exhibition of selected works from irish craft portfolio

www.irishcraftportfolio.ie

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crafts council of ireland / royal hibernian academy

An exhibition of selected works from

Irish Craft Portfolio

Royal Hibernian Academy28th November – 2nd December 2013

CCoI@RHA_2013_560x240mmwrap_FA_Layout 1 17/12/2013 09:39


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Irish Craft PortfolioRHA Gallery, 15 Ely Place, Dublin 2

28th November – 2nd December 2013

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Irish Craft Portfolio actively works to grow the reputations and potential ofcraft makers across all major disciplinesof contemporary craft. Selected by aninternational expert panel, the programmecurrently features almost 100 of Ireland’smost renowned makers working in thefollowing disciplines: Ceramics, Jewellery,Glass, Metals, Paper, Textiles, Calligraphy,Furniture, Woodturning and Basketry.This capsule exhibition is curated by Patricia Clyne-Kellyand features work from 27 makers.

opening hours

Thursday: Launch at 6.00pmFriday: 11.00am– 7.00pmSaturday: 11.00am– 7.00pmSunday: 2.00 – 5.00pmMonday: 11.00am– 5.00pm

For further information on the Craft Council of Ireland’sIrish Craft Portfolio programme please contact:

Ciara GarveyDevelopment Manager, Collector & Tourism ProgrammesCrafts Council of Ireland, Castle Yard, Kilkenny e: [email protected] / t: (056) 779 6137

basketry / caoladóireacht

Alison Fitzgerald

alison fitzgerald makeshand-woven baskets usingsustainable methods andmaterials. She works with locallygrown willow and natural barkcolours, and without the use offossil fuels or electricity. She wasfirst drawn to the medium aftermoving to Northern Ireland in1980. Noticing the long, slender,brightly coloured willow stemson the shores of Lough Neagh –once a flourishing centre ofbasketry – she was inspired bytheir lightness, beauty andpliability.

Fitzgerald’s work is influenced byher background in botany.Working with several varieties ofwillow, she experiments withshape and pattern, whileretaining a robust, tactilefunctionality in all her pieces. Shespecialises in frame baskets suchas the sciathóg or potato basket,emphasising the ribbing andplaying with subtle gradations ofcolour.

Fitzgerald establishedGreenwood Baskets in 1985. Shelives and works in Co. Tyrone.

4

ceramics / ceirmeacht

Alison Kay

alison kay’s sculptural ceramicobjects take their inspirationfrom various sources, rangingfrom the human body to plantforms to car designs. Kay allowsthese ideas to percolate throughher practice, transforming andabstracting them to createdistinctive forms and patterns.

Kay’s current work relates to thetradition of the vessel. Cleandelineation, sharp outlines andwell-defined curves createtautness and volume in her forms,each made with an opening toreveal part of the interior. Kayaims to integrate surface andform, creating objects that arecontemporary, yet ancient andtimeless. The pieces are coil andslab built using white raku clay,then gradually scraped back andattentively worked to achievesymmetry in the form. Layers ofcoloured terra sigillata are appliedand then buffed to a shine. Afterfiring, adhesive paper is placed onthe surface in patterns or stripes.The vessel is then smoke fired sothat the surface blackens. As thepaper is peeled away, the colourbeneath is revealed. The piece isthen polished with wax to a richfine sheen.

Kay attended Dun LaoghaireCollege of Art and Design,specialising in Ceramics, andwent on to study with HarryHorlock-Stringer in London. She is based in Dublin.

glass / gloine

Alison Lowry

alison lowry’s practice isinspired by her long-standinginterest in textiles and clothing.She is fascinated with the wayfabric preserves the essence of itsmaker, with traces of the wearerbecoming entwined in its warpand weft. Seeing clothing as asecond skin, inextricably linkedwith personal narrative, Lowry’sglass objects examine how thephysical object acts as a vessel for memory.

Her connection to fabric andembroidery originated with familyheirlooms. She cites a set of whitework garments, hand-made byfemale relations, and anembroidered christening robewhich has been in her family forover a hundred years, asinspirations for her work.Investigating her links withfamily, both present and past,Lowry considers the precariousand delicate nature of life. Seeingsimilarities between the transitivenature of birth and death, sheexplores the human subject interms of its fragility andvulnerability in these states.

