Cilla Patton’s journey as an artist spans not only decades but countries and cultures. Born in Canada in 1954, she holds Swiss nationality and today lives in Northern Ireland, where the quiet rhythm of rural life weaves its way into her deeply personal and evocative paintings. Her life path, which includes marriage to an Irishman and raising a family, runs parallel to an unwavering dedication to her artistic growth.
From the very beginning, Patton embraced painting as a necessary mode of expression, attending evening classes in art and ceramics while raising her children. These formative years of quiet discipline and creative curiosity led her to formal study, beginning with a year-long Art Craft and Design course at Monaghan Institute. She went on to complete a Foundation Course at Lurgan College, and eventually earned a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at the University of Ulster in Belfast between 1994 and 1997. Her academic training marked a significant shift—turning a lifelong passion into a professional practice grounded in skill, reflection, and artistic courage.
From Figurative to Abstract: The Language of Colour and Story
Although Patton’s early work leaned toward the figurative, her artistic evolution led her steadily into abstraction. In her recent paintings, colour emerges as the dominant force—sometimes vibrant, sometimes subdued—but always emotionally charged. Her compositions often carry a deep sense of mystery and internal narrative, inviting the viewer to look beyond surface forms.
Yet, despite the move toward abstraction, storytelling remains integral to Patton’s approach. Each canvas is layered with personal symbolism, emotional resonance, and the influence of her surroundings. Music, poetry, and myth thread through her paintings, as do fragments from memory and the subconscious. “The unconscious plays a big part in the making of the paintings,” Patton has noted. “Many notebooks are a constant in my practice.” These notebooks, filled with sketches, impressions, and reflective writing, act as the scaffolding behind each finished work.
A Voice Among Women, A Practice of Support
Patton’s work also explores relationships—between people, between self and world, and especially between women. She often captures gestures of support, shared emotion, and resilience. Her paintings articulate a kind of visual empathy, suggesting that the act of creation is both solitary and communal.
This sensitivity was powerfully expressed in her 2024 solo exhibition at the Paul McKenna Gallery in Omagh. The show was met with critical and public acclaim, further establishing her voice in the contemporary art landscape of Ireland and the UK.
Where Do We Belong: A Painting of Psychic Tension and Hope
In her recent work Where Do We Belong, Patton returns to the theme of shared humanity and emotional survival. The acrylic-on-canvas composition is both visually poetic and psychologically charged. It portrays figures adrift in a liminal, abstract space—lost, perhaps, but not entirely without direction.
At the heart of the painting is a powerful female figure to the left, accompanied by a horse—long a symbol of power, freedom, and psychic energy. The horse is a recurring motif in mythology and literature, and here, Patton imbues it with an inner force, as if it is guiding the woman forward through a realm of emotional uncertainty. In contrast, a second, fading horse appears on the right—more elusive, less accessible—suggesting the fragility of memory or the challenge of reclaiming inner strength.
Two women in the foreground link arms, embodying quiet solidarity. “As women do,” Patton remarks simply, yet the sentiment is profound. It is an acknowledgment of emotional labor, mutual support, and the often-unspoken strength women lend each other in the face of life’s displacements. The space they occupy is intentionally ambiguous—neither landscape nor room—but the palette speaks of resilience: rich blues, warm oranges, and deep purples mix and swirl, holding on to hope amid uncertainty.
Where Do We Belong is a painting about transitions, about not having all the answers, and about continuing on regardless. It resonates on personal, political, and spiritual levels, asking the timeless question: how do we find our place in the world—and who helps us stay rooted while we search?
Recognition and Collections
Cilla Patton’s work has been widely recognized, with her paintings featured in both selected and group exhibitions across Ireland and the UK. Her ability to channel emotion through abstraction has earned her a place in notable collections, including the British Airports Association (Heathrow, London), Northern Ireland’s Department of Finance, the Northern Ireland Civil Service (Stormont, Belfast), the Ballinglen Arts Foundation (County Mayo), and the Office of Public Works in Dublin.
These institutional recognitions speak to the enduring relevance of her work—paintings that, while intimate in origin, touch on universal human themes of connection, memory, and the invisible forces that guide us.
Conclusion: The Journey Inward and Outward
Cilla Patton’s practice is one of layered exploration—of colour, identity, and emotional terrain. From her early figurative works to her current abstract expressions, she offers not just images but inner maps. Her canvases invite viewers to step into their own inner world while walking beside hers. In doing so, she reaffirms the power of art to both question and console, to hold loss and hope in the same breath, and to remind us that, in many ways, we are all asking the same question: Where do we belong?
