Glasnevin

DANSE MACABRE BY JESSICA CHECKLEY

September 16, 2023 by infomatique

CATALOGUE ITEM 025 SCULPTURE IN CONTEXT 2023

When I was photographing I did not notice that Glasnevin Cemetery was visible in some of my images.

I have seen Jessica’s work before and I like what she does.

Jessica completed her studies in 3D design, model making and digital arts in 2019 learning to work with a wide variety of materials and tools. This combined with the skills and knowledge she gained as a wax work technician and mold maker in bronze art has influenced the work that she currently produces. Here sculpture is intricate and detailed.

MUSE BY JACKIE BALL

September 16, 2023 by infomatique

CATALOG ITEM 003 SCULPTURE IN CONTEXT 2023

Every year I look forward to seeing what Jackie Ball has included in the annual art exhibition.

Jackie is a sculptor living and working in Dun Laoghaire. She received her degree in Visual Communications from DIT and subsequently ran her own Design Consultancy for twelve years before pursuing a career in ceramics and sculptural work.

In 2010, she won a Sculpture in Context Award for ‘Clip Art’.

www.facebook.com/Jackie-Ball-Visual-Artist-323450387744710/

A WHITE HERON BY FIONA SMITH

September 16, 2023 by infomatique

ITEM 151 SCULPTURE IN CONTEXT 2023

What the artist has to say about herself:

Self taught since my early years in Worcestershire, England. when as child I used to model horses and animals from the rich Worcestershire clay found in our garden.

When I was a teenager my family moved to Ireland, where we lived by the sea and kept horses. My first job as a young adult was as a Graphic Designer in Dublin.

Later on, when my own two boys were very young. I undertook a practical Bronze Casting course in the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. I have been exhibiting regularly for the past 25 years.

Galleries include: Solomon Gallery, Dublin, Trinity Gallery Dublin and Gormley’s Dublin.

Selected exhibitions include RHA Annual Exhibition; Sculpture in Context Botanical Gardens Dublin; Sculpture at Lyons, County Kildare; Wexford Opera Festival; Art in the Garden, Russborough House and and Art and Soul, Culloden Estate Belfast and Castlemartyr Cork

My work has also been shown in Galleries and Art fairs in England, Scotland and USA.

My inspiration comes from early naturalist illustrators such as Audubon and Bartram. And the beautiful wading birds which I see on my walks.

I now live and work County Meath.

OFF GUARD BY AOIFE BAMBURY REF No 4

September 8, 2023 by infomatique

SCULPTURE IN CONTEXT 2023

Aoife Bambury is a Kildare based contemporary visual artist and sculptor, whose current practice is focused on modernist sculpture, using bronze as the core material. Through her process, and working of the bronze, her work can take on the appearance of different materials, and at first glance could be manufactured from vinyl or another plastic.

Utilising her interest in human-made, utilitarian objects and the climate action movements, Aoife’s work includes abstracted elements from the natural and animal world. She is concerned with documenting human interventions and interference in the natural world and in the contrast and chaos that results. The images taken during this process of documentation are incorporated by Aoife into her photographic prints. The stark contrast of nature with objects left behind through human interference also inform the shapes and undulations of her recent sculptures. Her work is intended to convey reactionary responses connected to our inability to co-exist peacefully with the planet that sustains us. Her work is an abstracted reflection of how she perceives and attempts to make personal sense of changing cultural habit

CLASH TITAN BY ALAN CLARKE

September 8, 2023 by infomatique

SCULPTURE IN CONTEXT 2023 CATALOGUE No 27

Wicklow artist Alan Clarke has become the only Irish person to be accepted as a member of the internationally acclaimed Society of Portrait Sculptors.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) is host to Sculpture in Context at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. Showcasing sculpture for over 35 years, this annual event is the longest-running, largest and most important sculpture exhibition in the country, attracting a large public and critical audience. This cultural highlight in the National Botanic Gardens’ calendar runs from 7 September until 13 October, is free of charge and open daily.

The artworks in this year’s exhibition receive a spectacular presentation throughout the 50 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, allowing visitors to discover sculpture in the most unexpected and surprising places. Smaller sculptures will be exhibited throughout the glasshouses and in the Gallery upstairs in the Visitor Centre.

Bringing together the work of more than 140 artists – including Alan Clarke, Eileen MacDonagh, Róisín de Buitléar, Shane Holland and Sara Cunningham-Bell – using an incredible range of media, these works of art represent the richly diverse character of Irish and international contemporary sculpture.

Artists have been inspired by themes such as wildlife, ecology, climate change and homelessness. From the smallest, most intricate ceramic works to stone sculptures of a monumental scale, visitors to the exhibition will be enriched by the experience of viewing such inspiring works in one location. The artistic integrity and technical skill involved in creating the works is evident throughout and highlights the breadth and depth of artistic talent and skill in Ireland today.

This year’s programme will include a suite of lectures on Saturday, the 9th and Sunday, the 10th of September from 3-4:30pm, by artists Eileen MacDonagh and Conall O’Caoimh and renowned plantsman, Jimi Blake, as well as guided tours of the outdoor sculptures on Saturdays at 11am.