Breon O'Casey was a highly productive and much esteemed artist for four decades but his public reputation has only recently spread beyond the confines of the art and craft circles. He lived in Cornwall and was a respected member of the St. Ives School whose leading figures included Barbara Hepworth, Bernard Leach and Ben Nicholson.
After national service, Breon O'Casey joined the Anglo-French Art School in St John's Wood, London. In the late 1950s, O'Casey moved to St. Ives after being inspired by a film about the St. Ives painter Alfred Wallis. Breon O'Casey began his working career as an apprentice, initially to Denis Mitchell and then later to Barbara Hepworth. In the St. Ives artists' colony, he also benefited from his friendships with other leading artists such as Peter Lanyon, Tony O'Malley and John Wells. Breon O'Casey wasn't confined by the established order of specialisms or materials. Throughout his artistic career he explored the possibilities of both art and craft. In St. Ives he established himself as a painter, etcher, weaver, jeweller and later as a sculptor.
Breon O'Casey's work is characterised by simple lines and forms. It is based on a very personal set of imagery which includes animals, birds and human figures. These images from nature are pared down to their very essence and this gives them a primitive and spiritual presence.
Breon O'Casey exhibited extensively and his work can be found in many permanent collections. These include the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Tate Collection in London, Leeds City Art Gallery and Kettle's Yard in Cambridge. Breon O'Casey is also represented in the collections of the Pforzheim Museum in Germany and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, USA.