"Art, the work of the head, the work of the heart and the work of the hands” - Gert Biesta. I am an Irish Artist, Educator and a proud graduate of NCAD. I had four wonderfully creative years studying a BA Joint Honours in Education and Fine Art. Our graduate degree show in June 2024 marked the end point of my studies when my work was alongside my fellow graduates whom I’ve had the pleasure of learning with while reimagining the world through art, design and education. My ambition is to inspire artists in the generations to come as well as creating my own work. This work titled “Emergence” dives into the world from a sea bird's perspective. This bird's eye view brought me along a journey beyond what the eye can see. If you come to the beach, you’ll think it's pristine. It's not until you start looking a lot closer that you start to see just how much plastic emerges along the shore. Birds become entangled in this plastic which ends up in their gut as they mistake it for food amongst the ribbons of seaweed. If you've ever walked the beaches after a storm, you can see the remnants of our “throw it away” society. The mediative act of hand cut paper works is integral to my process. Lace-like patterns create visual narratives exploring the materiality of light, and reflect the ever-changing world we live in today, where the delicate balance of nature can be ruined so easily. As you move and change your perspective within my work, the reflections of light and shadow manipulate, and rounded curves and hollow spaces become ever-changing forms. “The natural world then seemed like an unexplored world, everywhere you turned you saw something new” - David Attenborough. I take an illustrative approach initially in order to gain form and subject. I subtract in order to generate my designs, a kind of reverse process for most artists. Mapping out my surface and structuring it to my needs not only takes time but incredible endurance. Bringing the designs to life through meticulous cutting is a testament to patience as the work requires a strategic mind and focused ambition. I like to spend time working slowly with my hands. I listen to music, podcasts or the birds outside. I am still and focused, away from a noisy world. The various blue shades are created through the process of Cyanotype, seeing print making in a new light. My hand cut designs are coated in potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate before being left in darkness to marinate. Leaving these chemically coated pieces out later in direct sunlight allows the chemical change to occur. The sun and wind play with the pieces in an ever changing way, slowly exposing different sides of its beauty and creating a variety of blue shades. My pieces were installed and suspended from the ceiling using fishing wire. My centerpiece floated above a round mirror, creating a tunnel of illusion. Much more than a mere aesthetic object, the mirror does not only duplicate reality, but also transforms it. My installation resulted in a captivating fusion that enchanted and inspired observers.
