Felicity Clear
I am interested in graphic visualisations of space, this could be a representational drawing, a schematic drawing, map or diagram. I am particularly interested in where these different kinds of spatial drawing can collide in the same work and where light and shadow can become part of the drawing to skew perspectives and challenge perception. My drawing practice involves large scale works on paper, 3D drawing installation and animation. The role of drawing in architecture, engineering have been key points of reference. More I recently took a module in Weather and Climate in the geography department in UCD and have become fascinated by maps and schema that come from weather, cloud, other natural systems, with their strange ways of conceptualising space, mapping and systems.
“Given the priority that Clear gives to line, the work is often suggestive of the aesthetic forms of infrastructure, alluding as they do to maps, plans, scaffoldings and support structures. Through these allusions to infrastructure, her meticulous and intricate constructions become highly effective metaphors for the systems that are ubiquitous in everyday life. Francis Halsall, ‘Drawing the line’ in Irish Arts Review autumn 2019”
Bio: Felicity Clear is a Dublin born based artist with a practice mostly involved in drawing, including, drawing installation and animation. Clear is also a part time lecturer in The National College in Art and Design. Clear has made numerous solo exhibitions and has participated in national and International curated group exhibitions. Solo Exhibitions include; Concerning Clouds and other things, Oonagh Young Gallery, Dublin 2020, Amongst Other Things with Helen Hughes, DLR Lexicon, Dublin (2016), Drawings Plans Projections,The Butler Gallery, Kilkenny (2014), The Drawing Project, Curator Mark Joyce, Dun Laoghaire (2012) The Mermaid, Bray (2011) The Lab, Dublin (2008) Galway Arts Centre Galway (2008) The Rubicon Gallery (2001, 2005, 2007)
Recent Group shows include; Drawing DeCentered, Courthouse Gallery Ennistymon (2021) Beyond Drawing, Curated by Arno Kramer, Ballina (2020), In the Age of Conscious Makers, Curated by Anne Kelly, NCAD Gallery (2020), Disruptors, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda 2019, A Borrowed Bounce, curated by Sarah Searson, The Dock, Leitrim (2017), Wilde Stories Animation with Composer Michael Gallen (commission), live performance meeting House Square, Temple Bar (2016) Liminal Spaces, curated Megan Johnson, The Model, Sligo (2015). Must Go On Curated Cliodhna Shaffrey, Rua Red, Dublin (2014) Art’s Work, Curated by Helen Carey, Limerick City Gallery, (2013). 10,000 to 50, Curated by Christina Kenndy IMMA (2008), There Not There, Curated by Dawn Williams (2008). Clear’s work is included in Public and Private collections including: The Arts Council of Ireland, The National Drawing Collection, Limerick, Butler Gallery Collection, Goldman Sachs UK.
In 2020 Clear was awarded an Arts Council Visual Arts bursary and in 2021 She was a recipient of a residency award for the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris. Clear is a founder member of Drawing de Centered
Kiera O’Toole
"The question is not how a space feels to me but how it feels though me. In other words, it's not how I perceive a space but how a space is perceived through me” (O’Toole 2021). I make work that materialises the non-human aspects of our world by mapping the ‘emotional vibrations’ of spaces and the affect on our everyday experiences which we may or may not be conscious of. This concept is explored through two bodies of ongoing work: ‘Office of Public Wonder’ and ‘Felt Maps’
I consider myself a ‘patheur’; someone who follows their intuitive impulses, and I make drawings that must be felt rather than only cerebrally understood. I combine fieldwork, studio, material and new/phenomenological research to enquire the ways in which atmospheric spaces are active agents in the drawings.
My aim is to create a ‘holding space’ that is sensed within our felt bodies which is in dialogue with wider forces at play including social, environmental and cultural contexts.
Bio: Kiera O’Toole is an independent visual artist and a doctoral researcher (PT) at Loughborough University UK. Her drawing outputs include conferences, residencies, publications, and exhibitions within gallery and non-gallery spaces.
Recent exhibitions include ‘Felt Map: Manorhamilton’, Leitrim Sculpture Centre ;‘Felt Map: Derry-Londonderry’, CCA Derry- Londonderry, ‘Felt map: Caves of Kesh’, Tread Softly Arts Festivals, ARTWORKS 2020, VISUAL Carlow, Carlow Arts Festival, Highlanes Gallery, Beyond Drawing curated by Arno Kramer, Ballina Arts Centre. O’Toole also publishes including contributing book chapters; 2021; ‘Project Anywhere Biennial IV’, published by University of Melbourne and Parsons, School of Art, NY; 2020: ’Drawing from the Non-Place’ published by Cambridge Scholars.
O’Toole is a co-founder of Drawing deCentered which is professional artist-led collective that explores contemporary drawing practice and a member of N I N E-artist collective. Recent recipient of the Agility Award by the Arts Council of Ireland, 2021. O’Toole currently resides in Sligo and has held a studio at The Model, Sligo for over five years.
Mary-Ruth Walsh
Taking my inspiration from the language of architecture, I construct imagined proposals and spaces exploring ideas relating to the built environment and contemporary culture. I create new dialogues drawing from utopian ideals of 20th and 21st century planning and design, and juxtaposes these with vernacular architecture. Often using found objects to make my work, I translate these into a type of architectural shorthand - like a new vocabulary. My explorations of home and habitat, architectural design, and the detritus of consumerism are a critiqu of what the French anthropologist Marc Augé called ‘non-places.’ These are made through drawings, films, sculptures, and paintings.
Bio: Born in Dublin, Walsh graduated from Goldsmiths College London (MA) and the National College of Art and Design (BA), Dublin. Walsh has participated in national and international exhibitions and the Artist’s Residency Programmes include Culturel Irlandais Paris (2022); the Irish Museum of Modern Art Dublin (2011); RHA’s experimental drawing studio Dublin (2016); Cow House Studios (2019); Aabenraa Artweek Denmark (2015), and Basekamp Philadelphia (2009).
Mary-Ruth Walsh’s work was acquired by Trinity College Dublin (TCD); the National Collection of Contemporary Drawing; Sparkasse Bank Collection, Germany; Wexford Arts Centre Visual Art Collection; Wexford County Council Collection; Nico Ueberholz Architects Germany; Sparkasse Bank, Germany; national and International collections. Dr. Yvonne Scott, TCD has interviewed Walsh for her forthcoming publication on Irish art and landscape.
Walsh has had three publications in the last two years, two monographs and one group publication. One of the monographs was selected for the 100 Design Archive for 2021.
Her solo and group exhibitions include IMMA (Dublin); Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane (Dublin); Gröelle Pass Projects (Germany); RHA (Dublin); CUBEOpen (Manchester); Oonagh Young Gallery (Dublin); Highlanes Gallery (Drogheda); Parlour (New York and Italy); Arts Centres (Wexford and Galway); Cross Gallery (Dublin); Goethe Institute (Dublin) and SCOPE (Miami). Awards include Create Ireland research bursary, Arts Council of Ireland’s Project, Travel Awards, Visual Arts Bursary Award and most recently Arts Council of Ireland Touring Award (2020-21) and Centre Culturel Irlandais (2021).
Her public work extends beyond the gallery space and is both permanent and temporary.
