I am thrilled to be a part of this wonderful article by Aya Kusch for Mayday Magazine, on eight contemporary Irish female artists. It was lovely to reflect on Aya’s questions and check out this awesome new online magazine! Follow the link below to see the full article and acquaint yourself with some interesting contemporary artists.
Niamh Flanagan
“island community,” etching, 34 x 36 cm (Courtesy of Niamh Flanagan)
How did you know you wanted to be an artist?
I was always interested in art – my mother is a painter and there was always art and music in my home growing up. I guess when I was in school, I liked a wide range of subjects, but art was the one that I could get really absorbed in. I would forget about the time, or the other work that needed to be done, and just engage with the process. Printmaking really appeals to me because often it is like a puzzle, with various elements that need to be solved one piece at a time. If I can’t figure something out, there is always another part of the puzzle I can work on, and come back to the problem later. I like this, because it never feels like I’m stuck! Even though sometimes I am stuck, but I can leave it simmering away in the back of my head, and when I come back to it a few days later, I can hopefully figure it out.
What inspires you?
I am inspired by lots of things- daily sea walks, books and poetry, dreams, words, and emotions can all provide starting points for my work. The process of etching and its many stages and states also sparks ideas – I find when I have a few things on the go, the ideas tend to flow, and the process itself can feed into the work. I like to make collage pieces and woodblocks too – they are more immediate and this creates a nice balance for me in tandem with the slower work of the etchings. The motif of the house is central to my work – it suggests ideas of safety and containment, community and stability, but the work also suggests something of the opposite: vulnerability, isolation, and volatility. I am interested in the narrative element of the prints, and the anthropomorphic quality of the houses, trees, and mountains in the worlds I create. These could be stages, set for action: the brooding skies suggest maybe something more than rain.
There is a dreamlike quality to my work, that I hope allows the viewer a space in which to ponder. With my own hectic work and home life, I certainly feel the need for dreaming in between the deadlines and the drop-offs. Sometimes the prints veer closer to abstraction, with shapes and colour suggesting a mood and a feeling. It is important to me that there is an ambiguity there, so the viewer is free to project their thoughts onto the work.
“floating fish,” collage etching on birch ply, 20 x 20 cm (Courtesy of Niamh Flanagan)
What excites you about the art scene in Ireland today?
The contemporary art scene in Ireland, as with across the entire world has been turned inside out since the pandemic last year. Galleries, theatres, and cultural spaces have been shut, and there is no certainty as to when they will be back. There is a huge loneliness in that for artists, without all the usual support networks of openings, exhibitions, social events, and meetings; not to mention the difficulty of making work without any certain endpoint or engagement with audiences. The studio where I work, Graphic Studio Dublin, has been closed since Christmas and we have no idea when we can open again, so our members are without their studio space and their print community. What has been quite remarkable during this time is seeing the resilience of the art community, and the shift to move things online and create meaningful engagement with artists and audiences. Here at the studio, we have been running a series of online courses for members, alongside a series of Zoom lectures by some of our artists about their practices, and one of our members, a Mokuhanga expert has been supporting a group of us in learning Mokuhanga while we are at home. Our gallery has hosted online exhibitions and featured artists, which has motivated our members to stay engaged and connected to the studio while we are not physically in the building.
I think a lot of the online engagement and support networks we have set up in this last year are a huge positive that has come out of the Covid crisis, and they will last beyond the pandemic, making art more globally accessible, which has got to be a good thing!
Website: https://maydaymagazine.com/eight-contemporary-female-irish-artists-to-fall-in-love-with-immediately-by-aya-kusch/
Instagram: @neevusfl
