Artists
Ireland-Based Artists
Bernadette Doolan (Wexford)
Bernadette explores the fragility of identity in the context of childhood through much of her recent work. Her figurative work is the depiction of the human self through the exploration of strength and vulnerabilities. Her work has been described as having an ‘emotional weight with psychological intensity that is not necessarily representing the physical, but one’s internal voice. Working through painting (Oils and Acrylic), sculpture, and Installation art, she approaches topics of social conscience with sensitivity and respect, to explore the intangible notion of truth.
Brian O'Loughlin (Kildare)
Sculptor, artist, and shaper of ancient material for modern environments, Brian grew up on the edge of a bog that delivered up its secrets for him to re-imagine and reinterpret for our times.
Bryan Gerard Duffy (Mayo)
Bryan's multi-disciplinary practice investigates notions of psychological and physical displacement. He draws lines and crosses lines, both physically and metaphysically, as he catalogues radical responses to past and present political upheavals. His paintings and sculptures consider strategies of movement, restrictions, and exclusion of human beings while also exploring spaces such as "occupied territories", buffer zones, “non-places”, surveillances, systems, the internet, and our minds through mapping and mark-making.
Caóilfíonn Murphy O'Hanlon (Armagh)
A textile and fibre artist, Caóilfíonn runs her business ‘Cushla Of Gullion’ providing textile art for the home. She also has a range of giclée prints available to purchase from our gallery or her online store. Living high on the slopes of Slieve Gullion, Caóilfíonn strives to capture the inescapable magnetic inspiration of the myth and majesty of her surrounds. Drawn by colour, form, textures, and ever-changing hues of light, themes of nature and environment reflect strongly in her work.
Carol Kennelly (Kerry)
Carol is an award-winning milliner artist from Tralee, Co. Kerry. Drawing from personal experiences, Carol's specialty is racing headwear, hats, and headpieces that are a blend of drama and elegance, guaranteed to make the wearer stand out from the crowd. Since the launch of Carol Kennelly Millinery in 2010, Carol's designs have consistently been worn by Best Dressed winners at racecourses worldwide.
Ciara O'Keeffe (Kildare)
Ciara tells visual stories by creating individually handmade and decorated ceramic bowls and framed wall art. She uses clay sourced in Ireland to create bowls telling a story, which in time will be handed down through the generations.
Clare O'Connor (Meath)
In 2018 Clare launched her Luxury Brand of wearable art, first with a collection of Silk and Cashmere scarves in vibrant colour ways. She wanted to create a brand that is unique, striking & luxurious which would bring her art to another level. Clare felt this synergy would work extremely well through fashion so she wanted to create a range that was exciting & artistic which in the long term would create an income from her creative practice. Clare’s paintings, which her brand is inspired and based on, are vibrant, colourful, positive, and energetic and aim to uplift the viewer and appeal to customers who enjoy & appreciate Art, Luxury & living a positive lifestyle. She is hugely into self-development, finding & following our own unique path & accessing & fostering the creativity we all have innately. Clare’s aim is to create art and a brand that empowers us to be ourselves.
David Lunney (Dublin)
David is an artist based in Dublin, Ireland. His practice is process-led, in the making of any given work he uses a wide variety of materials and media. Lunney uses The Dublin Mountains both as his main source material and guerrilla sculpture garden. His work as a commercial fine art picture framer is constantly influencing his practice, allowing him to develop a uniquely complex visual style.
Eilbhe Donovan (Cork)
A Minimalist Nature Artist, Eilbhe’s work attempts to capture the essence of her subject through simplicity – working in ink, often featuring solitary birds in flight with little or no background gives the work a unique lightness. All inspiration is taken from her own observations, photographs, and sketches whilst out on walks, touring by sea kayak, and coasteering rambles in her local area of West Cork.
Frances McGonigle (Mayo)
Rothlú, meaning “twirl” or “rotation” in Irish, is the name of Frances’ contemporary jewellery brand. She uses raw scrap or remnant cotton, linen, paper, and silk, combined with eco-resin to create unique lightweight wearable art. All of Frances’ jewellery is hand-patterned and dyed using batik and shibori resist techniques. The results of these processes are one-of-one pieces reflecting the textures and hues surrounding her studio in the Ox Mountains, County Mayo.
Genevieve King (Mayo)
Genevieve’s textile and fabric artworks stem from time spent exploring the coast of Clew Bay and particularly the offshore Island of Inishturk from where Genevieve King’s mother and ancestors came. Her grandmother was a textile maker and made garments from shearing carding and natural dying wool. She continues this textile culture from her Island heritage albeit in a more contemporary way, with more contemporary methods. She is aware of a disappearing heritage and way of life, and a transition to a new way of life within the Island and the wider world.
Greg Hallahan (Kildare)
Greg’s work focuses on the prehistoric structures that dot the Emerald Isle, such as ringforts, dolmens, and stone circles, symbolizing hope, strength, and power. These structures act as a portal to our ancestors through these “technologies” but also act as a gateway to our relatives that had to leave Ireland for one reason or another throughout the centuries. By drawing onto double corrugated cardboard with pen, pencil, and markers he cuts and tears away the corrugated surfaces, wrestling with the material's rigidity, revealing an inner power and beauty.
