John Keating was born in Tipperary. He studied at The Crawford College of Art, Cork, Trinity College, Dublin, Loughborough University, Leicestershire and The Arts Student League of New York, which he attended on a scholarship. He was awarded a gold medal of honour for his oil on canvas Oriental Lilies at the 2012 London Olympic Games Fine Arts exhibition in the Barbican Arts Centre. He has exhibited nationally and internationally including exhibitions in the U.S.A., Italy, Spain, Greece, Monaco and China. His work is included in private and public collections in Ireland, the U.S.A., Australia, Italy, Greece and England.

Find out more about this artist here: www.johnkeating-art.com

Robert Kelly is a graduate of Dun Laoghaire School of Arts and Design and NCAD. He works through the media of painting, photography and printmaking. Roberts work is process lead where positive and negative mark making are explored through hard ground, soap and sugar lift techniques using aquatint. He is a member of the Black Church Print Studio Dublin and exhibits widely.

Desmond Kenny is a painter and printmaker. All of his works with the nude as subject are based on life drawings which he makes in his studio. Each print can be different in colour, titles may change, or extra figures added. This is outside normal printmaking practice where each print is identical. His printmaking runs in tandem with his painting processes, where his painting is subject to constant change until it leaves his studio. He is a member of Graphic Studio Dublin and exhibits throughout the country.

Rachel Kierans studied at DIT, College of Marketing & Design for a B.A in Painting. Her work has been exhibited widely including at The Toradh Gallery, Co. Meath, Monaghan County Museum and Linenhall Arts Centre, Co. Mayo. She has received the studio bursary from the Arts Council, and she was also one of its Artists-in-Residence in-Schools. She has been awarded residencies at the Cill Rialaig Artist Retreat, Co. Kerry, and Dun Laoghaire- Rathdown County Council. She lives and works in Wexford.

Kube studied Visual Communications at DIT and uses a wide range of media, including graffiti- traditional spray paint, acrylic and oil paint, photography, etching techniques and sketching. He works both as a solo artist and collaboratively. He has exhibited widely and was part of the high profile Roadworks exhibition at Dublin Contemporary 2011.

Read more about this artist here:

Kube (Killian Walsh) is from Dundalk and is a Graphic Designer who makes graffiti art in his spare time. We asked him about his work.

Have you always been interested in the Visual Arts?
I was always involved in art from an early age and growing up, my Mum was very creative and encouraged me to pursue various creative practices. I mainly painted and doodled, and graffiti was a natural progression and something that I grew to love.

What kinds of challenges do you face as a Graffiti artist?
Living in a country that doesn’t encourage artistic expression and enforces laws and large fines for graffiti art. The fact that writing your name on a wall and knocking it down or burning it are all similarly classed as criminal damage is mindboggling. Ireland is always behind in everything culturally and socially and graffiti art is at the bottom of the list of priorities.

What advice would you give to anyone who is thinking of making art as a profession?
Make sure you’re 100% committed to your art and maintain your integrity no matter what. Be sure it’s something you are dedicated to and not just the label. Also, it is hard work so be dedicated. A lot of very talented artists aren’t great at marketing themselves so add that string to your bow maybe?

How can people find out more about your work?
I have a personal website with my design work and also a communal website for our graffiti art. I populate this regularly and make sure to document all my creative work.

Can you tell us about the work you have in our collection?
This piece is a steel etching that I made in final year of a Visual Communications Degree in DIT School of Art, design and printing. The school had an amazing print studio with two brilliantly dedicated tutors, Anthony and Peter, who helped me learn loads. This piece was from our show Fresh on Every Surface (with Omin) in the Basement Gallery in 2009. I wanted to include various media related to graffiti art, but not just all spray paint on canvas. This piece was an edition of 5 which was based on a graffiti art piece I had done in Barcelona with New York artist, Cern. The photograph was mine, the graffiti was collaborative and the steel etching I completed myself.

Find out more about this artist here: www.selftaut.com

Frances Lambe is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. She taught Art at Second Level for several years before concentrating on her practice on a full-time basis. She is a founder member of Bridge Street Studios Dundalk. She has been the recipient of a number of awards, has exhibited widely and her work is held in a number of collections including those of The Ulster Museum, The National Museum of Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Read an interview with this artist here:

How did you begin your career as an artist?
I studied art education at college and was introduced to a variety of different art media, which I enjoyed. Soon after starting teaching at second level my husband got the opportunity to work in the US. I took a career break and had the opportunity to study ceramics and drawing for a brief time at a college in Connecticut. I think that the seeds were sown then to pursue my own art practice. After teaching art at second for several years, I was one of a group of local art teachers who wanted to develop their own work and we decided to take part in a series of art exhibitions titles ‘Those who can do…..’ these exhibitions sought to challenge the phrase which usually concludes – and those who can’t teach! We organized a workspace and began life sketch classes. I set up a workspace at home, took a career break. The focus on my work increased and I became a founder member of Bridge Street Studios in 1996.

