Liam O'Neill has been a full-time woodturner and sculptor since May 13th, 1968. On that day, he began an apprenticeship with John Shiel, who had been employed by Kilkenny Design Workshops. John was setting up a workshop in Bagenalstown, but part of the plan was for him to continue to produce prototypes for the KDW designers.
It was a life-changing moment for Liam, who had been a casual worker at various jobs, but who turned out to have found his vocation as a woodturner. He very quickly found himself producing the aforementioned KDW prototypes under John's tutelage. The designers would send over a blueprint, and the turner had to make each item to very exact specifications.
After 4 years with John Shiel, Liam worked for George Galbraith in Abbeyleix, who also made work which was designed in KDW, especially by Maria Van Kesteren.
In 1973, Liam was employed by RETOS, Shannon, to establish a woodturning workshop which would be used to rehabilitate Special-needs men and women, especially those with mild psychiatric issues. The workshop would produce a range of commercial tableware, which would be sold on the open market so that the trainees were working in a commercial environment. It was a very visionary project which worked very well. Liam managed the facility for over 11 years.
In June 1980 Liam attended the famous woodturning seminar at the John Makepeace Wood School in Dorset, and he was introduced to art woodturning for the first time. The idea of turnery being made for the Art Gallery market was very new, and Liam enthusiastically embraced the concept. He went on to establish his own studio, at first on a part-time basis, but he became completely self-employed in 1984.
Meanwhile, he organised and ran Ireland's first woodturning seminar at Retos in 1982 with English turner Ray Key as the Headline demonstrator. He subsequently contacted those who attended that event with the intention of setting up an Irish woodturning body to bring together anyone with an interest in the craft. In March 1983, at a meeting at Retos, 9 of those joined him in founding the Irish Woodturners Guild. It was the first national woodturning body in the world and was an all-Ireland body. The guild grew very quickly and is still one of the most successful craft bodies in Ireland.
It should be said that from the very start, the Crafts Council of Ireland, as it was then called, provided much support to the Guild and still does. Liam went on to serve on the board of the Council for 6 years.
In 1983 Liam was awarded the Dr Muriel Gahan Development grant at the RDS Crafts competition, and he used the money to travel to the USA and visit some of the world’s leading woodturners. The Americans became aware of his talent as a teacher, and he subsequently became a regular on the demonstrator scene. When the American Association of Woodturners was formed in 1986, the officers of the Irish Guild were invited to attend, and Liam became a founding member of that body.
In 1992 Liam and his wife, Cathy moved to Spiddal, County Galway, where a new workshop and Gallery were provided by Udaras Na Gaeltachta. It was a very productive mood, and the studio continued to thrive. Among the customers in the 1990s was President Mary Robinson, who used Liam's work a number of times as a state gift. By far the most important of those was the Monkey Puzzle vessel, which she presented to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 2 on the occasion of her visit to Buckingham Palace; the first such visit by an Irish head of state since independence.
In 1998, Liam held a groundbreaking exhibition in Dublin's Phoenix Park. He had spent the previous 5 years perfecting the idea of large-scale outdoor turned wood. He made a cast concrete lathe which could take logs of 1metre in Diameter and 2.5 metres high. It was the first time that lathe turned objects were used as outdoor sculpture. He exhibited 15 outdoor and 15 indoor large-scale works, and it led to a huge interest in his work. His large outdoor turned wood was exhibited for many years afterwards in Butler House Garden during the Kilkenny Arts Festival with much success. He has since made similar work for clients in Ireland, UK and USA.
Of all the turned objects which Liam has made in his 57 years, by far the most important was a simple Walnut vessel. In 2006, he was commissioned by OPW to make a number of items from a walnut tree which grew on the site of the Battle of the Boyne. One of these was put aside for a very special purpose. During the 2006 North of Ireland peace talks at St Andrews in Scotland, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern presented the piece to Dr Ian Paisley. It changed the atmosphere of the talks from fractured to positive with historic results.
Liam O'Neill, with the support of his wife Cathy, continues to live and work in Spiddal. He is naturally slowing down a bit, but while he no longer travels and teaches, he still makes bowls commercially. This exhibition is probably the last time that his turned wood outdoor sculpture will be on public display.
He is most grateful to Butler House and DCCoi for all their help and support.