Graduates of the Degree Course in Fine Art at IT Sligo present an exhibition of their work this Wednesday 26 May between 8.00 and 10.00pm. The Exhibition will be held in the Art Block K at St.Columba’s Campus, and members of the public are invited to come along to view the work of Ireland’s bright new talents.
The Fine Art Course at IT Sligo enables students to produce work in three different disciplines and this year there is an even spread across painting, ceramics, print and digital lens based media.
This variety is reflected in the students’ approach to subject matter, although connections can be drawn, perhaps indicating the concerns of a group of young and committed artists. Figuration is evident in the work of Paula Heraty, Pauline Terry and Karen Tighe, and interestingly (though not surprisingly) they all deal with the female form. Pauline Terry, through both painting and video questions issues of female objectification, with potent images of sexualised baby dolls. The females in Paula Heraty’s work are equally made-up but do not present the same visual challenges. Karen Tighe uses the same young model in all her work, but the sparesness of her approach makes us ask what exactly is going on? Her series of small, delicate paintings on brown paper can be read almost as negatives.
Amy McGovern and Corrina Ryan are both concerned with urban decay. Amy McGovern has created images of industrial buildings, their silent forms echoed through the distressed surfaces of the roofing felt she has used for her support. The theme of her work has been continued through a short video made in a deserted industrial warehouse, which has the same visual aesthetic as her paintings. Corrina Ryan searches within the architectural forms for the neglected materials and detritus of our everyday lives. Banal objects are enlarged and reified in a series of paintings but it is her video piece which is most poetic as a discarded bottle and glove are consumed by natural forces.
Stephanie Slevin and Geraldine Harrison both explore layering processes to produce colourful abstract compositions, whilst Elizabeth Sayer’s paintings and prints are evocative of misty landscapes. Her fine line drawings are very expressive.
Six students have produced a body of work in which thematic concerns have developed through both painting and ceramics. Fiona Stevenson has blurred the boundaries as her sculptural ceramic forms and paintings move between wall and floor. Her technical control of the raku process has enabled her to produce robust forms with extremely delicate surfaces. Emma Glennon has also worked in the tradition of organic forms but her work is certainly not delicate – her enlarged flower forms appear malevolent as the sombre green and yellow petals and stamens extend into the surrounding space.
Bernie McSharry has also used the body as a starting point, but whereas her torso and head piece have a quiet presence with their smoked surfaces, it is her installation piece which is most intriguing. Intensity of image is achieved through layering of underglaze colours and monochrome prints on the surface of softly padded forms suspended above a larger cylindrical form with all its connotations of nurturing.
It is difficult to separate the work of Brendan Dean – his ceramics forms seem almost to have escaped from his paintings – both are exquisitely executed with a richness of surface colour and subtle texture. Des Cullen takes inspiration from the writings of Gilles Deleuze whose work is concerned with rhizomatic systems, non hierarchical and multi directional assemblages. Des has used a network of lines in his work, but whereas his paintings exhibit an interlocking play of colours, his large ceramic sculptures are more ambiguous with small grid like openings – are these dwellings or containers?
There is no such ambiguity in the work of Mark Convey – his paintings and prints may have the appearance of comic book illustrations but the subject matter is a macabre exploration of conflict – from early mythology to the Blitz, war like figures of devils or robots fill his compositions.
The Exhibition will be held in the Art Block K at St.Columba’s Campus, and members of the public are invited to come along between 8.00 and 10.00pm on this coming Wednesday evening, 26 May.
Fine Art Degree Show 2010 Invite
For further information contact:
Elizabeth Caffrey
Lecturer in Fine Art
IT Sligo