Our third diary entry from the Young Model Interview project. Below, Yasmin discusses how they got on interviewing Niland Collection artist Barrie Cook.
“I’m part of a group of young people who are interviewing some of Ireland’s most famous artists who have paintings in the Niland Collection. The footage we get of the interviews is going to be made into a documentary which I think will be great for young people to see. Then they will be able to understand art easier and see how talented artists feel about it too.

On Friday last week I got to interview Barrie Cook. It was brilliant! He’s very well known and he’s a really sound guy and he seems to really love what he does. Instead of most artists who would answer there questions directly (which is great as well) he sort of began telling us stories and telling us about the places he’s been and stuff that’s happened to him. It was interesting to hear about his life and all his experiences and his mentors.

His art was different from most that I’ve seen. He showed us some of the paintings that he did and he explained that they were about water pollution. It seemed he felt very strongly about water pollution and I thought it was pretty cool that he put his passion against water pollution in his paintings. It made them seem more real and easier to understand when he told us that.

His house was beautiful. He lived beside Lough Arrow which is a beautiful lake that’s quite secluded and peaceful. I told him that I thought it was a great location for an artist because the scenery was breathtaking. He would have lots to paint.

I enjoyed interviewing him. He was easy to talk to and his opinions were fascinating. I found myself wanting to just talk to him instead of interview him 😀 his art was beautiful and I had a great time.

I can’t wait to see the next artists and see how they differ from each other.”