Residency Clifden Arts Festival 2024

I was delighted to be invited to Claddaghduff in Connemara in September as part of the Clifden Arts Festival 2024, to take part in a residency alongside artists Maria Atanackovic, Clare Henderson and Marie Cazeres. We were given the use of the hall in Claddaghduff to work for the duration of the festival, hampered only by the distraction of the many exciting things going on as part of the festival!

I worked on sketches and drawings of the landscape, as well as collages and some simple hand-made books, which I really enjoyed working on. It was such a treat to be away from the real world and to be able to focus on playing around with different techniques and simply allowing the influences around me to do their work. We travelled around some of the stunning areas - including the Inagh Valley which is magnificent and otherwordly. The West is the Best lads! I hope to be back again soon!

The Dower House Gallery, thin places of escape and return

I am delighted to be exhibiting a solo presentation of etchings and collage pieces at the Dower House Gallery, Emo Court, Co. Laois until November 18th. thin places of escape and return is a body of work created between late 2021 and 2023. It features colour etchings, monoprint and collage works based on ideas of escape, reverie and our search for retreat; drawing inspiration from iconic dwellings and structures in folklore and fairytale, the landscape and the structures within them.

I am interested in these tales and how the houses in them can shape our thoughts, our dreams and our memories. I am interested in the mountains, the pathways, the dark lakes, the clustering shelters, the groupings of islands, the fading horizons, faraway fields, and the clouds that hover above us. I am interested in the meaning we assign to all of these things. The houses that feature in my landscapes act as a representation of safety or security against the elements outside. But our notions of safety are temporary, and our time is fleeting. These structures might not hold, as storms and changes approach. Islands are a source I return to often in my work – looking at an island is like looking at another world; and there is something about this distance that allows space for dreaming and distillation of thought. I often refer to stories, poetry and prose when I am making work – the works of Alistair Mc Leod and Brian Friel, writing about identity, memory and belonging held particular resonance for me while working on this series.  I use colour to add to this sense of a narrative, and to reinforce the emotional complexity of these personal landscapes of memory.

Irish and European texts provided an inspiration for many of the works in the exhibition, as did many of the great artists who have engaged with the subject matter before me – from Harry Clarke to Paula Rego, from David Hockney to Shaun Tan. These stories are dark and deep. They are the stories we are told when we are tucked up safe in our beds; but they tell us about danger and evil, many of these structures are traps or prisons, things are not always as they seem. My prints depict dark and fractal towers, glassy sharp mountains, and towering beanstalks, all familiar, and yet strange. We have returned to the world of our childhood, but something is different in this desolate oneiric universe. Something has changed. But maybe it is we who have changed in returning, like Oisín on his ill-fated trip from Tír na nÓg.

In recent years I have been making collage-etchings alongside my etching process. I create one-off original pieces using this technique: combining elements of monoprint with collage, using off-cuts of elements from my etchings and juxtaposing them with one another to create new narratives and compositions. These works explore further how stories can change and evolve through different interpretations and translations, through different times and eras. The etchings in these unique pieces become a printed universe – a sort of vernacular or visual language of my own, changing and evolving with each iteration of the narrative, with each re-telling of the tale. These repeated motifs can be seen as a metaphor for the telling and the re-telling, the construction and the re-construction of narratives, re-imagining these imagined worlds once more. The resulting work creates something of a dream-like universe, in which elements from a print can appear and re-appear in different settings, creating new meaning and contexts through these works.

Blickar mot Lansdkap | Looking at the Landscape at Galleri Helle-Knudsen May 31st - July 8th 2023

I am very excited to be showing a new body of colage pieces alongside four Swedish artists at Galleri Helle Knudse in Stockholm opening at the end of this month.

The exhibiting artists are myself and Ellen Lindtróm, Victor Hjertén and Kerstin Glamheden and Magnus etersson. ‘Each artist interprets the landscape through different expressions and techniques - Kerstin Glamhedhin’s dreamlike sceneries meet Marcus Petersson’s darker depictions of winter lanscapes and small towns. Niamh Flanagan’s soft and characteristc worlds meet Victor Hjerten’s colder but restful graphic surroundings. The landscapes meet gazes from expressive scultures by Ellen Lindstrom. Her marble-like figures create a feeling of thoughtfulness and reflection.’

