Tony Downey

Tony originally trained as a teacher specialising in metal and woodwork. He took early retirement from educational psychology - the field in which he worked for 25 years. Originally from Ballycastle in County Antrim, Tony now lives in Garrykennedy, a pretty village on the shores of Lough Derg in Co. Tipperary.

It was during a game of golf, that Tony found his medium. He picked up what he thought was a discarded piece of wood only to be informed that this was a piece of Irish bog oak, which had lain encased in sphagnum moss for a least four thousand years. He fell completely under the spell of the "black gold" and thus works primarily with bog oak, although from time to time uses bog yew and pine. He works alone in his studio creating carvings of birds, fish, people and abstracts.

Commissions include those from the Irish Aviation Board, Offaly County Council, Department of the Environment - North and South, Ulster T.V., Allied Irish Banks and Irish Life. Exhibitions have been held in the Kilcock Art Gallery, Kilcock Emer Gallery, Cavehill Gallery in Belfast and other galleries.

Work is held in many private collections in Ireland, U.K., Europe and the U.S.A.