Tributes have this week been paid to the artist responsible for two of Galway Arts Festival’s most iconic posters.

Sharon O’Malley, formerly of Taylor’s Hill, passed away on Friday.

Galway Arts Festival Artistic Director Paul Fahy this week led tributes to the acclaimed artist, referring to the Ballymacward resident as “without question one of the most talented painters to emerge from the Galway visual arts world over the past 25 years”.

“Widely regarded, she received great critical and popular acclaim nationally and internationally. Her work featured twice in Galway Arts Festival posters in 2000 and 2001, two of the most popular and requested festival posters over the years. 

“Sharon also had a solo exhibition, Threads, at the festival in 2004 and it was great to see her recent retrospective at Galway Arts Centre, which was a wonderful testimony to an amazing talent. She will be hugely missed and our thoughts are with her close friends and family,” said Mr Fahy. 

John Twomey of Galway Arts Centre also paid tribute to Ms O’Malley, praising her retrospective exhibition, Ancient Resonance, which was staged at the Dominick Street venue in August. 

The opening night was one of the biggest turn-outs for Galway Arts Centre and gave the venue the chance to highlight the legacy of Ms O’Malley’s work, said Mr Twomey. 

“The show envisioned by Sharon highlighted the triumphs within her career; carefully selected works graced the walls of the arts centre.

“O’Malley had carefully considered where paintings went and themed the body of work that spanned over 25 years and gave a great insight to her early work in the 80s to her much celebrated works in early 00s,” said Mr Twomey. 

Ms O’Malley is survived by her partner Ed.