Lowry graduated with a BDes Art & Design from the University ofUlster in 2009. In 2011 she wasawarded a two year placement atthe University of Ulster as part ofCraft Northern Ireland’s Making Itprogramme for craft businessdevelopment. She is based inBelfast.

crafts council of irelandIrish Craft Portfolio

glass / gloine

Catherine Keenan

catherine keenan producesdistinctive brightly colouredblown glass vessels. Her practiceis informed by a preoccupationwith colour and pattern whichshe explores throughexperimentation with a range oftechniques, observing theseemingly endless possibilitiesof each. She is particularlyinspired by the liquid nature ofthe material and the organicdevelopment of spherical forms.Keenan was originally attracted tothe medium by the physicalrhythm of working with glass. Asa very immediate art form, glasswork requires great dexterity andswift, confident gestures in orderto produce elegant, expressiveforms. In order to manipulatemolten glass at 1100˚C thoroughplanning and preparation arerequired, as well as the support ofa skilled assistant.

Keenan strives to create piecesthat are bold in their simplicity,belying the complexity of theirconstruction. Her recent EyeCandy collection includes a seriesof patterned vessel forms withvibrant contrasting colouroverlays and carved lenses. TheEye Candy pieces come in a rangeof combinations, including redand mint, and orange and green,blues, yellows and purples.

Keenan studied glass at theNational College of Art andDesign, Dublin and later at theInternational Glass Centre, WestMidlands, UK. She is based atFlowerfield Arts Centre inPortstewart, Co. Down.


metals / miotal

Cara Murphy

cara murphy utilises traditionalsilversmithing techniques tocreate innovative and sculpturaltableware. Focusing on howpieces interact with their setting,she challenges the establishedknowledge of silverware bycreating work which does not havean obvious purpose. Functionalitybecomes open to interpretationand is created through the usersown participation andinvolvement. In her forms, she aims to create a sense ofmovement, both physical andvisual, whilst still remainingcognisant of the sense of ritualand ceremony linked to the use of silver. Inspired by the naturalenvironment, she sees the tablesetting as a type of landscape fromwhich objects emerge and grow.

Murphy trained at The GlasgowSchool of Art, Scotland and theRoyal College of Art, London. Sheis a Freeman of the WorshipfulCompany of Goldsmiths andworks mainly to commission. Sheis an Associate Lecturer inSilversmithing & Jewellery at theUniversity of Ulster.

5

Dappled blue vessel, ceramic, 27 × 50 × 14cm

photographer: cyril byrne


Alison Kay

6

7crafts council of ireland Irish Craft Portfolio

Alison Lowry

Catherine Keenan

Blueprint ( for living) II, screen printed cast glass, 20 × 119 × 3.5cm

photographer: christopher martin

Eye Candy, Dark Purple and Yellow Striped, blown glass, 20 × 14 × 14cm

photographer: david pauley


Deirdre McLoughlin

deirdre mcloughlin’s workis imbued with an intensephysicality and dedication toperfection of forms and surfaces.Her making process isdemanding. Using subtle glazesand meticulous coil buildingtechniques, her abstract ceramicforms undergo an intense processof polishing and repeated firing.Timing is key – she typically spendsa number of weeks on the skillfulexecution of any one piece.

McLoughlin’s work has thecapacity to disarm the viewer.Some objects, while having theappearance of clay, are like stoneto touch – the silky smoothtextures are achieved through arigorous process of diamondpolishing and firing at extremelyhigh temperatures. Otherscontain surprises or secrets, suchas tiny semi-precious gems, oftenresembling pimples, deftly placedin the airholes. Finding value inimperfection and ambiguity, hersculptural ceramic works havebeen described as havinganthropomorphic, zoomorphicor biomorphic qualities. In heradept manipulation of thematerial, McLoughlin combinesabstract and figurative allusionsinto one defined shape.

McLoughlin received a BA fromTrinity College, Dublin. Shesubsequently moved to Japan towork amongst the SodeishaGroup in Kyoto, Japan. She hasbeen based in Amsterdam since1988 and regularly lectures in artcolleges throughout Ireland.

8

jewellery / seodra

Eily O’Connell

eily o’connell’s practice isconcerned with processes ofcreation and mutation, with aparticular interest in disruptionsin the order of nature. Combiningmaterials such as silver and glass,her jewellery objects often borrowthe appearance of recognisableorganic matter. On closerinspection, each piece reveals amore complex design andconstruction.

