Ann O'Brien Ann O'Brien, the award-winning artisan from County Laois in the Irish midlands, whose Irish embroidery exhibit is currently on display at the Garden City Public Library, spoke to the Irish Cultural Society on March 14 about the history and craft of Mountmellick Work, also called Mountmellick Embroidery.

After the talk, Martin Kelly, president of the Irish Cultural Society, presented O'Brien with a plaque honoring her for her creativity and her first show in the United States.

O'Brien drew a record audience, packing the meeting room and doubling the attendance of the society's previous meeting. About a dozen supporters from her home county, County Laois, were in attendance, including novelist Tom Phelan.

Sponsored by the Irish Cultural Society, Ann O'Brien's exhibit will hang in the art gallery of the Garden City Public Library, 60 Seventh Street, Garden City, NY, from March 1 - 30, 2006.

Ann O'Brien is an expert in the unique type of embroidery known as Mountmellick Work, which builds on a tradition and craft developed over 150 years ago. This embroidery is the only form from the 19th century that can claim to be entirely Irish in origin and design. The craft was developed in the 1830s to provide a source of income for local women affected by the decline in the weaving industry.

Peter (left) and John O'Brien (right), of Mountmellick, with Tom Phelan Mountmellick Work is a dimensional white-on-white embroidery done in white knitting cotton on a heavy white cotton satin jean. Motifs include a variety of natural floral designs, usually fairly large in scale, and pieces are often finished with buttonholed and fringed edges.

Ann O'Brien initially learned about Mountmellick Work from her mother and the Presentation nuns who taught her in primary school. But for the most part, she is self-taught, searching for old pieces of this embroidery, researching old needlework books and patterns, and developing new designs that take the craft into the 21st century.

Although many of Ann O'Brien's designs are based on the flora found in the countryside around Mountmellick--including fuschia, lilies, blackberries, ferns, forget-me-knots, honeysuckle, and marguerites--her work is also influenced by world events. Her award-winning piece, "Out of the Ashes," which shows a phoenix arising from the ashes of September 11, marks a new era for Mountmellick Work.

Novelist Tom Phelan and artist Ann O'Brien

Pauline Keating of Dublin (r) and Martha Piggott of Portarlington (l) Tom Phelan and Claire O'Brien Burns of MountmellickBernadette Keating (r) and Marian Phelan McEvoy (l) of MountmellickChildren of Lir by Ann O'BrienSwallows by Ann O'BrienAnn O'Brien's Mountmellick Work