Thirty-four years ago Liam O'Neill began to work as an apprentice woodturner under John Shiel at Bagenalstown, whilst there, he was in close contact with the Kilkenny Design Workshops. He then worked for nearly eleven years setting up and managing the woodturning section of Retos, the rehabilitation facility for handicapped adults established at Shannon, Co. Clare. During this time, he attended courses in advanced woodturning, led by internationally known creative woodturners such as the Americans David Ellsworth and Bob Stocksdale. He was influential in setting up the Irish Woodturners Guild, in response to his own experience and the numbers of people who were moving into the area of professional woodturning.

From 1983-85, he won First Prize in the Royal Dublin Society's Craft Competition (Wood Turning Section). In 1984, he was awarded the Dr. Muriel Gahan Scholarship to the U.S.A. to travel and study with leading American Woodturners. Since 1992 Liam O'Neill has worked from his own Studio at Spiddal, Co. Galway, where he has been supported by Udaras na Gaeltachta. Whilst he makes large-scale production work, his interests has always lain in the way in which he could use woodturning creatively to make unique sculptural pieces. The creative thinking involved in this work plays back upon his production design thinking.

The development of woodturning techniques has always been important to Liam O'Neill. A creative idea develops, technical rethinking becomes necessary. By September 1997, he had designed and built a huge outdoor lathe to make the large vessels on show outdoors here. What is exciting about this body of outdoor work, is not simply its scale or the technical complexity of evaluating the wood used, but the fact that these outdoor pieces are elements in a single series. Some woodturners have used large scale turning, but none here or elsewhere have produced a body of such pieces as part of a coherent single body of thought and creative expression. The result is that their scale brought up those of the indoor pieces, many of which are large. In sculptural and woodturning terms, this is an exciting and adventurous project. It literally and metaphorically takes the possibilities of woodturning into new dimensions.

"Liam O'Neill is a unique sculptor who is first and foremost a master craftsman, and artist with a unique understanding of his medium.

He has studied the physiology of trees, what characteristics nature has given to different woods. His training made him an expert in woodturning techniques, but not content with this, he began to express himself and experiment, while at the same time allowing nature always to dictate.

In recent times, he has begun to scale up the work to fashion massive outdoor vessels. To see a collection of these sculptures together is to witness a powerful personal artistic statement about renewal, about the bringing forth of exciting forms from dead trees, the transformation of a block of wood into a work of art.

There are no embellishments, no ornate decorations in his work, only those nature intended. He uses the grain, the natural patina, the contours, the various arboreal qualities to his advantage, to give us the very essence of the wood.

These are tactile pieces which demand that you explore the surfaces whether they be textured or polished.

Ben Okri, the Nigerian novelist once said "The higher the art, the fewer the gestures." Liam O'Neill's creative harvesting of his much loved materials leave us in no doubt that his is a very high art form." Tom Kenny, The Kenny Art Gallery, Galway

Private Collections Include:
Her Excellency, President Mary McAleese, Ireland Nicholas & Mary Robinson, Geneva, Switzerland.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.
Their Majesties Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, Japan.
Their Majesties King Karl Gustav and Queen Silvia, Sweden.
Gay Byrne & Kathleen Watkins, Dublin.
David & Ruth Waterbury, Minneapolis,USA
Arthur & Jane Mason, Washington DC, USA.
Johannes & Annemarie Kiuntke, Sachsenheim, Germany.
Dieter & Renate Hagenmaier, Waiblingen, Germany.
Dr Margaret Downes, Dublin.
Mr & Mrs Harry Wolin, Evanston, Illinois, USA.
Noel & Lesley McMullan, Delgany, Co. Wicklow.
Brian Rhatigan & Rachael Kiely, Rathmichael, Co. Dublin.
David & Wendy Ellsworth, Quakertown, Pennsylvania, USA.

Public Collections Include:
National Museum of Ireland, Dublin
Crafts Council of Ireland.
The Woodturning Centre, Philadelphia, USA
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Tennessee, USA.
Carlow County Council.
Mason Collection, Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
Craft Collection, University of Illinois, Chicago, USA.