Into the New Year
Hello there, well, as I decided to stay at home today in an effort to shake this cough and general fatigue (lack of sleep from said cough), I’ve been doing a bit of work on the website. With that I have been thinking about the start of this year that in terms of us all has already been completely insane, however closer to home and as far as my artist practice is concerned the transition into and the start of 2026 has been quite eventful in a healthily positive way.
Off to South Africa!…No not me, but my five figures that were part of the 144th Royal Ulster Academy Open Exhibition. I do envy them very much.
Safe travels lads…
Me with ‘Conversations’ being really bad at looking natural at the RUA exhibition.
Just before Christmas I submitted at the very last minute, two pieces for the Anna Cheyne Visual Art Award exhibition held at the Island Arts Centre, Lisburn, and very quickly I learned they were accepted and that I was, therefore, invited to the opening on the evening of the 12th of January. Great stuff!
Well, I am delighted to show off that I was one of 6 artists to win the award, and now my ‘Gemini’ is in the collection of the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council.
Originally created for a solo exhibition called ‘Curious Carnival’, ‘Gemini’ was inspired by the combination of Greek/Roman sculpture, the Greek myth about the inseparable twin brothers Castor and Pollux, sons of Leda but fathered by different men—Tyndareus for Castor (mortal) and Zeus for Pollux (immortal), and conjoined twins that were often exploited as “freaks” in carnivals up to the mid 20th century.
I am in love with how time and the elements shape objects forgotten and so I attempted to create that impression of an aged relic, rediscovered from deep in the sea or buried for hundred if not thousands of years. Maybe a more fantastical interpretation in the end but I aim more for the feeling that a reproduction of the reality.
Gemini - Stoneware, porcelain slip, glaze. Photographed at Curious Carnival, Ards Art Centre, November 2023.
Again just before most of us stopped to eat too much and watch too much telly, i.e. Christmas, I received an invitation from John Goode, founder of Mill Cove Gallery in Kenmare, Kerry and chair of Irish Ceramics to take part as one of up to 40 Irish ceramics artists in a major exhibition at the National Design & Craft Gallery, Design & Crafts Council Ireland, Castle Yard, Kilkenny, Ireland.
Well, this is an amazing opportunity that I was not going to pass up, but it does mean I have a lot to do to get new work made, but it’ll be worth it.
Just have to vanquish this feckin’ cough!
