Artist Statement
I have a need to work in order to think, so the physical acts of making and looking are how I spend my days. It’s in the act of making that I discover what it is I’m seeking. I constantly listen and look for direction, I walk in the landscape and things suggest themselves. It could be an idea or it could be a material find. Sometimes things come and find me.
Over the years I’ve found that once I start on a body of work and navigate the initial hurdle of too many options, I can settle into a mindless state of allowing the work itself to dictate the way forward. This is the area where extraordinary synchronous events sometimes happen. A chance finding of a chest freezer full of dead crows when I was looking for crows for example.
Presently I’m working with time and the echoes we leave behind from our daily routines. The universal practice of making shrines, reliquaries and other sacred objects — the idea that time has a memory and that we can enhance our messaging to this conceptual vastness by repetition. Such things as circumambulation, whirling dervishes, prayer wheels and mani stones, trade routes, pilgrimages and sites of remembrance all influence my trajectory.
My Resume
2024 ‘The Undertow’ Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny
2023 Eastern Edge Artists Residency , St. Johns , Newfoundland
2020 ‘Dearest, someone was asking for you RCC Letterkenny
2015 “Hunter” Glebe Gallery, Churchill, Co. Donegal
2011 ‘Easter Weeds’ Art Works Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
2008 T3 – T4, An Gaileari, Falcarragh, Co.Donegal.
Ionad Culturtha, Ballyvourney, Co.Cork
2002 Them’ The Context Gallery, Derry, Northern Ireland
2002 Passional, An Gaileari, Falcarragh, Co. Donegal
2003 Flight Paths, The Workhouse, Co. Donegal
2000 Spirit of Place, St. Patricks Trian, Armagh, Northern Ireland
1999 Another Language 2, The Workhouse, Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal
1998 Another Language, The Clear Spot, Belfast.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 Turas. Regional Cultural Centre Letterkenny, Dath An Dochais
2017 Teangá Rúnda na g Corr
2014 The Third Place, an exhibition of Contemporay Art from Donegal, Letterkenny RCC
2013 11th Wexford Artists Book Exhibition, The Denis Collins Gallery, Wexford
Al Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, The Center For Bookarts N.Y.C.
2012 Samkura, Greek Museum of Contemporary Art, Thesaloniki
2012 Hybrid, Redline Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2012 The Wilds of Donegal, Glebe Gallery, Co. Donegal
2009 Artisterium ’09, 2nd Tbilisi International Contemporary Art Exhibition, Georgia
2009 ‘An Cosan Glas ‘Sculpture Trail, Co. Donegal
2008 Tearmann An Chrannog, Derrybeg, Co. Donegal
An Cosan Glas Sculpture Trail, 6th Biennale of Contemporary Art, Gyumri, Armenia
2007 Dunlewey Far. A8, Albany, Piccadilly, London
Anthelion, Goethe Institute, Tbilisi, Georgia
Tearmann, group show, Dunlewey
A Month of Sundays, Annual Show Real, Queen St. Studios, Belfast
Arthu, group exhibition, Pilots Row, Derry
Aldaketa Arthru, Group Exhibition, An Culturlann, Belfast
So They Say, The Stone Gallery, Dublin
2006 Tearmann, Clo Cheardlann nag Croc, Co. Donegal
AIR Project, Context Gallery, Derry
2005 Ur, Centre Cultural Irlandais, Paris
2004 London Artists Book Fair, ICA London.
Ur (International Project of Gaeltacht Art), 1st-9th Plearaca, Galway
28th-31st Oireachtas, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
2003 Togra Idirnaisiunta d’Ealaiona Gaeltachta, Clo, Co. Donegal
Sugli Uomini. Modena, Italy
Uber Menschen, ACC Galley, Weimar, Germany
2002 International Group Exhibition, The Workhouse, Co. Donegal
Solas Agus Talamh, The Screig Gallery, Fintown, Co. Donegal
Foilsiu, An Grianan Theatre, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
2000 Suil na Gaeltachta shown in France, Germany and Conemara
Gort na hEalaiona, An Grianan Theatre, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
1998 Suil na Gaeltachta, Clear Spot Gallery, Belfast
Comhdhail Naisiunta na Gaeilge, Dublin
Glen Colmcile, Co. Donegal
Clear Spot Gallery, Portrait Show, Belfast
Clear Spot Gallery, Group Show, Belfast
1997 Cioth is Dealan Colmcile Centenary, Commemoration, Letterkenny
Umhar Aois Bronze Casting Symposium, Omagh, Northern Ireland
Gort na hEalaiona at Ionad Cois Locha
Dunlewey. Ballyconnel, Falcarragh, Co. Donegal
1996 Glebe Gallery Open Show, Churchill, Co. Donegal
Gort na hEalaiona, Ionad Cois Locha, Dunlewey.
RESIDENCIES
2023 Eastern Edge, Newfoundland
2020 An Dóigh ina Noibrím ‘How I work’ An GailearI, Co.Donegal
2015 Vesteralen, Norway
2011 Benfeita, Portugal
2009 Tibilisi, Georgia
2005-6 Digital Residency, Queen St. Studios, Belfast
2001 Artist in Residence, Falcarragh, Co. Donegal
2000 Artist in Residence, Tory Island, Co. Donegal.
COLLECTIONS
Glebe House and Gallery, Churchill, Co. Donegal
National Irish Visual Arts Library
Clo Ceardlann na gCnoc
MOMA, Artist’s Book Archive
James Dixon Gallery, Tory Island.
Greek Museum of Contemporary Art, Thesaloniki
Artists book archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland
