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Visual Artists Ireland events in collaboration with Ormeau Baths Gallery: a series of professional development talks and events to compliment the OBG exhibition of emerging artists ‘Arrivals’.

Artist Talks

Aoife Collins / Wednesday 4 Aug (2pm) Free
Aideen Barry/ Wed 18 Aug (2pm) Free
Niamh McDonnell / Wed 1 September (2pm) Free

These talks are an opportunity to hear from artists who have experience of exhibiting and pursuing opportunities internationally. The invited artists have been selected for; their innovative approaches to making work within a variety of media; their professional track records to date and their ability to articulate their interests and ideas as artists. This series promises to be inspiring and informative for recent graduates and public alike.

Aideen Barry is a visual artist working in performance, film, musical composition, drawing and animation media. In 2009 her work was exhibited at: the Wexner Centre Ohio; The Butler Gallery, Kilkenny; The Redhouse Arts Centre, Syracuse N.Y. In 2008 She was awarded funding from the Arts Council of Ireland’s Projects: New Work Award 2008 – 2009. Other awards for her work include the top prize at Claremorris Open 2004. Recent residencies include: the Artists Residency at the Kennedy Space Centre (2008) and Banff Centre Canada (2007). Barry is a recipient of the 2010 Arts Council of Ireland Bursary Awards, and is currently working on a project funded by the New Works Award from the Arts Council of Ireland. She lives and works in Galway Ireland. www.aideenbarry.com

Niamh McDonnell is a researcher of digital media, investigating the aesthetics and epistemology of practices around computer based technologies. Her approach draws upon an interdisciplinary background, combining an undergraduate degree in fine art with experience in multi-media arts practice and more recently, an academic education in cultural studies and philosophy. Since her doctorate in philosophy on the work of the contemporary thinker Gilles Deleuze, at Goldsmiths University, London, her most recent project was to act as co-editor and contributor to a reader on The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque, published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. A recent resident at the Digital Arts Studios, Belfast, she is associate researcher with the Centre for Applied Virtuality, within the computer aided architectural design department at the University of Technology in Zurich. Her current project “on-off-states”, is based on collecting points of view of the city in digital images and sounds and explores ways of mapping forms onto each other to producing abstract cityscapes. www.on-off-states.co.uk

Aoife Collins’ interdisciplinary practice is shaped by recurrent themes of permutation, multiplicity, cultural paraphernalia and mass identification. Works are made out of existing materials and in her attempt to open up the realm of possibility, the artist pays close attention to the ability of objects to role-play and the extent of their mutability. In 2002 Aoife earned a B.A. from National College of Art & Design, Dublin followed in 2004 by an M.A., Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. In 2006 she completed a residency at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Selected exhibitions include: Lost in your eyes, Form Content, London; Wet eye, Location One, New York; Culture clash, Working Rooms, London; Comfort burn, Artspace, Buffalo; Phoenix park, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin; Eva, Limerick; Prelapsarian/here-and-now/postlapsarian, Goethe Institute, Dublin; Perspective, Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast and Permaculture, Project Gallery, Dublin. She is currently undertaking a residency at the IMMA Artists Residency Programme, Dublin.

VAI Info Session & Help Desk
Thursday 5th August (2pm) Free
Representatives from VAI will respond to the most frequently asked questions from artists which arrive in the helpdesk section of their website www.visualartists.ie Artists will propose questions they would like to have answered relating to a career in the visual arts and will be asked to register for the event and propose questions in advance

Alternative Space
Thursday 12th August (5pm) Free (Refreshments Provided)
An opportunity to hear about alternative approaches to exhibiting and curating in Belfast. This informal discussion will include short presentations by representatives of Adhoc, Space Delawab, Shac Residence, The Joinery, The Good Hatchery and Brown & Bri. There will be time at the end of the event to meet and talk.

Booking
All events are free and take place at Ormeau Baths Gallery.
However booking is required, to book contact:
Ciara Hickey / Education Officer, Ormeau Baths Gallery
E: CHickey@ormeaubaths.co.uk
T: 028 903 21402

Further details of our Autumn Winter Programme in partnership with the National Sculpture Factory, running in Dublin and Cork, will be available shortly.