10 questions for Jackie Lynch
- birrtheatre
- Sep 30, 2025
- 2 min read
We ask our visiting artists to tell us a little bit about themselves. We hope that these short questionnaires will reveal something that you didn't know or expect about them.
jackie Lynch is a local, multifaceted artists. She is a stalwart of our theatre and we were lucky enough to host the launch of her latest creation, a book of Haikus titles "Light Chains" during this year's Culture Night. The evening was a fabulous opportunity to discover Jackie's art, delve a little deeper in her creative process, but there is more to know about her.
So, who is Jackie? Her answers to our quickfire questionnaire might surprise you!
Q- Tell us about yourself
A- I’m a Birr born visual and archive artist, photographer, film maker and poet who lived in Asia for 7 years. Along with solo projects such as ‘ My Hometown’ book and ‘7’ film I have also collaborated with Offaly Artists on projects such as ‘Birr Fan Trail’, ‘ A Town Reads Mitchell’ and ‘Birr Stills’. My favourite season is Spring. I prefer to wear mohair, linen and Crocs. Most often seen with a cloth bag over my shoulder. I appreciate patterns and texture. I’m a hoarder and love antique fairs, antique shops and auctions.
Q- What did you present in Birr Theatre?
A- A book of Japanese haiku poetry and associated photographs composed following a shock diagnosis that changed the course of my life.
Q- Who is your biggest influence?
A- In my life my daughter Eva, in art the Catalan artist Joan Miro.
Q- Describe yourself as a 10-year-old.
A- Curious, creative, adventurous, eager to get out into the world.
Q- What’s your best Artistic memory?
A- Standing in front of Matisse’s ‘The Snail’ and being blown away by the scale of it and feeling my heart react to sitting in front of Mark Rothko’s ‘Red’ painting.
Q- What’s your worst artistic memory?
A- Trusting a friend to deliver my artworks to exhibition and them arriving with the glass smashed.
Q- Where are you at your happiest?
A- Anywhere I can be creative.
Q- What’s your favourite colour?
A- On walls yellow, lipstick red or plum, to wear depends on my mood.
Q- What’s the last book you enjoyed?
A- Recently I read ‘Wrong Women’ by Caroline West.
Q- What's the last Play or Film that you enjoyed?
A- I watched ‘Saltburn’.
Q- What’s your favourite song of all time?
A- ‘Friends in Time’ by ‘The Golden Horde’
You will find copies of "Light Chains" In Kelly’s CEOS, O Connell St., Birr and SuperValu Birr. We encourage you to seek out this collection of deeply moving and carefully crafted poems.
The interview-style article was interesting because it shows real creative thinking in theatre work. During one busy semester, I used Assignment helpers UK when I had trouble organizing my research notes into proper structure. That support helped me improve clarity in my writing. The post reminds me that learning becomes easier when we break tasks into simple steps and stay consistent. nice post
The detail about mohair/linen/Crocs made me laugh because it’s such a specific “artist uniform” and you can picture her instantly. And I like that her biggest influence in life is her daughter — that answer feels more revealing than anything “career” related. Side note: I was messing around with some hairstyle ai ideas recently and it’s funny how style choices (clothes, hair, even a cloth bag) become part of the story people remember about you.
Haiku + photography feels like a really brave pairing when you’re processing something life-changing — both forms don’t let you waffle, you have to choose what stays. I’d be interested to hear if she had any “rules” for the photos (only Birr? only certain light/season?) since Spring is her favourite. This reminded me of those Ghibli-style photo transforms— totally different intent, but still that idea of turning an ordinary moment into a different kind of seeing.
The “quickfire” format actually works well here because Jackie’s answers are so specific (mohair/linen/Crocs is such a real combo). That line about the diagnosis changing the course of her life makes the Culture Night launch sound like it had a lot more emotional weight than a standard book event. Offhand: I bumped into https://hrefgo.com the other day and it reminded me how many creative tools are out there now, but the personal story behind the work is still the part that sticks.
Joan Miró as an influence makes so much sense for someone who moves between visual work, archives, and poetry — he’s playful but still feels intentional, if that makes sense. I’d love to know which of her collaborative Birr projects felt most “her” versus more of a community documentation thing. Random aside: I fell down a rabbit hole on https://caesarcipher.org recently and it’s funny how even simple constraints (in art or in code) can produce unexpected meaning.