and businesses as MTV, BBC, SideShow and DC Comics.

Drawing stylistic inspiration from pin-up art, illustration, anime and manga, tattoo and graffiti culture, her work explores her fascination with cats – hence her moniker Anarkitty.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Emma's works have been shown in galleries in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Germany and Australia.

Upon her return to Northern Ireland, she recently held her first solo exhibition in Belfast.

The new centre follows a radical redevelopment of the Kings Road side of the WCA building, and has been designed to echo the building’s origins as an old 1930s cinema.

The new office, for example, is redolent of an art deco cinema and is designed to remind visitors of a vintage ticket booth, with art deco finishes on the plaster and woodworking, a stained-glass window, a chandelier and cinema style seating for visitors.