Biography

George Kennedy Gillespie (Belfast 29 September 1924 - 20 August 1995) was the son of a bread server, George W. Gillespie. Educated from 1941 until 1945 at Belfast High School, he attended evening classes at Belfast College of Art, studying jewelry, silversmith as well as painting. His interest in fine art was encouraged in the late 1950's when he attended painting classes in the studio of R. Boyd Morrison in Hollywood, Co. Down.

In 1977, he retired from his bakery business and took up art professionally, working from his studio at home in Newtownards, Co Down. He held his first solo-exhibition in 1980 in Dublin at the Oriel Gallery Dublin. Exhibitions were also held at the Kenny Gallery of Galway.

Gillespie admired the academic work of such Ulster practitioners as J.Humbert Craig and Frank McKelvey. Donegal was his first love, for example Horn Head and Lough Finn, followed by the rugged scenery of Connamara and the West Coast. As he had to avoid prolonged exposure to the elements, the camera assisted him in his compositions.

In the collection of the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland, there are twenty-three works. At the office of Public works in Dublin are nine Landscapes.