'His art is exceptional': Work of Cork artist, who is deaf and has autism, on display

A chance meeting in The Lough Café between the parents of artist John Doolan and art therapist Sarah Murphy was the catalyst for an exhibition of John’s exquisite pencil drawings, which are on show at Bishopstown Library for the month of April.

Sarah, who is also an artist, and her husband got talking to David and Mary Doolan, pointing out one of Sarah’s paintings hanging in the café.

That led to David showing Sarah photos on his phone of John’s work, mostly portraits, of famous musical icons such as Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury, as well as people from John’s life.

Sarah went on to meet 30-year-old John, who was adopted from Romania, in the Doolans’ home in Togher, and suggested an exhibition.

John is showing 42 pieces of art at the library, which is displayed in conjunction with Cork City Council and the Lifelong Learning Festival.

“John is an amazing artist,” says Sarah. “I was blown away by his incredible attention to detail, his sensitivity, the incredible likenesses of the portraits.

“He catches something of the soul of the person. It reflects his own soul and ion for his work.”

On paper, John sounds like he has insurmountable challenges. He is deaf, has limited speech, and has autism.

“I just see his art,” says Sarah, “it’s exceptional. And he’s doing something he loves which is making people happy.”

John landed on his feet when he was adopted from an orphanage in Romania at the age of six-and-a-half.

As David explains: “We had our family (of three children) reared. We felt we could offer more.

“We were planning to go to China to adopt. A friend who had adopted a child from Romania said the agency she dealt with had been in touch with her about a boy in trouble and asked if we’d consider adopting him.

“Once the boy reached seven, if there was no-one for him, he would be put in an asylum.

“We have a home, plenty of love and we love kids. We had been watching documentaries (about deprived children), sitting with our cups of tea in the height of comfort. What were we doing about it?”

David and Mary didn’t know that John had autism when they took him into their home. But it wouldn’t have deterred them.

They are great advocates for this talented young man. It took five court hearings before the authorities in Romania sanctioned John’s adoption.

“The head person at the orphanage couldn’t understand why we were going to take this young fellow, saying he was no good to anyone,” says David.

“She thought we were taking him for tax benefits in Ireland.”

But the real explanation is that David and Mary simply love children and wanted to give John a home and opportunities.

After attending St Columba’s Boys National School, where there is a unit for deaf children, John, who made good progress there, spent a year boarding at St John’s secondary school in Dublin, returning to Cork every weekend. “But he was absolutely killed with homesickness.”

His parents took him out of there and approached Bishopstown Community School where there are teachers that have sign language.

“John attended the school and completed his Leaving Cert there “with a lot of help,” says David.

“He did art for the Leaving but there’s a lot of academic stuff in that. John struggled with it but his teacher said to me that his talent alone at drawing would nearly be enough to get him through – and it did.”

John uses hearing aids. “An audiologist explained that he has just under 8% of normal hearing. The hearing aids bring him up to about 16%.”

With certain tones being more audible than others, David says: “We talk to him at home all the time in a certain way. He can hear a bit. He’s fluent in sign language. He is very delayed socially.”

A religious young man, John was often visited by Fr Ben Hodnett of Togher church before he was moved to Bantry.

Fr Ben encouraged him to create drawings of Little Nelly of Holy God, based on photographic slides that were retrieved from the Good Shepherd Convent of the pious child.

John’s drawings of Little Nelly were on display in Togher church for a while.

John won a competition on 96fm some years ago.

“Nick Richards asked listeners to design a Christmas card. John drew Santa Claus and won the competition,” says David.

After becoming interested in drawing cartoons, John studied animation at St John’s College.

After he graduated, David spoke to a jobs coach who suggested that John call to Deaf Enterprises.

“There was a man there doing French polishing who was about to retire. He trained John.

“John does the French polishing out there, working three days a week. He does drawing at the weekends.”

David says that people often comment on how good he and his wife are to give John a home. “They say ‘wasn’t he a lucky boy’, but you know something, we’re as lucky as he is. He’s great.”

Over the years, John’s obsessions have been reflected in his art. He went through a Harry Potter phase and a Mr Bean phase.

The Doolans have it all worked out for John.

“We hope to be around for another while, but if we’re not around, John will stay with our daughter Tracy who is married with two kids. John goes on holidays with them.

“Our other children are Maria and Bob. John completed our family,” adds David, proud that he is showing his etchings at Bishopstown Library.