My Weekend: 'Light the fire, open up a good bottle of wine, and we’re good to go'

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work:

I’m Emma Jacobs, a South African Irish visual artist, based at Ballinhassig since June 2021. Married to Nic for 28 years, mom to Aidan and Aimée, our scotty Maggie and stepmom to three grown sons.

Over the past four years, we have embraced our Irish heritage and the opportunity to reinvent ourselves in our new home country.

I attended Christian Brothers College in Bloemfontein (yes, they were newly co-ed then), studied at the University of Cape Town, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and Postgraduate Diploma in Organisation and Management. My career background is in learning and development. I worked as a Training and Development Manager for Independent Newspapers, and MediKredit, and a Master Trainer and HR Development Consultant for Deloitte South Africa.

In 2003, we opened our first 5-star, art-themed B&B at Durban, South Africa, and over the next five years, grew the business to 18 B&B rooms and a conference venue across three properties, and won numerous awards.

In 2016, at 46, I started an oil painting for beginners class. My sister and I attended art classes, at school, so the seeds were there, lying latent for much later in life. It turned out, I was good at it and moved on to paint with a group of practicing artists at Studio 3. I opened my first solo art exhibition on March 7, 2020, at The Foyer in Durban which was a spectacularly validating day. Little did we know what was lying around the corner with travel bans. The pandemic hit us hard with three B&Bs and 15 staff. We made the very hard decision to leave South Africa and emigrate to Ireland in our 50s with our two children, then aged 18 and 20, and decided on Cork. My father, Timothy Patrick McNally, was originally from Dublin and my mum was Welsh. We grew up as children of immigrants who came to South Africa as children, and returning to Ireland with our children has been full circle.

For the first three years, I worked in hotel management, leaving my role as People and Culture Manager at The Montenotte Hotel in April last year to return to self-employment as a full-time visual artist. I specialise in oil painting in a contemporary realism style.

I am inspired by everyday life; painting faces and places I encounter. Known for my bold brushstrokes, big canvasses, and happy, upbeat colours, I have a distinct style that reflects my positive and confident energy. 

Not shy to tackle any subject matter, I particularly enjoy painting large portraits, animals, florals, and landscapes. I draw up my images from my reference photos, or a clients if they have commissioned me, and activate the canvass in a unique way, using ink runs, a vibrant acrylic wash, combined with a painting process that creates beauty and order out of the chaos of the underpainting.

I have participated in Kinsale Art Weekend over the past three years, Showcase Kinsale, and Ballymaloe Craft Fair, and various group exhibitions. My first solo art exhibition in Ireland was in April/May 2024 at The Hideout Café and Art Gallery in Cork city, followed by an exhibition in August at Cork Airport, and Grey Heron, West Cork, in Bandon. I have a current solo exhibition showing until April 15 at Kinsale Library. I am a member of Sample Studios, Business to Arts, Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, Future Kinsale, and Network Cork. I am proud of how I have grown my art practice in Ireland in a relatively short period, and the wonderful reception I have received from the Irish, especially Cork public.

I am a part-time tutor at Cork ETB facilitating Leadership and Management Skills to Advance courses for the hospitality sector, public workshops, and in-house Leadership Development programmes. I am an inspirational keynote speaker, most recently at the Department of Social Protection’s International Women’s Day event earlier this month at the Imperial Hotel.

I volunteer as a board director for EIL AFS Intercultural Learning Ireland. I was an AFS Exchange student from Bloemfontein in South Africa to Luxembourg as a teenager and am thrilled to serve this amazing organisation that promotes active global citizenship and intercultural learning.

What is your ideal way to spend a Friday night?

We are homebodies, and we enjoy taking Friday night at a slow and relaxed pace to unwind from the busy week, preferably with a good portion of fresh fish and chips from one of the food trucks on the Kinsale Bridge, or some deli foods from Dunnes at Bandon roundabout – the Caprese pizza is absolutely delicious. Light the fire, open up a good bottle of wine, and we’re good to go.

Lie ins or up with the lark.. which is it for you? More like, up with the dark. My hubby Nic is a very early riser, and after 20 years of owning 5-star B&Bs where we were always first in the kitchen for breakfast prep, it’s ingrained. Even on weekends, we’ll be up early, getting ready for the day. Definitely 9 to 5 people, like Dolly Parton sang, just at night.