O’Connell gathers an assortmentof natural forms and materials forher pieces, including woodfragments, pebbles, claws andgemstones such as amethyst andtournaline. Through the processof casting, she amalgamatesthese into ever-evolving hybrids,playing with ideas of counterfeit,mistaken identity and sleight ofhand. O’Connell explores theability of man to alter the courseof nature, and the consequencesof exercising that power. In thisway, she strives to create a senseof a lurking sinister presencewhilst maintaining a carefullycontained chaos.

O’Connell graduated from theNational College of Art & Design,Dublin in 2008 with a BDes inMetals. She is currently based inDublin.


furniture / troscán

Fergal O’Leary

fergal o’leary designs andmanufactures elegant andpractical furniture with anunderstated modern aesthetic anda focus on high quality finish. Heproduces a wide range of work,from functional domestic objectsto high-end bespoke pieces.

For O’Leary, furniture is for lifeand for living. He drawsinspiration from Scandinaviandesign, specifically interested inthe clear connection betweenfunction and form, and theharmonious integration ofergonomics and use value in apiece of furniture. O’Leary workswith a variety of timbers includingoak, ash and walnut, as well ascomplementary materials likeopaque glass. His currentcollection includes the maryjanechair, handmade in solid oak, andthe spectrum console table madefrom over 50 individually finishedpieces of timber.

O’Leary founded HorizonFurniture in 2008. He lives andworks in Cork.


Freda Rupp

freda rupp is primarilyconcerned with form and with thematerial effects of erosion andtime. The marks on her vessels aresuggested by cracks and fissuresin rock surface and the debris thatbecomes lodged there. Rupp seesthese marks as a visual record ofthe rock’s history. She is interestedin the cracks and patterns thatdevelop around them; and in theirability to suggest images andevoke feelings and memories.

Rupp’s ceramic pieces areunglazed and intentionally non-functional. Her practice isinformed by the relationshipbetween the textured appearanceand tactile quality of the finishedobject. Her current works arehand-built from white stonewareclay using various combinations ofslabbing, coiling and moulding.Each piece is carved, multi-firedand sanded. Before the last firing,Rupp embeds white porcelainpebbles in the carving to create thedistinctive marks that characteriseher vessels.

Rupp studied sculpture andceramics at the National Collegeof Art and Design, Dublin andwent on to study ceramics atCanterbury ChristchurchUniversity, UK. She lives andworks in Co. Waterford.

jewellery / seodra

Garvan Traynor

garvan traynor makesoriginal one-off jewellery pieces insilver, gold and platinum. His workaims to challenge the creative andtechnical boundaries of jewellerymaking, informed by a cross-disciplinary approach and aninterest in contemporary politicaldiscourses. Traynor works with afocus on high quality crafts -manship and simplicity,subscribing to the view thatsimplicity of form is not necessarilysimplicity of expression.

Traynor’s recent work responds tohis home and work surroundingsand features elements ofarchitectural and industrial form.He is especially interested in theuniversality of fundamentaldesign principles that applyacross all fields of practice. Ratherthan the creation of sculpturalobjects in isolation, Traynor viewshis work as a practice engagedwith contemporary designnarrative.

Traynor studied at the Universityof Ulster and undertook anapprenticeship with Trudi VanSchriek Goldschmiede ongraduation, based in Maastricht.He founded his practice in 2005and is currently based in Belfast.

www.irishcraftportfolio.ie 9

www.irishcraftportfolio.ie10

Fergal O’Leary Horizon Furniture

Garvan Traynor

Spectrum console table, various timbers, various finishes, 2 × .82 × .35m

photographer: roland paschhoff

Closed Circuitry (CCTV brooches), silver, various dimensions, 150-170 × 20mm

photographer: rory moore


Deirdre McLoughlin

Freda Rupp

l-r. I am too, 19cm L, chocolate/ I am too, 32cm L, gray/ I am too, 19cm L, white. All high fire ceramic, diamond polished

photographer: rob bohle

White Carved Bowl, white stoneware clay, 8 × 31cm

photographer: aaron jay


Jack Doherty

jack doherty creates questionsthe vernacular of functionality,creating objects which subtlyinterconnect with domestic spaceand daily life. He aims tochallenge traditional rules ofrefinement and containment.According to Doherty, his soda-fired vessels can be solitary andcontemplative or ceremonial; foreveryday use or for specialoccasions. Archetypal forms fromhistory are touchstones in hispractice. His work explores thesubtle purity of porcelain andmore recently, the opposingrobust qualities of stoneware. Heworks with one porcelain clay,uses one slip and carries out onesingle firing. The forms arethrown, then carved and shaped.Copper carbonate is added to theslip as the colouring material. Hisfiring process involves spraying amixture of sodium bicarbonateand water into the kiln when it isat a high temperature. Theresulting vapour is drawnthrough the kiln chamber whereit reacts with chemicals presentin the clay, creating a rich patinaof surface texture and colour.

