Statement
From a young child I loved the solitude lying in cold night’s star gazing, looking for patterns, joining the dots, searching for old friends, and telling stories. The joy of seeing the Pleiades slipping above the autumn horizon with Taurus and Orion following, tracing their journey across the winter sky till they finally dip below the spring horizon. Hailing the beginning of a New Year and time to sow, the call that has been heard for millennia connecting us all to our ancient ancestors. I use my hands and body to feel my way along the story, instinctually finding, examining, exploring, and developing the work, through the use of many rhythmic repetitive processes and materials. My work manifests variously as sculpture, installation, drawings, painting, sound, video and site-specific projects. I construct in wood, steel, paper, fiberglass, cement, fabric, thread, and sound.
Education
04 MFA Visual Arts. Bennington College, Vermont, USA
01 BA (hons) Fine Art Sculpture. Winchester School of Art, Hampshire, UK
Solo Shows
17 St. Peter's, Cork City
15 Stradbally Art house, Laois
15 Doneraile Park, Cork Public Art
13 Signal Art Centre, Bray, Wicklow
13 Aras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet, Mayo
12 Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny
11 To Whom it May Concern Camden Palace, Cork
10 Threads, Outlaw Studios & Gallery, Cork
09 Lab life time learning, Cork City. Audio installation
08 Flight into Fantasy, Athy Library, Co. Kildare
05 SAW (Salem Art Works) Upstate New York, USA Site-specific installation
Group Shows
25 Market Gallery Cork
25 Sample-Studios Summer Exhibition, Cork
24 Sample-Studios Summer Exhibition, Cork
23 Prelude, West Cork Art Centre
22 Tonnta (Waves), West Cork Art Centre
19 Spare Room, Cork City
15 HUE. Hive emerging, Waterford
15 ForM. Bangor Castle walled garden, Co. Down
14 Trash Culture, Vision Centre, Cork
14 Mart.ie Blue Moon, Dublin
11 Art Trail in the Elysian, Cork City
11 Outlaw Studios, Cork City
11 On the threshold hold of everything, inside and out, Tactic, Cork
10 The Gallows, Art in Production, Old Ford assembly line. Cork
09 Outlaw Studios, Cork City
09 Landfill Art Project, Pennsylvania. USA. International Group Show
09 The Vagina Monologues, Cork City and hinterland. Performance
08 Sculpture for New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. International Group Show
08 North Bennington Sculpture Park, Vermont. USA
08 Generation 6, A.I.R Gallery, Chelsea. New York City, USA
07 North Bennington Sculpture Park, Vermont, USA
07 Green Mountain Girls Show Art at 196 N. Main St., Salem, Upstate New York USA
06 SAW (Salem Art Works), Upstate New York. USA
06 70 Beekman Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs, Upstate New York USA
04 North Bennington Sculpture Park, Vermont. USA. Site-specific installation
04 Skokie Sculpture Park, Chicago, Illinois USA
03 ‘Boundaries’ site-specific exhibition, Rutland Carving Studio, Vermont USA
03 Franconia Sculpture Park, Minnesota
Collaborations
15 Irish Composers' Collective, ‘Silk’ a multi-media installation and performance funded by the Art Council
Residence
21 Tyrone Guthrie Centre
20 Cill Rialaig Artist Retreat
Awards
21 & 22 Agility Award
18 Culture Ireland Grant
15 Cork County Council culture night commission
14 Individual Artists Bursary Award Cork City Council
Artist-in-Studio 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 jointly by NSF & Cork Arts Support
Collections
Cork County Council
Laois County Council
Private collections USA, England, Ireland
Commissions
25 Andrew Desmond Whatzon 30 years in business
15 Cork County Council
Biography
I am a Cork based artist. I have received several awards including; Agility Award 2021 and 2022, a Culture Ireland Grant, Cork County Council commission and Bursary (Cork City Council). I have exhibited in such exciting group shows as: the Mart curated by El Putnam, Hive Emerging curated by Paul Hallahan and Spare Room curated by Dr Eve Olney. I exhibited solo at: St. Peter's, Camden Palace, Outlaw Studios in Cork, and Stradbally Art house, Doneraile Park, Signal Art Centre, Aras Inis Gluaire and Watergate Theatre. Since returning to Ireland I have been focus on the inner realm, the journeys to authenticity of personality, spirit and character. I have used the basic narrative of the Echtrae stories exploring the ‘Hero’ journeys. Me as the Hero enters the otherworld via Loch, Tobar, or Bulláun, stepping into the internal (Ériu), rather than the Imrama (sea voyages to islands such as Tír Na Óg or Tír Na mBéo). The experiences and trials in these tales bring moments of introspection, reflection and exploration of the ‘hero’ beliefs, values and purpose in life. The ‘hero’ returns imparting knowledge in the form story, song, dance, poetry and art. Over the years I have created several series of work using the accumulated research: Threads Series, Scrolls Series, Cage Series, and Crux Series been the latest. As I continue on the Shamanic path my research is turning towards older human experiences and my early childhood daydreams, to research one of the oldest natural sciences that has its origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, and astrological beliefs and practices of prehistory. This practice recognizes the interconnectedness of all things, including the universe and the constellations. In shamanic cosmology, the universe is seen as a living, conscious entity, filled with spiritual beings and energies that influence the natural world and human experience. The stars and constellations are also seen as part of this living, conscious universe, with each star and constellation having its own spiritual significance, energy and stories. The night sky has a prominent place in what it means to be human. Dark night skies were once accessible to all people in the world, and they inspired great works of art, literature and music. The sky is part of the cultural heritage of all humanity. It's one of the few aspects of the natural world that we all share.