Aisling Gallery: Bringing Ireland to Hingham Through Art

Aisling means ‘dream’ or ‘vision’ in Gaelic and when you spend time in the Aisling Gallery at 229 Lincoln St. in Hingham, you are surrounded by images of Ireland that don’t rely on pints of Guinness to tell a story and capture the beauty of the country.

Owner Maureen Connolly, talking about her framing and gallery business, speaks in a soft lilting Irish accent that she probably had when she arrived in Hingham at the tail-end of the 1960s.

Hingham Patch will features questions with business owners every Monday. See Connolly's interview below. 

Where are you from? 

I’m from Castlegregory in County Kerry. It’s near Dingle, which is where the movie Ryan’s Daughter was filmed in 1969. Since then our village and the surrounding area has become famous all over the world for tourism.

When did you come to Hingham?

A long time ago, in 1968. My husband-to-be had two cousins living in Hingham and that was a big draw for us.

When did you open the gallery?

In December 1989. This is the only location since we opened, it’s small but it works for us. My husband wanted an Irish business and he came up with the idea. In our village, there was a gallery owned by three English women and a German lady who kept asking if there was anywhere in America that could sell their art. Of course, we knew nothing about art but we did own this building at the time. It was my husband’s idea, but I always say guess who’s retired and who’s working six days a week - me!

I never originally wanted the gallery but I love it. We’ve been open for more than 24 years and we know so many wonderful people from all over the South Shore. English, Irish and all those in-between!

Is the majority of your business the art sales or the framing service?

It’s about 60 percent for the framing and 40 percent for the art. We have a wonderful artist, Vincent Crotty, from County Cork and we have sold 50 of his paintings in the last year. That has been a very good connection for us.

Is the art that you sell exclusively “Irish”?

No. The subject matter is Irish but the artist can be any nationality. We have English, Irish, German and French-American artists but we also sell a lot of prints from the National Gallery in Ireland.

Where do you do the framing?

All the framing is done in-house. Brenda Spinazzola (Maureen’s colleague) has a degree in art and she loves choosing the frames for customers. She cuts all the frames as well.

Is it fair to say that you had no real experience of the art world before you started Aisling?

(Laughs) If we did, we probably wouldn’t have opened. Ignorance is bliss in this case.

What makes Hingham so special?

The easy access. I don’t even drive and I worked in Boston for years. You can take the boat, the train, the bus, there are so many modes of transportation. Being near the water is a big plus, being able to walk to the beach from downtown. It’s a lovely, friendly town.

Have you always lived in Hingham?

Yes. We bought a small house in 1968 for $9,500 – don’t you love it! We got married in 1969; these were the days when people didn’t live together before marriage. We got the place fixed up and moved in. Our three kids all went to school here.

How has the business changed since 1989?

We do more framing. When we first started, we tried to sell more art but we are such a small business that we wait for Mohammed to come to the mountain…sometimes that isn’t a good idea!

What advice would you give to any prospective businesses in Hingham?

Just go for it. It’s a lovely town, a town for small businesses. It’s so nice to not have a Gap or any of these stores that you see in every town in the country. When you go downtown, you realize there are so many wonderful businesses in Hingham that are owned by local people.