Doherty graduated from theUlster College of Art and Designin 1971. He subsequently workedas a studio potter at the KilkennyDesign Workshops and iscurrently Lead Potter and CreativeDirector at The Leach Pottery inSt Ives, Cornwall.


Jennifer Hickey

jennifer hickey’s practice isconcerned with themes of fragility,weightlessness, translucency,rhythm and movement. Workingwith porcelain and bone china,her ceramic sculptural formsexplore the discipline and delicacydemanded by those materials. Sheis interested in the Japaneseaesthetic of simplicity, one whichconnects spirit to nature. Thenatural properties of clay areintrinsic to her completed pieceswhich often have an organic orsensual sense. Hickey’s mostrecent body of work involvessewing wafer-thin parts ofporcelain together or meticulouslystitching them on to tulle. Thephysicality of the making processallows a different kind ofconsciousness to be expressedthrough the completed forms. Asthe pieces progress spatially, theygain in strength and energy fromthe repetition in their making.

Hickey graduated from theNational College of Art andDesign, Dublin in 2002 with aBDes in Ceramics.

12


Joe Hogan

joe hogan was initially attractedto basketmaking because hewanted to grow his own willow, the raw material for most of hisbaskets. His practice allows himthe opportunity to live rurally andto be involved in the entire process,from growing the material tomaking the finished object. Hishome and landscape have had aprofound influence on the style anddiversity of his work, encouraginghim to explore and develop newdesigns based on old traditions.

Hogan makes functional basketsand values the repetition and thefluency it develops. He hasbecome increasingly interested inmaking non-functional orsculptural baskets, many ofwhich involve the use of finds ofbog wood from an area of wildisolated bogland near his home.Some of these baskets involve theuse of twigs from birch, bogmyrtle, catkins, lichens and otherwild material. Hogan is promptedby a desire to develop a deeperconnection to the natural worldand reawaken a sense of wonder.

Hogan works from his studio inConnemara, Co. Galway. Heteaches basketmaking skills andhas written two books on thecraft, Basketmaking in Ireland(2001) and Bare Branches, Blue BlackSky (2011).


glass / gloine

Karen Donnellan

karen donnellan makessculptural objects in glass thatreflect her interest in the concept ofchi, or energy flow, and its potentialfor healing. The circle, understoodas a symbol of perfection, divinityand enlightenment, is a keyreference point in Donnellan’swork. She is especially interested inthe circle as it appears in the Zeneñso, the ‘Flower of Life,’ and inTibetan sand mandalas. Donnellancites the writings of Alex Grey andAgnes Martin, the cultural heritageof Ireland, and the practices ofReiki and meditation as keyinfluences on her work.

Much of Donnellan’s recent workderives from a single vortex-shapedwooden form, based on the auricfield. Her method is intuitive andmeditative, treating the repetitivenature of the work as a mantra. Inthis way, she aims at theharmonious integration of processand product, in order to imbue thework with healing energies. In therepeated practice of visually andmaterially transforming the vortexobject, Donnellan sees a metaphorfor the perpetual motion ofuniversal energy.

Karen Donnellan graduated with aBDes from the National College ofArt and Design, Dublin in 2009 andgained an MFA in glass from theRochester Institute of Technology,New York in 2011. She is now basedin Edinburgh.

glass / gloine

Karl Harron

karl harron’s glass practicerelates to processes of alchemy. Heis particularly interested in thesymbolic potential of the vessel. Incontaining and preservingmaterials, both precious andcommonplace, the vessel is at oncea sacred and a functional form.

Harron’s current work is inspiredby volcanic eruptions that tookplace in the Arctic Circle fourthousand years ago, and resulted inthe creation of tephra. From theGreek word for ash, tephra aremicro-shards of glass thatexploded into the atmosphere,eventually falling to earth andcoming to rest on peatlands acrossIreland. Incorporated into thegrowing bog, they lay for yearsawaiting discovery. Harron’s workaims to mirror these atmosphericevents. Through the practice ofkiln-forming, slumping, diamondengraving and finally fire-polishing, he echoes the materialeffects of heat, gravity andelemental erosion. His delicate,textured vessels evolve over aperiod of up to thirty days each,every one striving to reveal thealchemy at work in its creation, andto represent the relationshipbetween landscape and man.

