Echoes, the MTU Student Engagement Exhibition 2023, selected by student representatives and MTU Arts Office, presents graduating artists from MTU Crawford College of Art & Design who’s work addresses issues important to students and an evolving society. 

Exhibition features artworks by recent graduates from 2024 BA Hons at the MTU Crawford College of Art & Design: Karina Bergin Maher, BA Hons Fine Art; Clare Brennan, BA Hons Fine Art; Alice Buckley Healy, BA Hons Fine Art; Ebon Creedon, BA Hons Fine Art; Kathy Cronin, BA Hons Fine Art; Eimear Donoughue, BA Hons Visual Communications; Caoimhe Moore, BA Hons Fine Art; Aron O'Connell, BA Hons Fine Art; Adam O'Lomasney, BA Hons Fine Art; Joanne O'Mahony, BA Hons Contemporary Applied Art; Ailbhe Reilly Tuite, BA Hons Fine Art; Jonathan Stack,  BA Hons Fine Art; and Zoe Velthuysen,  BA Hons Fine Art.

Promotional Material Designed by Marlene Borkert, BA Hons Visual Communication. 

Presented by MTU Arts Office, AnSEO Student Engagement Office  and MTU Cork Students Union, this exhibition showcases a diverse selection of artists who engage with social, cultural and environmental issues through drawing, painting, print, glass, photography, sculpture and design.

GALLERY GUIDE

About Artists & Designers:

CLARE BRENNAN

Artist Statement

I am a multidisciplinary artist specialising in cut-out silhouettes, delving into the nuanced interplay between absence and presence within the realm of childhood memories.

My artistic process involves a deliberate fusion of acrylics, markers, pencil and Perspex, often applied to commonplace materials such as cardboard and mountboard. Central to my creative expression is the transformative utilisation of Perspex and translucent materials, which transcend their conventional roles as surfaces, seamlessly integrating into the broader narrative. The act of cutting out the silhouettes plays a pivotal role in my artistic practice, affording me the opportunity to construct immersive landscapes that beckon viewers to physically engage with the created environment.

My work extends an invitation to viewers to explore the dimensions of memory.

ALICE BUCKLEY HEALY

Artist Statement

My art practice focuses on censorship, distortion, and image appropriation. This work responds to overstimulation caused by the magnitude of the internet using cut-up images from online culture, glossy magazines, and ephemera. Through the lens of ‘Glitch Feminism’* I tackle the overconsumption of social media and internet aesthetics in the contemporary world. I use processes such as collage, scanning and image manipulation to distort their appearances further to represent the internet’s transitory qualities. Warped figures, like digital glitches, can be portals to liberation. They defy the constraints of reality allowing us to transcend our ordinary existence. These figures symbolize the myriad selves we inhabit simultaneously, the kaleidoscope of identities that shift and merge as we navigate life’s complexities. In their distortion, we can find freedom, a dance between chaos and order where boundaries blur and new possibilities emerge.

*A manifesto by Legacy Russell that explores how the internet and its glitches can be used as tools for liberation, finding identity, and positions in the world

CAMILLA CORTI

ARTIST STATEMENT

My practice is based on multiculturalism in border territories. I focus on how cultural and national identity collide and merge through visual language. In my practice I elaborate on the idea of the “homeland”, it being a physical territory or an ethnic community. Using inherently domestic crafts such as embroidery and weaving, contrasting with industrial material such as metal and nails, my aim is to contemporize century old practices. The use of heraldic animals, nationalistic symbols and folkloristic figures within the textile work blurs the line between the public and the personal sphere. Using the performative aspect of skills passed down through family heritage I engage in social/political commentary. I want to examine that cultural identity is by far more complex than the language one speaks or the location one lives in, and that the merging of said cultures enriches all parties involved if conflict is actively avoided.

EBON CREEDON

Artist Statements

My oil paintings feature depictions of the Irish landscape, placed alongside religious elements. Referencing personal religious objects, and Catholic iconography, combined with images of the Macroom landscape, which is where I grew up, my work aims to explore the shift in societal attitudes towards religion and Catholicism in Ireland in recent years.

I am interested in the changing nature of religion in Ireland, and how it has evolved in recent decades. I take inspiration from the extreme prevalence of Catholicism in Ireland, and the changing attitudes towards the church, and its values itself.

