ABOUT ME

"Making sense of my world through colour and shape."

I am a contemporary artist, originally from Limerick, now living in Galway on the West Coast of Ireland.

My art is about me – about my place. My place in my family and my place in the world.

It is my story, my memory, my interests, my ideas and thoughts, all translated into my most comfortable form of language – that of colour and shape. My art is my play, and just like a child makes sense of their world through play this still holds true for me in adulthood.

My approach is intuitive and process driven. The importance of play and the freedom to explore colours and materiality is vital to my work. I experiment, I reframe, I reimagine. I find happiness in the quiet creative process of making and while in the silence of my studio, I can visually reimagine past memories and thoughts.

My work starts out as either small collage compositions or quick sketches of soft geometric & organic shapes. The sketches are mostly created on squared maths copies & the collages are created using either painted fabric, paper or card. The act of sketching within a grid, and collaging pieces and fragments, allows for chance and intention, surprise and control, rationality and intuition.

The colour in my work is often derived from a preconceived idea or memory, or the colours emerge out of the emotional response arising from them. Colour memory and the emotional response to colour are a central part of my process. My aim is to balance an intense colour palette with an energetic array of shapes, while upholding a purposeful composition.

"I love to combine strong colours and shapes, yet keep the work inherently sensitive"

My love of colour, shape & texture is apparent in the various materials, mediums and processes I use - though trained in ceramics, I have always been interested in 'low' materials to create art, like household paint, used clothing, recycled card, newspaper, whatever is to hand that can be used to create. I use paint (acrylic, gouache and household emulsion), threads, domestic sewing machine, wool, fabrics, paper, & card - all offering the opportunity to express myself.

I am a maker, a colourist, a 'learn by doing' artist, with a keen interest in how a painting is conceived & experienced when there is an addition of a craft element to it. The blending of stitch, crochet and paint gives me a sense of ease as an artist. I feel pleasure in bringing together the dual roles of craftperson and artist to my work.

Amongst the many artists whom have influenced me, I draw much of my practice from Henri Matisse, Lee Krasner, Francis Davison, Anne Ryan, Frederick Hammersley, Robert Diebenkorn, and Helen Frankenthaler.

Alongside my own art, I teach design, graphics, textile printing, embroidery & collage techniques to adult learners in Galway City.

I have a husband, three daughters and two cats.