Harron studied Art and Design atthe University of Ulster, Belfast. Heestablished the GlasStudio inNewtownards, Co. Down in 1985.

www.irishcraftportfolio.ie 13


Joe Hogan

Bog pouch, willow rods and bog pine, 33 × 76 × 34cm

photographer: joe hogan

www.irishcraftportfolio.ie14


Karl Harron

Jennifer Hickey

Untitled, Porcelain, 34 × 26 × 8cm

photographer: muiris moynihan

Migration Artefact #0513, Reactive Bullseye glass, 245 × 145mm deep

photographer: brian rutledge

16 crafts council of irelandIrish Craft Portfolio


Klimmek & Henderson

klimmek & henderson designand manufacture elegant anddurable furniture. Designed witha modernist ethos which connectsform, function and materials, theyaim to create unique and timelesspieces of furniture. Working insolid and veneered timbers, theyincorporate materials such asmetal, stone and glass into. Theircurrent body of work includes a range of cabinetry; precisioncrafted to exacting standards. The decoration of these pieces hasbeen inspired and influenced by the coastal horizons of CountyWexford, interpreted in inlay work, engraving, frosted glassand metal. The results are subtleand evocative.

Knut Klimmek graduated from the John Makepeace School for Craftsmen in Wood in Dorset, UK, and subsequently founded Knut Klimmek Furniture in 1986.Klimmek & Henderson wasestablished in 1995. They are basedin Co. Dublin and work mainly to commission.


Kathleen McCormick

kathleen mccormack createsbaskets using natural materialsand colours, with a particularemphasis on shape and function.She comes from a long line ofcraftspeople and cites her NativeAmerican, French and Germanheritage as key influences on herpractice.

McCormick makes a range ofbasket forms including logbaskets, laundry baskets, trunksand fishermens’ creels. She uses avariety of materials in her pieces,combining bark work with herown home-grown, hand-harvestedred willow. McCormick alsodesigns and produces colourfulpatterned rugs and wall hangingsfrom homespun wool. She placesa high value on traditional crafts,but occasionally experiments withmore contemporary techniquesand forms.

Originally from Co. Kildare,McCormick now lives and worksin the Boyne Valley, Co. Meath.She studied basketmaking withJoe Hogan and textiles with Terry Dunne.


textiles / teicstílí

Liz Nilsson

liz nilsson’s practice blendsart, design and function. Shecreates concept art pieces whichuse textiles as both medium andsubject and regularly works withina formal structure of repeatedelements. These occur thematicallyand physically in her makingprocess. Nilsson cites the circleas a symbolic influence in herwork seeing it as a representationof the cycle of life. Using recycledmaterials, she cuts away from the surface creating open lace-likestructures which integrate lightand shadow. She incorporatescontemporary techniques such aslaser-cutting, print, stitching andlayering into her finished forms.Her pieces are multi-layered, weav-ing new and used fabrics together,resulting in highly tactile surfaces.Nilsson is interested in memorytraces and the ability to memoriseexperiences. The layering of herwork illustrates repetition, recalland habit and references howmemories are instituted.

glass / gloine

Louise Rice

louise rice produces delicateand lifelike sculptural glassobjects with a strong narrativeelement, often combined orjuxtaposed with found objectsand other materials. Her workexplores the complexity of humanrelationships in terms of theencounter with oneself andothers. Conversation Pieces is a setof interconnected glass speech-bubbles inspired by questions ofcommunication and expression.

Rice uses a range of hot andwarm techniques to produce herpieces. One of these is the pate-de-verre method, in which a thinglass paste is used, enabling herto achieve the precise and minutedetail of her objects.

Rice graduated in 1998 with a BAfrom Edinburgh College of Art,and went on to complete aPostgraduate Diploma in Glass2000. She continued her studiesat the Gerrit Rietveld Academy,Amsterdam, finishing in 2003.Originally from Co. Armagh, Ricenow lives and works in Leitrim.


Mandy Parslow

mandy parslow’s salt-glazedstoneware vessels are inspired bythe changing lights and colours of her surrounding countryside. She aims to physically reflect the‘organic orderliness’ of theagricultural landscape in her work.

