Interviews

Artist Una Gildea talks to Art Club! about what inspires her and what it takes to become an illustrator.

Wicklow-based artist Mary Duffy wowed Art Club with her paintings. Mary tells us how she got started and how she stays inspired.

Macnas make incredible artworks, often inspired by the land around them. They spoke to Art Club! about how they create their legendary art and why they’re so acclaimed across the world.

Clare Breen is an artist and curator based at Visual Carlow. Below she talks about her artistic inspirations and her love of cyanotype.

Fergal Brennan is an animator and educator based in Leitrim, with over 20 years’ experience of creating amazing animations. He tells us more about the inspirations behind his recent works.

Susie talks about her experience of going to life drawing class for the first time...

Dublin born, music and portrait photographer, Ruth Medjber was encouraged by her father from an early age to take photographs.

Colin Martin is an artist and teacher in Dublin who loves painting and film. He has done lots of cool projects in the art world, like working with other artists to make prints and curating art exhibitions.

Amanda is an internationally recognised and critically acclaimed artist working across the medias of live art, performance, photography and video. She is one of the most dynamic and exciting contemporary visual artist’s practicing in the arena of performance. Her extraordinary work is challenging, provocative and always visually stimulating.

Tadhg Crowley, Senior Curator at the Glucksman Museum in Cork, talks about his job of planning and putting on art projects for people of all ages and skill levels. He also talks about how important art is for communication and understanding, and gives young artists tips on how to enjoy being creative.

Aoife Dooley is an award-winning illustrator, graphic designer, author and comedian from Coolock, Dublin.

Mark Duffy is an Irish artist who lives in the UK. His photography, which often shows British politics with a sense of humour, is a way for him to explore modern issues and the power of the media.

Ola is an artist from Galway who is studying animation in IADT and loves the possibilities digital art offers. She is drawn to art with solid storytelling, strong colour choices, and exaggeration of reality.

Art can be made out of anything and anywhere, including using a wheelchair to create tracks in puddles or paint, with the resulting abstract and unique artwork reflecting the creator's personality and style.

Fatti Burke is an Irish author and illustrator who is known for her educational books for kids. She likes to make art about food, home, and animals.

Ross Carvill, a freelance illustrator from Dublin, Ireland, thinks that art's job is to create worlds beyond our own and show them to the viewer. He gets ideas from everything, like animals from faraway places and conversations with strangers on the street.

Ifeoma U. Anyaeji, a neo-traditional Nigerian artist, uses non-traditional methods to find new uses for things that have been thrown away and to document sociocultural experiences. Her work makes statements on the value-utility orientation of modernity and its effect on the environment.

Jo May is the Creative Exploration Officer at ReCreate, a social enterprise and registered charity that makes art materials and educational supplies accessible and affordable to all sectors of the community. Her job is to support people with their creative confidence and make them feel something.

Arran Murphy is a Fashion and Costume Designer/Maker and Educator who uses her skills and expertise to showcase and promote Circular Fashion as a sustainable alternative to Fast Fashion.

Offaly-based multidisciplinary artist Francesca Hutchinson examines fleeting materials and life's transience. She believes everyone should respect art because there is no right or wrong way to make it.

Laura's character design is a way for her to express herself and her view of the world. Her advice to young artists is to keep drawing and look at other people's work.

Sarah Flynn is a Fashion and Textile Designer based in Dublin, Ireland who specialises in Woven & Constructed Print Textiles. Her work explores traditional hand-woven techniques while raising awareness of the importance of traditional textiles, creating beautiful pieces that do not destroy the planet and promoting slow fashion awareness.

Will Sliney is a comic book artist who has worked for Marvel and Star Wars. He thinks that the job of his art is to tell a story, to bring a script to life in the best way possible so that the reader feels the emotions he wants them to feel while experiencing the story.

Hannah's love for space and passion for art has inspired her to paint a beautiful picture of the Earth using her mouth as she finds painting with it relaxing and a way of expressing herself, motivating others to embrace their differences and have fun painting.

Aideen Barry is a visual artist who is known both nationally and internationally. She uses performance, sculpture, film, and lens-based media to express herself, and she uses visual trickery to create a heightened suspension of reality.

Sean Corcoran is an environmental artist who works in the environment with raw materials and is best known for his sand art. He is self-taught and is constantly researching and learning new things.

James Earley is an Irish artist who makes pieces that look at power, social inequality, religion, politics, and, in the end, how cruel people can be. He is a multidisciplinary artist who focuses on concept-driven work with a focus on colour, composition, materiality, and scale.

Lockie is a sign writer, graphic designer, lettering artist, and type expert who lives in Dublin. Sign writing and painting is an art that has been around for hundreds of years. It requires skills with lettering and layout.

Ron Barrett is the head potter at Shanagarry Potters. He gets a lot of ideas from the natural world around him and makes simple, useful, and real handmade pieces that make life better.

Holly Pereira is an illustrator and muralist who lives in Dublin. She wants to find out how colour and design affect public spaces, so she makes bright, happy places where people can play.

Shane Keeling is an artist from London who is part of the group Boys Don't Cry. He uses humour and takes risks to make process-driven art and encourage conversations about men's mental health in the creative industry.

Sarah is a curatorial fellow at the National Gallery of Ireland. She does research on the gallery's permanent collection, looks for photographic works to add to the gallery's collection, and puts together exhibitions that show art in new and interesting ways.

Zahra's love of hanging flowers and painting them with cotton buds shows how art can be both relaxing and a way to show who you are.

Art is a limitless form of self-expression that allows you to create whatever you desire, without the pressure of perfection, and it is ultimately up to you to define what art means to you.

Leanne McDonagh is an artist and teacher. As the Traveller Education Coordinator for Cork Institute of Technology, she uses her art to show and record her community from the inside.

Joe Caslin is a street artist and art teacher who believes that it’s an artist’s job to try and make young people question and to think differently, and his art asks us to consider how we can become better and kinder.

Meet Yahia and his brother Adam! They love making art together and having fun while they do it.