Artist Biographies

Brian Bourke
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Brian Bourke

Dublin born artist Brian Bourke studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and St. Martin’s School of Art, London. He represented Ireland at the Paris Biennale in 1965, claimed first prize in the Irish Exhibition of Living Art competition in 1967, and received the O’Malley Award from the Irish-American Cultural Institute in 1993. Bourke is well known for his very distinctive portraits and self portraits which combine strong colours and often caricature-like distortion.

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Aoife Casby
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Aoife Casby

Aoife lives & works in Carraroe as a visual artist, writer of fiction & innovative hybrid-text works. Her work relies heavily on process in attempts to produce meaning, addressing issues of trust, truth, voice & voicelessness & how these things may be experienced through & are affected by being in a particular place. She’s interested in characters, strange interconnections, the weirdness & fragility of our inner lives, the development & decay of relationships. She is having fun developing a multi-layered, bi-lingual engagement with our natural and cultural heritage.

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Clare Cashman
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Clare Cashman

From Cork originally, Clare studied Fine Art Painting at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin. Since graduating in 2002 she has won the CAP Foundation Art Award, the Tony O’Malley Travel Award for Painters, of numerous bursaries/sparánachtaí ó An Chomhairle Ealaíon agus Ealaín na Gaeltachta. Group exhibitions include 'Folkatronica' at the Sugar Club, Dublin, curated by Seán Kissane IMMA, 'Thirty-Two Thousand Years Later’ at Pallas Projects, Dublin, ‘C2’ at the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork. Currently, Claire is living in Casla, Connemara Co. Galway.

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Lelia Ní Chathmhaoil
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Lelia Ní Chathmhaoil

Leila’s work as an artist reflects where she lives in Cois Fharraige, by the sea, in south Connemara. Her art explores a sense of place, of home, of ecosystems and challenges the way we see materials and also the way in which work is presented. The materials she comes upon in her environment means that the work she undertakes is of that place both materially and aesthetically. Being directed in this way means the work made is very much of the moment. She enjoys the randomness and possibilities these materials present...be they organic or found wonders.

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Áine Ní Chíobháin
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Áine Ní Chíobháin

Áine is an artist born in Cork City with family roots in Corca Dhuibhne. She has been living and working in Dingle since 2007. She has an Honours Degree from Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork City. Her artwork is found in many public and private collections including HETAC, CIT and Kerry County Council, Ireland. She is a recipient of numerous awards including bursary awards, project awards, and residency awards from Ealaín na Gaeltachta (Arts Council of Ireland & Údarás na Gaeltachta), Kerry County Council and Cork Film Centre.

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Róisín Ní Chionnfhlaolaidh
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Róisín Ní Chionnfhlaolaidh

Róisín was born and raised in the Ring Gaeltacht of County Waterford. She graduated from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 1988 as a glass designer. Within that time, she developed new light reflection methods in the link between glass and water in sculpting. She has worked in Denmark and Germany and has travelled extensively in Asia and India studying native arts, which has had a profound influence on her work. Currently, she is working from her studio in Ballinskelligs. She is inspired by her natural surroundings, the sea in particular. She utilizes techniques including stratification, acid etching and recompression. A fossilized pattern can be identified in her work as a result of these implemented techniques.

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Helen Ní Chuill
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Helen Ní Chuill

Helen was born in Co. Cork, Ireland and has lived most of her life in the Muscraí area. She is primarily a ceramic artist incorporating mixed media. She is inspired by the natural world.

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Seán Cathal Ó Coileáin
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Seán Cathal Ó Coileáin

The painter Seán Cathal is so much more of a metaphysical painter than one of narrative in that he deals with the first principles of things, including the abstract concept or concepts of being, knowing, time, space and, crucially for him, identity. His pictorial references whilst highly personal, is also European in his ability to construct imaginative frameworks within Aristotelian principles of being and knowing.

https://www.meoneile.ie/cultur-agus-ealain/taispeantas-speisialta-le-sean-cathal-o-coileain-le-feiceail-sa-ghailearai-in-aislann-ghaoth-dobhair

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Ceara Conway
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Ceara Conway

Ceara Conway is an Irish contemporary vocalist and visual artist. She creates innovative experiential performance works that utilise traditional and contemporary songs, music, and visual art to explore social issues such as the ecological crisis, migration, and feminist concerns. Ceara has undertaken numerous significant commissions, residencies, and public art works. Recent and upcoming projects include Viriditas, Galway ECOC & Saolta Arts (2020), Dóchas/Hope, Oireachtas na Gaeilge & Waterways Ireland (2019). The Feminist Supermarket, Ormston House Cultural Centre (2021), Illuminations Gallery, Maynooth University (2021), Pocahontas Opera House Residency, West Virginia, USA (2022).

www.cearaconway.ie

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Bernadette Cotter
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Bernadette Cotter

Bernadette was born in Ballingeary Co. Cork in 1958. She holds a BA from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship in 1986. She spent 11 years in America and was awarded a higher degree from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1989. Her exhibitions have been displayed in Ireland, Europe, America, China and Korea. She has worked with the renowned poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill on her collection of poems ‘Dinnseanchas’, and with artists such as Iarla Ó Lionáird and Feargus Ó Chonnchúir on their composition ‘Idir’. Currently, Bernadette resides in her home town of Ballingeary Co. Cork.

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Tomás Ó Cíobháin
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Tomás Ó Cíobháin

Tomás O’Cíobháin was born in An Ghráig, Ballyferriter, Co. Kerry. Always having an interest in the arts as a child he pursued a night course in etching and engraving and began to submit his works to exhibitions. From his first piece he has won numerous awards for his work and has become one of Ireland’s most prolific printmakers. He has participated in a number of group exhibitions including the Royal Hibernian Academy, the Crawford Gallery and the Oireachtas National Exhibition. This success persuaded Tomás to devote himself to a career of teaching furniture design, wood and metal craft. His work is currently on display in the Crawford Municipal Gallery in Cork.

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Andrew Duggan
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Andrew Duggan

Andrew Duggan, originally from Dublin, is a visual artist, curator and educator who has decided to base himself in the West Kerry Gaeltacht on the Dingle Peninsula since 2000. He uses this peripheral location as a place of resistance in which to create new dynamics between self, environment & representation. Andrew’s studio practice is experimental: re-appropriating objects, geometric principles and images to reframe post-structuralist ideas of masculinity, landscape and desire. Recent awards if his include Arts Council Creative Development Award 2020-21, Scéim Sparánachta na n-Ealaíon, Ealaín na Gaeltachta 2020-21, Culture Ireland Award 2021 and The Arts Council of Ireland COVID 19 Response Award 2020.

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