Experimental artist Siggy Buckley is, in both her life and her art, anything but conventional.
Viewing her exhibit at the Ponte Vedra Branch Library, one is surprised by the variety. The visitor is immediately met with a very abstract piece, 36-by-36-inch “Side by Side,” which evokes a natural landscape, ground and sky, while rendering the elements with unexpected geometry and placement. Then, one encounters her 11-by-14-inch “Dream of Future Self,” a ghostly image of a mature woman contained within a minimalist structure. Nearby, hangs a more traditional representation, “Cherry Blossoms.”
An artist who works exclusively in acrylics — she previously tried and dispensed with watercolors and charcoal — her entire approach is unique, perhaps arising from her many diverse experiences.
New to painting — she started just a year and a half ago — she defies the conventions of the lifelong artist. She claims she cannot sketch, enjoys recreating established masterpieces and likes paintings that look good in her living room.
Buckley grew up in Germany, where she was a teacher, married with two children. Life changed radically when her then-husband, an accountant, decided that the family should move to Ireland and become organic farmers. A city girl, she gave it a try, but it wasn’t for her.
She tried other things: teaching German at the University of Limerick, working as a matchmaker in Dublin until the coming of internet dating sites rendered her services redundant and got involved with wine importing.
But she still hadn’t found what she was looking for, as one Irish band might have put it.
“I wanted to go to a country that was a bit warmer, had a better climate than Ireland,” she said.
A friend suggested Orlando. Her grown children having moved back to Germany, there was little reason not to make the move and she came to Florida in 2003, purchasing a house to rent out to Walt Disney World vacationers.
Within a week of her arrival, she met the man who would, in 2005, become her husband.
“We knew we were made for each other,” she said.
The couple moved to Ponte Vedra Beach.
Learning about the diary she’d kept during her time in Ireland, her husband suggested she write a book. She published two books that drew on her experiences: “Next Time Lucky: How to Find Your Mr. Right” and “I Once Had a Farm in Ireland.” Both are available on Amazon.
Her writing style has a snappy quality and draws you into her world. In fact, it was her talent as a writer that prompted a friend to suggest she try another creative pursuit: painting.
Last fall, she joined the art walk in Neptune Beach but was not able to actively participate. She wondered if there was another way to share her art.
“I walked into the library, and there were big acrylics, bigger than mine, in the entranceway,” she recalled. “I thought: Mine should be hanging here!”
She sought out library staff and found out how she could show her work in what is now her first exhibit.
A public meet-and-greet with Buckley is scheduled for 3 to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Ponte Vedra Branch Library, 101 Library Blvd.
Buckley’s paintings are available for purchase. Learn more at her Instagram page, instagram.com/siggybuckleyartist. Her email address is Hernibs1@gmail.com.
