Imogen Stuart was born in Berlin in 1927 and tells Miriam about growing up in Hitler's Germany - and how her parents never revealed that her grandmother was Jewish in order to protect the children and their grandmother. Although she lived through the War, she describes her childhood as being idyllic, thanks to her parents. She explains her early encounter with art and how she became to be a sculptor.
After the war, she met a young Irish man called Ian Stuart who had come to Germany to study sculpture. For Imogen, it was love at first sight. They married and came to live in Ireland. Imogen explains what Ireland was like at that time. They lived in Laragh, County Wicklow with no electricity or running water.
Ian Stuart was from a well-known Irish family. Maud Gonne was his grandmother, Iseult Gonne was his mother and Francis Stuart was his father. Imogen describes visits to Maud Gonne at her home in Roebuck in Dublin.
Aisling describes her childhood in Laragh where both her parents worked in their workshops while the children ran free in the countryside. Au pairs looked after the children while Imogen worked. There was no money, but they had an idyllic life.
Imogen has been commissioned to make sculptures for many Catholic Churches all over Ireland. While she found one bishop difficult to deal with, Imogen has enjoyed many deep and lasting friendships with Irish priests that she met through her work. She describes her conversion from being a Lutheran to being a Catholic. But she now thinks that artists have their own way at looking at God and at religion.
Aisling explains to Miriam how her husband Robert's recent death has prompted her quest for spirituality - she has explored Buddhist spirituality.
Aisling explained how she returned to Ireland with her husband Robert to take over his family home called Rosnaree near Slane, County Meath. They opened the house to guests. Aisling also runs a Summer school for artists at the house. Imogen supports her venture, saying how important it is for artists to have a basic technical training.
Imogen describes how she continues to work every day and has just completed a piece for this years 2012 RHA Annual Exhibition.
Aisling tells Miriam about how fond she is of Imogen's early work because she grew up with these pieces around her.
Aisling and Imogen recall how Imogen sculpted Evie and Aisling when they were young, but never sculpted her second daughter Siobhan. Siobhan was killed tragically in a car crash, but her quick thinking meant that her small children survived the accident. Imogen and Aisling describe the impact this dreadful loss has had on them. Imogen says that it is so unnatural to loose a child that she still sometimes finds it hard to believe that Siobhan is dead. Aisling explains how difficult it is to loose a sibling and says that this loss has made her engage more deeply with life.
Imogen celebrates her 85th birthday this month. She reflects on ageing, on how important it is to have an active mind. She describes her separation from her husband Ian as a liberation and Aisling reflects on how she thinks her mothers work improved from that point. Imogen has no ambitions to marry again, enjoying as she does, the company of her friends, her family, her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Their choices of music were Marlene Dietrich singing Lili Marlene and Schubert's Der Linden Baum