Joanne Duggan (Kildare)
Joanne is inspired by the beauty and stillness in nature that’s forever present alongside the stresses and noise of everyday life. She tries to bring her attention back to this beauty and painting is a way for her to enhance this connection. It helps Joanne to re-root her awareness in something bigger and beyond the everyday experience. Although ostensibly abstract in content, Joanne’s work is strongly evocative of landscapes and natural forms. She predominantly works with acrylic, ink, and oil which is often built up in layers and then scraped back so that the canvas can show thin stains, blots, and purposeful mark making giving an atmospheric effect.
Judy Carroll Deeley (Dublin)
Judy is a visual artist based in Dublin. Her practice encompasses painting, drawing, collage, mixed media, installation, and collaborative projects. Through these media, she responds to aspects of our world that move and inspire her. She is passionate about the environment, gender studies, ideas, and economic and social change.
Karena Ryan (Galway)
Karena Ryan is an Irish artist working sustainably from her studio near the Wild Atlantic Way. Her work features Irish fabrics (linens, tweeds, and wools). She uses a range of techniques and media in her highly tactile work including paint, print, type, felting, weaving, and embroidery. Her style is a twist on traditional skills. A constant strand in her practice is the history of place, ancestry, and literature.
Lelia Henry (Westmeath)
Lelia is an artist based in Westmeath, working mainly in charcoal and graphite. She was recently awarded an MA in Art and Process from Crawford College of Art, Cork, graduating with Honours. Her concern for the loss of the natural world drives her to create meticulously rendered drawings, through which, she asks us to re-examine our connection to the ordinary, everyday aspects of our immediate environment. She has won a number of awards and bursaries, including the Thomas Dammann Junior Memorial Trust Award, Arts Council Agility Awards, and Irish Landscape Artist of the Year at the National Open Art Competition, London. She has exhibited at the RHA and the RUA, The Mall Galleries, London, and The Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Office of Public Works.
Marie Smith (Cavan)
A sculptor from Co. Cavan, Marie Smith’s figurative works have been exhibited widely. Marie’s portrait works have been shortlisted for the Zurich Portrait Prize 2022 at The National Gallery of Ireland and The Society of Portrait Sculptors in London. “The Hug” sculpture, featured on RTE News, and editions have since been sent all over the world.
Nadia Corridan (Wexford)
Nadia is a Fine Art Painter with a BA Honours from Limerick School of Art & Design. She was born in San Francisco but grew up outside Kinsale, Cork. She now lives and works in Wexford. Her current work is figurative oil paintings on canvas. She is drawn to paint what our body language can communicate without the use of words. An unspoken dialogue of expression. During lockdown, when we could no longer touch and hold one another, she began to notice a shift in perspective within her art. The presence of textiles and patterns was increasingly appearing in her paintings and becoming more relevant. Nadia is fascinated by how fabric can evoke our senses when recounting a memory. Memories are a place frozen in time, a moment you can revisit countless times and reflect upon, for better or worse.
Niamh Porter (Donegal)
Niamh Porter is a Donegal-based designer whose work is grounded in her passion for sustainable botanical dyeing and the historic dyeing tradition in Ireland. Her work focuses on creating garments and accessories which are made using these traditional methods, showcasing how eco-friendly fashion is still fun and fashion-forward. Each piece is produced locally in Donegal and made from Irish materials including 100% Irish linen, ethically produced silk, and deadstock tweed.
Paula Barrett (Carlow)
Paula is a visual artist from a rural background in County Carlow, currently living in Dublin city. She studied Fine Art and History of Art in the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) at both undergrad and postgrad levels. Her practice is concept driven rather than medium specific, though she works predominantly with photography and sculptural installation in a community context. She has exhibited in a number of group shows in Ireland and internationally, and has received funding from the Arts Council of Ireland and the Heritage Council of Ireland to work on a number of ambitious community arts projects around Ireland. “The historical genre of landscape painting is the primary reference point for my work. I am interested in place-making and perception of place, the crossover between the wild and domestic.”
Paul James Kearney (Galway)
Paul James studied Fine Art Painting at Atlantic Technological University, Galway, Ireland under the tuition of Blaise Drummond. After graduating in 2014, Kearney completed an MA in Arts Policy and Practice at NUI Galway in 2015. In 2014 he exhibited his first solo exhibition at Farmleigh House in Dublin. Kearney’s work has evolved to focus exclusively on digital drawing since 2015. In 2016 he was shortlisted for the Hennessy Portrait Prize at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. Kearney’s work has been shown numerous times in Dublin, Galway, and Northern Ireland and in Cologne, Brooklyn, Asheville, Athlone, Timisoara, Barcelona, and Athens. Kearney’s work can be found in the public collections of NUI Galway and the Irish State Art Collection. Kearney’s work is held in many private collections internationally in Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, The United States, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Australia, and Malta.
