New Mokuhanga Works 2021

Since March 2020 Ireland has been in and out of rolling lockdowns and access to my studio has been intermittent and often non-existent. Being confined to my home studio has presented me with the opportunity to explore Mokuhanga printing – traditional Japanese woodblock using water-based inks. I am quickly falling in love with the delicate layers of colour and soft marks that can be built up on the paper which complement the hard lines of the cut block beautifully. The process is a demanding one –  the amount of water on the block, the type of paper used, how the ink is brushed into the wooden block will all affect the resulting print, and I have years of learning ahead of me! But it has been very rewarding to have the time to explore this new technique during this strange time where the world seems to be standing still for us.

Now more than ever I am interested in explorations of a utopia or an otherworld. As I look out my window, I am surrounded by neighbouring houses on the estate where I live. Each day I walk to the sea or the park beside me and breathe! The wide open space and the vast and changing skies remind me of the greater world beyond my 5km. The prints are a reflection on this experience, and at the same time a yearning for places beyond my reach, an ode to the unattainable. They are landscapes, unpeopled except sometimes by a house or a group of houses, looking towards the horizon. There is a dreamlike quality to the series which I hope allows the viewer a space in which to ponder. Sometimes the prints veer closer to abstraction with a shape or a colour suggesting a mood or a feeling. Certainly for me in a small home studio with a busy house around me, carving out even a few short moments in which to think is a rare and precious occasion.

All my new prints are up on my shop or in the Mokuhanga gallery on the website. Pop over and have a gander!

The Gloss Magazine Interview December 2020

I was delighted to be interviewed by Penny McCormick for the Irish Times’ Gloss Magazine this week. We were chatting about art, printmaking and working at Graphic Studio Dublin, the studio where I work and make my prints. The studio celebrates its 60th Anniversary this year, and there is an exhibition, Diamond Point, showcasing the work of its members at Graphic Studio Gallery Dublin. The gallery is open, and the exhibition is also online on their website. The link to the article is here - it’s just a short read!

https://thegloss.ie/artistic-license-niamh-flanagan/

Behaviour and Attitudes Commission, December 2019

This year I was thrilled to be invited as the 2019 artist for the Behaviour and Attitudes/Graphic Studio Dublin Annual Commission. This collaboration between GSD and B and A has been running for more than 30 years. Each year Behaviour and Attitudes commission an artist to make a series of fine art prints which are editioned at Graphic Studio Dublin and given to B and A clients as a Christmas gift at the end of the year. I made a series of three etchings based around the theme of Shelter. The prints in the series use motifs familiar to my work - islands, mountains, dwellings. They suggest safety, shelter and containment. However these etched worlds also convey something of a sense of unease, with their dark brooding skies and shadowy waters. As part of the project Behaviour and Attitudes made a video about the process with Barry Lynch of Infocus Media, which you can see here.

The Stinging Fly Winter 2017-18

I am really excited to have one of my collage pieces on the cover of the Stinging Fly magazine. It is more of an anthology than a magazine to be fair, stretching to over 220 pages and featuring work by fifty poets and writers. The Stinging Fly celebrates its 20th birthday this year, and is an Irish publication showcasing new writers and new writing.

This issue contains work that explores different issues surrounding housing and homelessness. It makes for very compelling reading. You can buy the magazine, or indeed subscribe for a year or two at their website here: www.stingingfly.org

other worlds

Other Worlds at SO Fine Art Gallery, Dublin opens on June 29th 2017.

It features my work alongside artists Yoko Akino, Clare Henderson and Aoife Scott.

I have really enjoyed making work for the show, which is a combination of etchings and collaged etching/monoprints. The theme inside worlds was one we agreed on when we started working on the show several months ago. Much of my work is about travel, or ideas of travel and escape, so the theme for me suggested projected or imagined worlds; places we have been, or would like to have been or may never visit. The collage pieces became a world within themselves: free from the constraints of making an etching, the source material provided by the etching process provided me with motifs and imagery with which to create a realm which pays homage to all the proofs that are cast aside when making an etching.