Talented Longford artist and business owner says her dyslexia has been a 'superpower'

The enterprising owner of a vibrant Longford business has spoken about how having dyslexia is a 'superpower' as it has helped her to think 'in a different way' and a more visual and practical way to others.

Talented artist Anna Peters, who established Athena Art Gallery and Café in the heart of the county town in early-2023, is an incredibly positive and driven young woman who has carved out a successful and a highly fulfilling career.

The Lanesboro native, who is the daughter of Steve and Marie Peters, developed her passion for art while attending both Fermoyle national school and Ballymahon Convent of Mercy Secondary School.

Anna then studied at the National College of Art and Design, where she graduated with a Bachelor in Ceramics and Glass and a Masters in Sculpture and Expanded Practice.

She has received fantastic support from her family who run a successful family business, her dad entrepreneur Steve sowed the seed for the idea for Athena and Anna, through hard work and enterprise, developed it into a thriving business.

Anna's mum Marie has also worked alongside her and helped with the daily running of the gallery-and café.

Anna spent several years working in art galleries in Dublin before she took the plunge and opened Athena Art Gallery and Café.

The 27 year-old said following her masters she was unsure whether she wanted to work in a gallery, create art or teach and thankfully Athena has allowed her to all of the above.

Anna has a range of impressive paintings, sculptures and craft work on display, but the one closest to her heart is her hand painted, wooden clock at the back of the gallery.

"It was my master's degree project during my MA in sculpture and expanded practice so it's made from wood, it's hand painted, it has a resin overlay and it used to be a sundial but I changed it into a clock so that I could have it in the gallery."

Anna explained the beautifully crafted clock is priceless to her, she has a very personal connection with it and it is not for sale.
"I had it up for sale and I had a few offers and then I realised I didn't want to sell it.

"It's all based around dyslexia and I have dyslexia myself, I did my thesis on dyslexia and the development of kids so it's very close to my heart.

"It kind of ties in with human perspective and how we are all seeing the world, how we're all visualising everything and from my point of view as someone with dyslexia it's very personal to me."

Anna changed the sundial into a clock as she wanted it in her gallery and she drilled a hole through the middle, put hands on it and she added a resin overlay.

"Basically the idea of it is in each section of time so like 12 to 1 and 1 to 2 it actually has handwritten the time but because it's going from the centre to the outskirts you can't make out what it says unless you look at the diagrams.

"So the idea behind it is that someone without dyslexia can't read the writing and they feel frustrated like somebody with dyslexia might feel every day."

Anna said it was only when she studied for and completed her thesis that she became fully aware of the importance of an early diagnosis.

"I got diagnosed with dyslexia when I was six so I was really lucky and my mum and dad were brilliant with me.

"My mum taught me everything, the way I could be taught so visually with images and that kind of stuff and I always looked at it as kind of having like a superpower rather than it being a bad thing, because I knew the stuff I was bad at and there was also lots of stuff I was really good at.”

Anna said she knew from her thesis readings and findings that dyslexia is actually just that you are working from a different side of your brain.

“It's just that you are figuring things out completely differently. And I think when it comes to school it's not easy because obviously we are learning in a specific curriculum for the majority."

Anna said she worked hard in school but the creative and artistic work came more easily to her than the academic assignments.

She stated there is a lot of good support and she had great learning support classes from Eileen Donovan and a reader who assisted her during her Leaving Cert.

"I was always good at tech graph and art and I would get A's but I'd be really bad at subjects like math and English and anything you need in school so I kind of rigged the system as much as I could and I did every single chosen subject with a project.

"I think realising that because I was thinking in a different way I was working things out or maybe coming up with things other people might not think in that way that's how I found it a superpower."

Anna said speaking about different life experiences can help with understanding.

"I'm not shy about talking about it because I think it's really important. I love when people come over and see the clock, I always explain to them what it's about and I think whether it's dyslexia, whether it's your upbringing, whether it's one thing or another, everybody's experiencing everything completely differently.”

Anna said she never rushes to make a judgement on people.

"It's like when somebody asks 'Why is that person not being nice' there might be a reason beyond what we can perceive at the moment.

"So I just like the idea of kill people with kindness and you don't know what people are going through or how they are perceiving you.”

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