Parslow’s vessels are formedthrough gestures of wrappingand stacking, exploring opposingconcepts of tension and calm.Her pieces are initially wheel-thrown, after which ridges andcuts are made to the clay whilestill soft, retaining its energy andtension, and enhancing the senseof movement in the altered piece.The clay object is then salt fired to1300°C in a wood-fuelled kiln.Each piece is assaulted andcaressed by the flames – ash andsalt vapour moving through thekiln in the intense heat of thefiring. The depth of colour andtexture evolves and intensifiesfrom one firing to the next, sothat the surface of the finishedvessel is marked with anauthentic record of the flame’spath. For Parslow, thisunpredictable process seems toembed the landscape in her work.

Parslow completed a BA in ThreeDimensional Design, Ceramics atCardiff School of Art & Design,Wales in 1994. She subsequentlyestablished a studio andshowroom Co. Tipperary whereshe is currently based.

17


C Tables – Oak, Solid oak with a white oil finish, C-in 30 × 40 × 46cm / C-out 30 × 490 × 50cm

photographer: knut klimmek

Klimmek & Henderson

18


Kathleen McCormick

Louise Rice Conversations Series (v), blown glass forms, 50 × 20 × 30cm approx

photographer: eunan sweeney

3 Log Baskets, willow, hazel and ash rods. l 560 × 560 × 560mm / m 440 × 440 × 440mm / m 330 × 330 × 400mm

photographer: ruth foran


jewellery / seodra

Rachel McKnight

rachel mcknight designs andproduces necklaces, bangles,rings and brooches in plasticsand rubber. Her practice is drivenby the excitement of sourcing andexperimenting with newmaterials, inspiring her toproduce original and innovativesculptural pieces.

McKnight utilises newtechnologies such as lasercutting, enabling her to developintricate designs. She isinterested in combining man-made, industrial products withdelicate and traditional patterns.Simple and uncomplicatedshapes are at the essence ofMcKnight’s jewellery and shecontinually explores ways toreproduce these shapes in herwork. The work is also influencedby the contrast betweentransparent and opaque colour.Plastic materials allow her toexplore this contrast in detail.

McKnight graduated from theUniversity of Ulster in Belfast in 2003.

glass / gloine

Michael Ray

michael ray creates one-offvessels, free-standing sculpturalpieces and architectural panels inglass. The sea is a significantinfluence in Ray’s work, with aparticular focus on the micro -scopic organisms that inhabit it,invisible to the human eye. Hiscurrent body of work exploresdiatoms: single cell phytoplanktonencased in a wall of silica, the mainglass-forming agent. Diatomsoccur virtually everywhere water isfound and play an important rolein the conversion of carbondioxide to oxygen. Ray’s objectsreflect their variety, translucencyand textural qualities.

Working with layered sheet glassand cullet, he casts the materialinto metal and ceramic mouldsseveral times until the requiredmovement has occurred. He thengrinds the surface to reveal theinternal structure created in thecasting process. The glass is kiln-formed into ovoid or sphericalshapes, and then cut and polished.

Ray’s glass forms are intended asa metaphor for the dialoguebetween what we see and whatgoes on beneath the surface,outside the range of humanperception.

Ray graduated in 2008 with anMA in Glass from the NationalCollege of Art and Design,Dublin. He is currently based inWest Cork.


Michael Moore

michael moore makes hand-built, abstract ceramic sculptures.Moore’s work draws inspirationfrom a variety of sources, notablya recent visit to China, where hewas struck by the grandarchitectural ambition andvibrant colours of Beijing.

Moore’s pieces are highlypolished and usually finished inwhite or red, the natural coloursof fired clay. Recent workincludes the Dazzle series,incorporating the Grid, Sentineland Tower sculptures, in whichMoore aims to deliberatelydeconstruct form using surfacedecoration. This work is inspiredby the ‘dazzle’ camouflagetechnique used by British and USNavies in World War I, in order todisrupt a viewer’s perception of aship’s location, distance andorientation. Citing Mondrian’s1910 tree paintings as another keyinspiration, Moore sees his Dazzleforms somewhere in between thehard edged, cartoonishdecoration of the war ships, andthe softness of the intricatelypainted branches.