What factors were important in helping you decide to make that your full-time profession?
Responding to the urge/compulsion to create, to communicate through a visual medium and the fulfillment that comes from being able to work at something that you are passionate about.

What kinds of challenges have you faced in your career?
One of the most difficult decisions of my life was the decision to stop teaching to pursue my own practice. I really enjoyed the engagement with the talented students that I had the privilege to teach. The future was full of uncertainties and self-doubt.It was difficult to create a workspace and to evolve an effective work routine. It was also difficult to balance family life and pursue my own artwork. Lots of trial and error and the crucial support of my family and my Bridge Street colleagues supported the development of my practice.
Every exhibition is a challenge, which I take very seriously. It can be difficult to reach to a series of deadlines. Making work for high-end curated shows at home and abroad is stressful, but I enjoy the challenge of making work for different gallery spaces and working with different professional curators and it has been an education. The medium of ceramics has its own ways to keep you humble. Failure is part of the journey.

What advice would you give to anyone who is thinking of making art as a profession?
To stop talking about it and just do it. Each piece of work you make will point the way forward.

How you do keep your profile visible?
I have a website and I have been lucky that the exhibitions that I have taken part in have generated some media attention. My focus is on making the best work possible.

Can you tell us about the works you have in our collection?
Having pieces purchased for the Louth Local Authorities’ collections has been very affirming for my practice as a visual artist. Moonsphere was the first piece that I had purchased for a public collection and this was a significant milestone in my progress as an artist. It helped to dispel some of my self-doubt and gave me the confidence to pursue future opportunities.

Moonsphere was made when I was beginning to find my voice as a visual artist. It is a piece which links to influences from a number of different areas of interest including astronomy, botany and sea life. Moss Garden was made for the ‘Going Green’ curated exhibition organised by the Louth County Enterprise Board. This piece was made in the same year as I had my first opportunity to exhibit abroad at Sofa Chicago with the Crafts Council of Ireland’s National Craft Gallery and Biosphere was made for my first solo exhibition ‘Microcosmos’ which was co-commissioned by the Basement Gallery and MCAC Millennium Court Arts Centre.
All of these pieces have been inspired by my interest in a variety of different sources of inspiration including astronomy, botany, sea life, geology and geometry. My work is informed by engagement with and research into my local environment. Each piece marks a significant point in my artistic journey and each piece adds to a deeper understanding of the potential of the visual medium of ceramics.

Tell us a little about your current practice.
My practice is focused on exhibiting in curated exhibitions in Ireland and overseas. My work is increasingly in demand and I now have the problem of not being able to respond to all of the requests for work that come my way.
My work is included in a number of public and private collections including the Louth County Collection, NMI, Ulster Museum, Department of Foreign Affairs and the OPW. I have had the opportunity of exhibiting in the US ( Chicago and NY), Liverpool, Paris, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Find out more about this artist here: www.franceslambe.com

Bernadette Madden was born in Dublin in 1948. She studied Painting at the National College of Art and Design, graduating in 1970. She works mainly through the medium of batik (wax resist on linen) and also makes screenprints on paper. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections including Aer Rianta, The Arts Council, The Office of Public Works and The Ulster Museum. She has exhibited extensively in Ireland and abroad, including the USA, Germany, Norway and the UK.

Read more about Bernadette`s work here:
`In the work I produce, I am concerned with light and the way it reacts both in nature and the built environment”
When Bernadette graduated from the NCAD in 1970, she was already fairly well established as a painter. She continued to work and exhibit from the studio and gallery she had set up while at college. She has had a very successful career to date with numerous awards and accolades. In 1976, she was awarded the Macauley Fellowship in Painting by the Art Council. In 1984 she was appointed to the Board of the National College of Art and Design by the Minister for Education. From 1998 until 2006 she served on the Cultural Relations Committee of the Department of Foreign Affairs. Her work is illustrated in the Junior Certificate Art textbook, in both the 2006 and 1993 editions. She has completed a number of large commissions, in batik, for public and private buildings including Trinity College, University College, Marino College of Further Education, AXA Insurance and Bord Bia, ( all in Dublin ) and Delgany Golf Club Wicklow, Irish Cement, Drogheda, St. Anthony`s Church, South Carolina,,USA, and Washington Theological Union, DC, USA. She is represented in the National Self Portrait Collection , in Limerick.

Find out more about the artist’s work here: www.bernadettemadden.ie

Damian Magee is from Newry, Co. Down and is a Fine Art graduate of the University of Ulster. He has been the recipient of awards and bursaries from The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and has been awarded residencies at The Tyrone Guthrie Centre and at Ballinglen Arts Foundation. He has exhibited his work throughout Ireland.