Dara McGrath
Dara McGrath is a photographer.
Born in Limerick in 1970, he currently divides his time between Cork and Dublin.
McGrath studied at Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design and recently completed
the MA in Visual Arts Practice there. He was the recipient of the prestigious AIB Art
Prize in 2003. McGrath has exhibited at the Triskel Arts Centre, Temple Bar Gallery,
Draoicht Arts Centre and the Model and Niland Gallery. According to architect Sean O´Laoire;
"McGrath´s camera brings us beyond narrative, the picturesque and cosy myth…It cuts to the chase
without being didactic, judgemental or begrudging." McGrath has previously collaborated with Sligo
County Council, O´Donnell and Tuomey Architects, Westmeath County Council and the Lewis Glucksman Gallery.
Louise Rice
Born in Armagh in 1951, Louise Rice is a Glassmaker currently based in Manorhamilton Leitrim.
At the Leitrim Sculpture Centre she has established and coordinates the only hot glass facility in the country.
Rice completed her foundation year at NCAD and received her BA in Design and Applied Arts from Edinburgh College of Art.
She also did a Postgraduate Diploma in Glass there. Rice uses familiar domestic objects and environments in unexpected ways.
Her work is experimental and often exhibited as installation. She acknowledges Louise Bourgeois as and influence and clearly
Merrit Oppenheim and Dorothy Cross have also had an impact on her practice. She has exhibited in Ireland in the National Museum,
and Leitrim Design House. She has also shown in Germany, Holland, Scotland, and England.
Tony Stallard
Essex based artist Tony Stallard is a new media practitioner, specialising in digital media, light and sound sculpture.
Born in 1958, Stallard studied art in Chelsea School of Art and Camberwell School of Art in London. He has an MA in
Site-Specific Sculpture from Wimbledon School of Art and an MFA in Public Art. He has previously created public sculpture
for Belfast Hospital. He views his art as "site-specific conceptual light sculptures. These sometimes involve live events,
new technologies and design systems responding to the "alchemical" properties that are inherent within the project."
Stallard has exhibited widely in Canada, Holland, Czech Republic, Japan, Finland and throughout the UK. His work was commissioned
for Paddington Arts Centre, Blackpool Promenade and Inverness Museum & Art Gallery among many others.
Tara Kennedy
Born in 1983, Tara Kennedy graduated from NCAD in 2005 with a First Class Honours Degree in Sculpture.
She has adopted a consistently experimental approach to her conceptual practice and creates work with
considerable public participation. One of her most memorable recent projects was "Transplant" from January
2006, where she collaboratively installed 627 Christmas Trees on Sandymount Strand, Dublin. Other temporary
interventions in Dublin City by the artist include; "Hope Inherent" and "Highlighters." She has exhibited in
Italy, New Zealand and Ireland. She has created work for Kilkenny Arts Festival. To date Kennedy has collaborated
with other individual artists in her practice but has not worked directly with architects.
Brian Connolly
Born in Ballymoney in1961, Antrim based sculptor Brian Connolly has established a significant reputation
as a sculptor nationally and internationally. He has completed a diverse range of public art commissions.
He gained his BA Hons and MA Hons in Fine Art from the University of Ulster, Belfast. Connolly also works as
a performance and installation artist and has made work in this regard in Ireland, Germany, Romania, France,
Poland, Slovenia, Hungary and Canada. Connolly is representative for Northern Ireland for Visual Artists
Ireland and has served on the Editorial Panel of Circa. He has completed residencies at the Banff Centre,
Canada, Firestation Artist Studios, Dublin and the McClelland Galleries, Glasgow. He has extensive national
and international lecturing experience.
Lucy Turner
Bangor based printmaker Lucy Turner is a longstanding member of Seacourt Print Workshop.
Turner studied at Manchester Polytechnic and Leeds Polytechnic. She completed her MFA at University of Ulster in 2002.
Turner has completed a number of permanent commissions for the Mater Hospital, Lakewood School, Bangor, Sustrans,
Omagh Council and Nicolson and Bass. "I work primarily with photographs; objects drawn through layers of colour and texture.
I print and transfer these images onto reclaimed metal panels and found objects. With "Urban Myths" I am responding to our lack
of understanding of contemporary environmental and social issues." She is recipient of numerous awards and is included in the
collections of AIB, DOE, OPW, Microsoft, Guinness and the Arts Council of N. Ireland.
Gerard Murphy
Born in 1951, Co. Down based Gerard Murphy has a BA Hons Degree in 3D Furniture from University of Ulster Belfast.
He currently practices in the area of new media; photography and installation. He has had a number of solo exhibitions
at Clotworthy Arts Centre, Market Place Arts Centre and Harmony Hill Arts Centre. His installations have been shown in
Wyoming, USA, Mojacur, Spain and the Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham. He exhibits regularly in the Royal Ulster Academy.
Murphy has been recipient of a number of Arts Council of Northern Ireland Awards and also the Bass Ireland Photographic Award
in 1997. He participated in the 2003 Arts and Business New Partners Programme. For Murphy; "As a photographic artist working
in lens-based and digital media, I combine travel and photography to source material and absorb impressions of culture."
Lulu Quinn
Born in Somerset in 1955, North Wiltshire based New Media artist has extensive experience of working with architects
on innovative projects in the public domain. She trained extensively at Falmouth School of Art, Portsmouth Polytechnic, S
t Martins School of Art and the Slade School of Art. Quinn works largely with time-based media and has an established track
record in temporary and permanent public art works. She worked in the Housewatch Group and for a decade created " cinematic
architecture for the pedestrian." She has completed commissions in interactive sound and light for Milton Keynes College,
Storey Cultural Centre, Contact Theatre, Manchester and " Rise and Fall" for Gateshead Riverside Sculpture Park. Quinn has
exhibited in the Tate Gallery, St Ives, Site Gallery, Sheffield, Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire, Quay Arts Centre, Isle of Wight
and Photo Arts 98.
Adam Kalinowski
Born in Poznan, Poland in 1959, Kalinowski studied at the Department of Cultural Anthropology at Adam Mickiewicz University
in Poznan. He was awarded an MA in 1986 and an MA from the Department of Visual Arts in Warsaw in 1992. Since 1999,
Kalinowski has been running the Tadeusz Kalinowski Art Foundation. He has exhibited widely in Poland and in Germany,
Japan and USA. In 2000 he was granted a Pollock-Krasner Award. Kalinowski has completed a range of thought provoking
temporary installations in Poland including "The Sky Reaching Cylinder" 2004 for Gallerie Track, Poland and a kinetic
outdoor sculpture for the 10th International Design Competition in Osaka, Japan, for which he won the Bronze Medal in 2001.
He has also received awards from The Warsaw Ministry of Culture and the Kosciuszko Foundation, USA.
Janet Preston
Belfast based artist, Janet Preston trained in Fine Art and the University of Ulster Belfast and has a BA First Class Honours.
She also completed a postraduate diploma in Applied Arts at the college. According to Preston
"My work is multi-disciplinary and can be described as being on the cusp between printmaking and photography.
I have established my professional career on painstaking visual investigation of what we take for granted."
She has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally and has taken part in many major print biennales and triennales.
She is recipient of numerous awards from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Oppenheim Downes Memorial Trust Award,
British Council Award, UTV Award and was prizewinner at Lessedra International Mini Print and Limerick Small Print
Exhibition. She has completed a number of commissions.
