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Coleraine gallery on air

Friday, 13 January 2012

John Johnson’s Reflections Gallery in Coleraine features on RTE 1’s Nationwide programme this Monday.

A COLERAINE artist, who previously transformed a collection of historic riot shields into works of art, will feature on RTE 1's Nationwide programme this Monday (January 16) at 7pm.
John Johnson, from Reflections Gallery, was interviewed for the show by RTE's Brendan Wright last January about one of these shields in particular - a Celtic riot shield - as part of RTE's 'Art in Conflict' series.
The programme subsequently asked John to reveal his artistic inspirations from the north coast and how the area had influenced his work.
During his visit, presenter Brendan was able to see for himself what the coastline has to offer, as John showed him around...
“They wanted to know what influenced artists, so I had him down at the Whiterocks - with the race-horses who train there and the young boys who were surfing," said John. "We've got quite a bit of stuff going on here at the north coast!"
Part of the interview also took place at John's Reflections Gallery in Coleraine of course, where an art expert grilled him on his work.
What sparked the television network's interest in John was media coverage of his riot shield work back in 2009. The Chronicle reported at the time on how John had painted the historic shield, which was subsequently auctioned in Belfast for £1,800.
Celtic warriors
The specially decorated shield, representative of those once used by Celtic warriors, was purchased by a private collector at the Stormont Hotel, with proceeds in aid of the Children's Hospice and National Police Memorial Day.
Entitled 'The Celtic Dawn Dunluce Castle', the artistic creation depicted a sunrise at one of the north coast's most instantly recognisable landmarks - Dunluce Castle.
“That was a unique piece," said John. "It was given to me by the police. They're generally not for sale."
Indeed, this was precisely what made the shield such a treasure for the buyer, as it would not ordinarily be available for purchase.
The shield took John around three weeks to paint and required painstaking preparation, as well as taking a total of seven weeks overall to prepare for the auction. "There was a lot of technical stuff to do before we got the paint to stay," he said.
Impressive collecetion
Meanwhile, an impressive collection of other riot shields remain at John's Reflections Gallery/Studio at Dunmore Street, Coleraine, which will feature on Monday's RTE 1 Nationwide programme.
“The shields themselves are all different types," said John. "There's a catalogue going from the '60s and how they've changed through the years."

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