Galleri Helle-Knudsen

across the water, collage etching, 37 x 37 cm, mounted on birch ply

artist’s statement - blickar mot landskap

This body of work was created in early 2023, responding to the theme of Looking at the Landscape,

and creating a series of collage etchings, based on ideas of escape, reverie and our search for places

of retreat in our increasingly connected worlds. I am interested in the mountains, the pathways, the

dark lakes, the clustering shelters, the groupings of islands, the fading horizons, faraway fields, and

the clouds that hover above us. I am interested in the meaning we assign to all of these things. The

houses that feature in my landscapes act as a representation of safety or security against the

elements outside. But our notions of safety are temporary, and our time is fleeting. These structures

might not hold, as storms and changes approach.

Islands are a source I return to often in my work – looking at an island is like looking at another

world; and there is something about this distance that allows space for dreaming and distillation of

thought. I often refer to stories, poetry and prose when I am making work – the works of Alistair Mc

Leod and Brian Friel, writing about identity, memory and belonging held particular resonance for me

while working on this series. I use colour to add to this sense of a narrative, and to reinforce the

emotional complexity of these personal landscapes of memory.

These pieces were made combining monoprint, woodblock, etching, collage and gold leaf techniques

to create unique one- off pieces that are mounted on birch plywood.

watchtower in the quiet night, collage etching, 30 x 40cm, mounted on birch ply

Showing at the RHA 193rd Annual Exhibtion

I am delighted to be showing my etching ‘the sea’s own at the RHA Annual Exhibition in Dublin this Summer. The Academy celebrates its 200th Anniversary this year and I am honoured to have one of my pieces selected for the exhibition. The show runs at the gallery in Ely Place in Dublin from May 22nd until July 30th 2023, and is also available to view online. www.rhagallery.ie It features painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, drawing and architectural models. Check it out - it is a feast for the eyes - there are a staggering amount of work on show!

thin places of escape and return - my solo exhibition at SO Fine Art Editions opening October 8th

I keep thinking I am almost finished my solo exhibition - thin places of escape and return, which opens next week at SO Fine Art Editions, Dublin. And there always seems to be something else to do! The work, which I have been making since 2021, consists of a series of multi-plate colour etchings, alongside a body of collage etchings, which are made of a combination of monoprint, etching and collage. The motif of the house or dwelling space is central to my work, and the work in this show delves deeper into the notion of the house as a formative psychological structure, one that inhabits our dreams and our inner spaces.

The work draws its inspiration from iconic dwellings and structures in folklore and fairytale, exploring how these tales, and the houses and buildings in them, can shape our thoughts, our dreams and our memories. Irish and European texts provided an inspiration for many of the works in the exhibition, as were many of the great artists who have engaged with the subject matter before me - from Harry Clarke and Paula Rego to David Hockney and Shaun Tan. These stories are dark and deep. They are the stories we are told when we are tucked up safe in our beds; but they tell us about danger and evil: many of these structures are traps or prisons, things are not always as they seem.

These prints depict dark and fractal towers, glassy sharp mountains, and towering beanstalks, all familiar and yet strange. We have returned to the world of our childhood but something is different in this desolate oneiric universe. Something has changed. But maybe it is we who have changed in returning, like Oisín on his ill-fated trip from Tír na nÓg.

In recent years I have been making collage pieces alongside my etchings, which combine monoprint, etching and collage, to create unique one-off pieces. These works explore further the notion of the telling and retelling of a tale or a narrative. The etchings become the printed universe, or the vernacular from which I create my own visual language, which is altered with each iteration of the narrative, each re-telling of the tale. These repeated motifs can be seen as a metaphor for the telling and re-telling, the construction and re-construction of narratives, creating new contexts and meanings for the work.