Institution
ATU Galway
Medium
Installation
Graduation Year
Class of 2023
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ARTIST’S STATEMENT I am interested in interdisciplinary subjects and investigating the realms of art with science, ecology, botany, anatomy and kinetics. Having undertaken commissions of equine and canine portraits in oils, I also work with various media in my drawings, paintings, textiles and sculptural work. With many creative awards in horticulture, coupled with a love of animals and nature, I enjoy focusing on the study of delicate life forms, both flora and fauna. I like to combine media and continually test new materials, such as tiling, wood carving, stained glass, feltwork and textiles.Environmental issues are of great concern to me, hence, the use of every conceivable form of found object in my work, such as teeth, Wavin pipes, medicinal phials, metal, springs, plant material, Styrofoam and bog oak, to name but a few. Art activism has quietly slipped into my practice, due to a sense of empathy towards under-supported or unresolved social concerns. Hence, the creation of two recent art collections: one dealing with sight loss and the stigma around disability, while the other challenges the legacy of Irish mother and baby homes. I am at my happiest when my hands are busy creating three-dimensional structures, making something out of rudimentary materials and reimagining found objects into something more beautiful or more profound in their second life. My work is carefully researched, well considered, meaningful and finished in fine detail.