Phill Foley (Galway)
Phill is a visual artist based in the west of Ireland who specializes in the practice of drawing. Phill’s work explores our connections to the natural landscape through images of the quiet, forgotten spaces of Ireland's rural hinterlands. Phill’s work has been shown in galleries and juried shows all over Ireland and abroad and features in many private collections. Phill has recently participated in the Interface residency in the Inagh valley Connemara and currently serves as a board member of the Dublin Painting and Sketching Club.
Phyl Guerin (Limerick)
Edgelands and the fluvial landscapes of Limerick represent Phyl's current focus and inquiry. Lotic habitats, riparian avulsions, and stygian underworlds yield their textures, depth, and watersheds. She is influenced by the riverine and
maritime shadowlands that slumber and abrade in sheltered stasis until roused to roil and windswept charge.
Rosemarie Langtry (Offaly/Westmeath)
Rosemarie is a contemporary visual artist working and teaching in her studio in Ballinahown, Athlone Co. Westmeath, Ireland. She is inspired by the nature that surrounds her home in the heart of Ireland – particularly rural and bog-landscapes, found and corroded man-made objects, and the abundant waterways her native county is known for. These inspirations are reflected in her highly evocative work, which creates a strong, organic sense of place when you view it.
Tracey Mc Verry (Armagh)
Tracey’s sculptural glass work is inspired heavily by this unique geological landscape of South Armagh, formed during volcanic and glaciation periods over 440 million years ago. Her work builds on this monumental land formation where she responds to the imagined energy formed in the landscape during that period, using glass as a vessel to translate the story.
Zoë Carol (Kilkenny)
Zoë Carol Mahon Wong established Zoë Carol in 2012 after graduating from Trinity College Dublin with a BSc in Science and Fashion Design from Parsons School of Design in New York. She handcrafts beautiful womenswear, childrenswear, babywear, and home accessories and every piece is handcrafted with gentle intention, pure Irish linen, and environmental ethos in mind. Zoë is inspired by the integration of Irish raw materials and eternal design, igniting the simple passion for graceful candor and cultured moments. She is driven to create timeless pieces that empower a newfound movement of slow fashion and conscious consumerism, lightening our environmental footprint one classic linen piece at a time.
United States-Based Artists
James Boyle (Donegal/Kerry)
Born in Philadelphia, James moved to Ireland with his Irish-born parents when he was five. He lived with both sets of grandparents on small farms in Co. Donegal and Co. Kerry. James attended school in Ireland before returning to the Philadelphia area as a child. His time in Ireland left a lasting impression and is a major influence on his art. James paints and sketches and loves to create a soft glow, which feels like rays of sunshine upon the landscape on a cloudy day.
Kate Collins (Cork)
Kate Collins’ paintings reflect her own experience of memory and displacement. These evocative female portraits depict significant personalities in her life in both Ireland and North America. Each portrait is dramatically different, drawing on a different palette of rich colors, but each is also a reflection on personal memory, distance, joy, and sometimes loss. The paintings are not entirely naturalistic but painted from memory, as a way to bring together a diverse group of women across two continents who have shaped the inner life of the artist.
Kate Collins, a native of Cobh, Co Cork, is a B.A. Honors graduate of Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork, specializing in Fine Art, Painting. As well, she holds a Higher Diploma in Education of Art, Craft, and Design from the Crawford College. She is renowned for her pedagogical advancement of different types of artistic expression and has won several prizes. Her work features in the public collections of University of Cork, the Cork Institute of Technology, Raidio Teilifis Eireann, and many private collections. She was a member of the Blackwater Artists’ Group which supports up to 50 artists who are involved in disciplines as diverse as painting, printmaking, sculpture, new media, and mixed-media installation. It’s a creative community from which artists can share skills, ideas, and make contacts. Kate has travelled extensively and draws inspiration from the people and places she encounters. Currently, she is based in Pennsylvania.
Kerry McCreight (Waterford)
Kerry McCreight is a Southeastern Pennsylvania-based photographer specializing in portrait and lifestyle photography of families and children in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Kerry also documents events and initiatives for non-profit organizations and assists small businesses with their branding and marketing. After many years as a social worker, Kerry is passionate about capturing human connection and telling others’ stories through imagery.
Mike Drennan (Cork)
We welcome Mike back to the Straight Out of Ireland Exhibit.
Mike, a 2019 Straight Out of Ireland artist, was born and raised near Crosshaven, Co.Cork, Ireland. Like many diaspora before him, Mike emigrated to London for several years before returning to Ireland and now resides in Devon, PA with his family. Mike came from a family of craftsmen and only in the last ten years or so did he find time to explore his own talents. Mike is a woodturner and maker of fine woodcraft for both decorative and functional use. Some of Mike’s pieces reside with the former Ambassador of Ireland to the USA and the New York Consul General of Ireland.
Tina Farren (Donegal)
A painter and fiber artist from Co. Donegal, Tina now lives in Pennsylvania. She mainly works with slate, incorporating mixed media and salvaged items into her paintings. Tina draws inspiration from the Atlantic coastline and her Irish heritage, especially the Book of Kells.