Moore was born in Dublin in1968. He graduated from theNational College of Art andDesign, Dublin in 1990.

glass / gloine

Scott Benefield

scott benefield createscolourful, intricately patternedvessels and tableware that reflecthis long-standing interest inVenetian glass. He is particularlyinspired by the Venetians’understanding of the essentialproperties of glass, and theresulting fluidity andtransparency in their work.

Benefield embraces the materialheritage of glass making in hispractice, and seeks to createoriginal expressions to add to theconversation. Innovating ontraditional Venetian techniques,he creates small rondels ofpatterned glass which are madeinto tiles, then reheated andblown into vessel forms. Throughthe interplay of pattern, rhythmand repetition, Benefield’s workaims to explore ideas of controland chaos.

Benefield studied art at thePhilips Academy, Washington,finishing in 1974. He went on tocomplete an MFA in Ohio StateUniversity in 1990, and tookfurther studies at the PilchuckGlass School between 1992 and1996. He is currently based inNorthern Ireland.


wood / adhmad

Roger Bennett

roger bennett’s bowls,vessels and wall-pieces combinewood with precious metals. Histurning employs a precise anddemanding making process. Heinlays his forms by fillinghundreds of individually drilledholes with dots of silver wire.After the metal has been sandedflush with the surface, he appliescolour to the wood and finisheswith Danish oil. Bennett prefersto work in sycamore, a woodwhose paleness responds well tocolouring. He uses water-baseddyes to enhance and complementthe natural figuring of the wood.The refined coloured surfaces ofhis pieces compliment theconstellations and geometricpatterns of silver points placedagainst the finely finished wood.The patterns range from flowingspiral lines to controlled randomconcentrations. Through thesimplicity of his design and thepaper-thin quality of his material,Bennett achieves a sense oflightness and delicacy in hisfinished forms.

Bennett received a BA in ModernLanguages and a HDip inEducation from Trinity College,Dublin in the 1970s. He is a selftaught woodturner and worksfrom his studio in Dublin.

21


Michael Ray

Shane Holland

22

Black red diatom, kiln-formed glass, 7 × 28 × 12cm

photographer: roland paschhoff

Ghost of Ash – Table Lamp, Irish ash branch pole,

polyester lampshade, steel base plate, 7 × 28 × 12cm

photographer: shane holland


Scott Benefield

Roger Bennett

Vetro Mosaico, glass, 33 × 21 × 9cm

Untitled, Coloured walnut inlaid with silver, 12 × 3cm

photographer: roger bennett

AcknowledgementsThe Crafts Council of Ireland would like to thank Patrick Murphy, Eilis O’Connell,Rebecca Gale, Sonya Lennon,Michelle Considine and all the staff at the RHA Gallery.


Shane Holland

shane holland designs andproduces furniture and lightfittings from a wide range ofmaterials including timber,metals and acrylics. Holland usesrecycled materials and foundobjects where possible. Thelamps in the Ghost of Ash series are limited edition worksincorporating branches fromIrish Ash trees which are sourcedfrom roadside cuttings.

Holland graduated in 1989 with a BDes in Industrial Design fromthe University of Limerick. Hisworkshop is based in Duleek, Co Meath.

jewellery / seodra

Sonja Landweer

sonja landweer’s practice has developed through a closeunderstanding of the naturalworld. Her forms, laden withintensity and fragility areevocative of subtle balancesfound in nature. Working incontemporary jewellery and bodysculpture since the early 1960s,she has pioneered designs usingbeads, slate, wood, paper,feathers, bone, leather, plastic,ceramic and other fibres.Landweer has been instrumentalin changing perceptions of whatcan be worn as personaladornment without usingprecious metals. In the 1990s shedeveloped unusual techniques ofknotted monofilament, inspiredby a winter visit to Crete, whereshe was drawn to prickly, skeletalstructures of plant remains,organised around otherwiseempty spaces. Her recent formsincorporate large sequins andsemi-precious stones, togetherwith gold crimped nylon to formexquisite objects of jewellery andbody sculpture.

Landweer studied at theAmsterdam School of IndustrialDesign, following which she wasapprenticed to Zaalberg Pottery in1952– 53. In 1965 she was invitedto Ireland to set up a ceramicstudio at Kilkenny DesignWorkshop. She tutored in variousart colleges in Ireland and UKbetween 1972 and 1996.Landweer is renownedinternationally for her jewellery,bronze and ceramic work and isbased in Co. Kilkenny.



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exhibition of selected works from irish craft portfolio

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