Focusing on religious elements that are commonly seen in Ireland, including religious statues, grottos and churches, specifically those seen in Macroom. These serve as clear reminders of Ireland’s deep-rooted connection to Catholicism, and reflect the influence it has had in shaping the values, and landscape of Ireland.

KATHY CRONIN

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Artist Statement

My practice investigates human displacement through the curatorial phrasing of my acrylic paintings as dwellings. Where ten compositionally interconnected figure paintings once stood together to convey a homestead through my installation piece Dwelling Place, they have since become fractured. Now, the pieces are exhibited in fragments of their initial curation, rupturing the unity and closure afforded to the installation and further echoing themes of diaspora by manifesting the works in unfamiliar territories where they seek reunification amidst exodus.

Historically used in transporting goods but also prominent within construction, the hessian material on which I ground my practice plays a vital role in simultaneously addressing the parallel concerns of displacement and the domestic space. Through the unorthodox phrasings of considered materials, my work disrupts preconceptions of painting. This deconstruction nurtures an authentic search for a representation of the maternal home that transcends physical realisation and pursues a holistic essence of familial sanctuary.

My figurative paintings embrace visible brushstroke and overlapping composition to resist the stagnancy of refinement, thus infusing the work with a sense of vitality. The large scale renditions of my family members become surrogates to my explorations, embodying the tender, liminal moments of the everyday.

I draw on sacred texts for inspiration, allowing the ancient allegories of the Old Testament to flow through my work into a secular, contemporary context.

Artist Bio:

Kathy Cronin was born and raised in rural Kerry before graduating from the Crawford College of Art and Design with a first class honours in Fine Art. Her upbringing in a multi-cultural household has nurtured a search for the essence of familial sanctuary transcending physical space. Through painting, she articulates the perseverance of home amidst intergenerational diaspora, drawing on the lived experience of the matriarchs in her family to reinterpret biblical narratives.

Cronin was awarded a painting residency in the Crawford College due to commence in September 2024 and holds memberships with Friends of Crawford Art Gallery, Cork Craft and Design and the Backwater Artist’s Network. Her work has received recognition through an Eli Lilly purchase prize, a place in the EMERGE group exhibition taking place in August 2024 at the 46 Grand Parade Gallery and will be featured in the MTU Student Engagement Exhibition in the James Barry Centre due to open on the 9^th September.

EIMEAR DONOGHUE

Artist Statement

Hello, I'm Eimear, passionate about meaningful design in brand identity, packaging, illustration, and promotion. Guided by collaborative, adaptive, and inclusive values, I aim to foster connections with diverse audiences. My final year project tackles imposter syndrome among junior graphic designers, aiming to empower individuals by showcasing shared experiences and offering support. Through collaboration and inclusivity, I strive to inspire confidence and solidarity within the design community, fostering mutual support and growth.

KARINA BERGIN MAHER

Artist Statement

My work is primarily a process of reciprocation. I explore grief through feelings of anger, isolation, and dissociation. In turn, I create installations using mark-making, photography, and mixed media as a grieving response. I make abstract paintings with text that represents a person’s inner thoughts. I mainly use the colours red and black which can symbolize death and anger in Western cultures. I also incorporate fragments of portraiture photography and collage. I embody these approaches in my installations to convey various emotions.

Through these responses, I seek to better understand the pain of loss. Even if it's bleak and violent, I enjoy capturing the rawness of these experiences.

CAOIMHE MOORE

Artist Statement

Through drawing practice I encapsulate my personal experience of anxiety through an exploration of the continual dismissal of women’s mental health issues.

I explore this theme in a direct and immediate way, through my process, which prominently utilities pencils and ink on paper. Each stroke serves as a visual narrative, inviting the viewer to engage with the emotional intricacies within the layers of my work. By exploring the intersection of realism and abstraction, I aim to provoke reflection on the pervasive dismissal of women’s mental health concerns, an area often obscured by stigma.

Works by female artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Kiki Smith and Rachel Goodyear, especially their drawing practice, influence my methodology and approach.

ARON O’CONNELL

Artist Statement

My work connects through personal and collective memory. I create installations consisting of textile structures, video and sound elements. My inspiration comes from music, sports and films that I connect with memories of friends and family. My art brings the viewer into a space that can trigger memories through the textures of fabric, the motion of people, sounds from the world. These installations reference organic structures, collective organisms and how they can communicate with one another.