Does work creep into your weekend at all? Absolutely, but the work I love, painting and creating. We were self-employed in SA with a business that ran seven days a week, 365 a year. It’s hard to break old habits. I find time to recharge in the week and try to keep my Fridays free of formal work and dedicated to art/me time.

If money was no object where would you head to on a weekend city break? And who would you bring with you? I had a dream to spend my 50th birthday at the top of the Statue of Liberty. Well, the pandemic had different ideas.

An unfulfilled wish on the bucket list, so if money were no object, we would be heading off to New York all the way, and then off to Washington DC.

Closer to home, is there some place you like to head to recharge the batteries? Nic and I share a birthday, both born on April 29, eight years apart. In South Africa, we would spend our birthdays at the beach, usually Ballito on the Kwa-Zulu Natal North Coast, and wedding anniversaries at the Berg, we were married at Cathedral Peak.

Our first birthday in Ireland was spent at Inchydoney Island Lodge & Spa which has now become a special place for us to recharge. 

I love a good long walk on a beach, and Garretstown and Garrylucas are my go-to beaches and of course the inspiration for beautiful paintings. 

We love West Cork and enjoy discovering new places and spots. A falafel wrap on a sunny day at the Farmers Market on a Saturday morning in Skibbereen is hard to beat.

Do you like to catch up with family/friends at the weekend? As the extrovert in the family and a creative entrepreneur, I need people and feed off the energy of connection. I love to network and belong to Network Cork, and the recently launched West Cork Collective in Ballinspittle Village. By the time the weekend comes, we enjoy spending time together as a family.

Do you get to indulge any hobbies? Even as a spectator? I am lucky that I wear many hats, and as such, I can engage in new things regularly. I love to travel.

Over the past year, I was fortunate to travel in my capacity as a volunteer board director for EIL AFS Intercultural Learning Ireland, to Bonn in , Castelldefels in Spain, and Rige in Latvia.

As a life-long learner, I completed an Employment Law Course with Cork ETB, qualified as an AFS Global Up Facilitator and am currently participating in the Art of Business and Business of Art course with Future Kinsale.

I did martial arts, karate, for eight years in my 40s and moved to visual arts in my 50s. A little kinder on the body.

Entertain or be entertained? If it’s the latter do you have a signature dish? After 23 years in hospitality, we love to entertain. 

The biggest “sacrifice” moving to Ireland has been the change in lifestyle. We have a large 5-star B&B in Durban and miss the space and convenience of entertaining friends, family, and guests at our home and business.

Durban has the largest community of Indians outside of India, and as such, we enjoy a good Durban curry, or “Bunny Chow” which is a hot meat or beans curry served in a hollowed-out, half loaf of bread with fresh coriander, followed by a traditional South African Malva pudding and custard.

We have so many places to eat out in Cork - where are your go to spots for coffee/lunch/special meal? For coffee, West Cork Coffee in the Grey Heron in Bandon, breakfast at Priory Coffee in Riverstick or Crosshaven, for a lite bite, The Flying Poet in Kinsale and The Townhouse OD’s Gastropub in Schull, for lunch, SpitJack in Cork city, and for dinner, The Whale’s Tail at the Clonakilty Distillery.

Sunday night comes around too fast.. how do you normally spend it? Chilled, munching nice food, watching a good series, and then off to bed for 9pm, so that we are bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed for the new week.

What time does your alarm clock go off on Monday morning? It doesn’t. As long as I have known him, Nic wakes up around 4am.

Anything else you are up to right now...

I have a solo Emma Jacobs Art exhibition “Through my Eyes” showing until April 15 at the gallery space of the award-wining Kinsale Library. The library is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 9.30am to 5.30pm.

I am a retail member of the recently launched West Cork Collective. There are a total of 18 artists and makers, and a large group of Associate who display their work in the gallery space. It is open seven days a week.

The Address Hotel on Military Hill in Cork City has kindly embraced me as their Address Collective Artist in Residence, as part of the Art at the Address where they local artists in the community.