ADAM O LOMASNEY

Artist Statement

My work explores the distortion of reality using unnerving and dreamlike imagery. Working with different Lovecraftian stagings and environments, I utilize forces such as water, earth, fire and starlight to amplify feeling. Through my film Acquiesce I thread ideas of mental fragility using symbols and imagery to show how quickly one can spiral out of reality through isolation and dissociation. I explore these themes using unorthodox soundscapes to surround the viewer in unknown states. As the themes I chose to explore are typically considered to be bleak, I attempt to portray human connections and relationships as the light at the end of the tunnel.

JOANNE O'MAHONY

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Installation view of Joanne O'Mahony's work at 2024 MTU Crawford College of Art & Designs Degree Showcase, image taken by Roland Paschoff, May 2024. 

Artist Statement

Included in this exhibition are works from my degree show in Contemporary Applied Art from MTU Crawford College of Art and Design (CCAD) in May 2024.

My creative work before I began my degree in was largely in textiles. I first completed the Special Purpose Award in Textiles in CCAD before entering the degree program. Into my studies, I brought my fascination with materials which I explored further in my degree show. That the materials used in my work went from wool and thread to glass and metal felt very natural. As I progressed in my studies, I also discovered that it is the physicality of the work that drives and inspires me.

It was to another form of physicality that I turned to for the theme for my degree show. I wanted to communicate the physical and emotional effects of living with social anxiety, and how it explains my relationship to the world as an adult. The genesis for this work came from my research for my fourth year thesis, The Virtual Grasp: electric light as a sculptural medium from 1900 to 1970. In exploring how artists first began to use light sculpturally, I saw how the use of space in art changed. This led me to examine my experience of the space around me.

To examine the tension I feel while negotiating the outside world, and my discomfort with social situations, I took inspiration from urban landscapes, finding beauty and comfort in the sharp lines of architecture. I created my own space using metal and glass. I continue to be inspired in my work to explore what I consider to be beautiful in this world rather than making something beautiful.

For my work in the degree show I received the following awards. In May 2024 I won the Glass Society of Ireland award of notable mention for excellence in glass. In August 2024, I received a commendation in the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers’ (WCGS) and Contemporary Glass Society’s (CGS) annual Graduate Glass prizes

AILBHE REILLY-TUITE

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Artist Statement

My work explores imaginary realms through installation strategies involving drawing, moving image, and sound. I am inspired by music and storytelling to create artworks which welcome the viewer into playful and contemplative journeys.
I focus on themes of the individual within a collective, exploring patterns of movement through animation and performance. I am motivated by these explorations to keep a flexible practice which can share ideas through process-based artworks.

JONATHAN STACK

Artist Statement

Jonathan Stack is a recent graduate of MTU Crawford College of Art and Design, his multidisciplinary practice encompasses drawing, painting,print, lasercut technology and artificial intelligence.His work explores Irish and queer identity through examining the idea of ritual and rites of passage in rural settings.His work is concerned with Catholicism as a system of organizing power and its legacies of shame in Ireland.The colour blue features heavily in his works, it is used as a lens to examine queer experience and as a way of making sense of the social fabric that we've inherited in Ireland.

ZOE VELTHUYSEN

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Artist Statement

In my work I explore migration, particularly the concepts of home, identity and belonging. I have explored these through maps and associated iconography. I use maps to confront the disconnection and detachment I feel about my Irish home, drawing parallels between the impersonal nature of maps and my own sense of displacement. My works stems from own experience of migration, and the effects moving from Australia to Ireland as a child has had on me. In my work, I grapple with the dissonance between map representations and lived experiences.

This exploration has culminated in work in 3D topographic maps made of metal. Starting with 2D maps of my homes, my process involves abstracting these maps to just their contour lines and reinterpreting them into steel structures. My works aim to reflect the nomadic sense of belonging experienced by many immigrants through the language maps and abstraction.

Exhibition Material Designer

Marlene Borkert

Artist Statement

Hi! My name is Marlene, a graphic designer with the mission to create unique and impactful design infused with my passion for the gentle aspects of the natural world. I aim to create unforgettable work driven by positivity and passion.

My final year project delves into the countless positive aspects of homemade food and drink, that require no more than one jar to create. It aims to showcase both physical and metaphorical benefits and embarks on a journey that transcends mere sustenance.

And then, quietly, peacefully, "We Come to Our Senses"