MTU Gallery at 46 Grand Parade will host an exhibition of ceramics, photography, woodwork, and sculpture from MTU Crawford College of Art & Design Technical Staff, COMMITTMENT. This exhibition reflects their own artistic ideals and expertise, invested in both art education and their own contribution to the vibrant, cultural visual art world they work, live in.

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It is apt that the first exhibition opening in the 24/25 college year of MTU Crawford Collge of Art & Design Gallery is one by the Technical staff. These technicians are vital in the running of not only their individual departments but of the college as a whole. It is not hyperbole to say that the college literally could not open without their hard work.

As students, our interactions with the technical staff are usually along the lines of “Have you signed in?”, “Have you signed that out?”, or the question that will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life, “Have you done the induction?”. But when they can share technical knowledge with you, or a word of support, it can help transform your work.

The name of the exhibition, COMMITMENT, is a reflection of their contribution and dedication to the college and to their own artistic practice. The works displayed are as diverse as the technicians themselves, a number of whom are Crawford alums. The exhibition includes photography by Joe O’Neil (Photography Technician) and Shane Clancy (Media Communication Techinician), sculpture by Liam Rice (Woodwork Technician), Denis Lynch (1st year Technical Officer) and Tim Collins, and ceramics by Bernadette Tuite (Ceramics Technician 2023/24).

Text by Joanne O'Mahony, 2024/25 CCAD Graduate Resident at the MTU Gallery at 46 Grand Parade.

ABOUT ARTISTS:

Shane Clancy

Bio:

Shane Clancy is an artist with years of experience across multiple mediums, such as photography, music, and videography. Shane’s photography is known for capturing vivid and compelling visual images that reveal the beauty and complexity of our surroundings.

Artist Statement: 

Shane uses his camera to capture ephemeral moments in time, unveiling the diverse perspectives of the environments we inhabit. Each photograph is a strand woven into the intricate tapestry of our world, highlighting the beauty in everyday scenes and the complexity of our surroundings. With a distinct passion for landscape photography, Shane's work invites viewers to explore and experience the subtle details encased in the world around us.

Tim Collins

Tim is the Technical Officer in the Metalwork Area. He is a graduate from the Crawford College. His work is abstract, drawing on nature and past cultures. He works mainly in wood, stone and metal.

Denis Lynch

Denis Lynch was born in Cork in 1960 but spent his formative years in Ennis, Co. Clare before returning to Cork in 1980. He attended the Crawford College of Art and Design from 1980 to 1984, graduating with a degree in Fine Art/Sculpture. He moved to London for a year and after travelling to India, Nepal and Australia, he took up a post as a Technical Officer in the C.C.A.D. in 1986, where he currently works.

 His woodcarvings are an attempt to articulate the primordial forces of nature.  He believes that humanity has always attempted to articulate the world and its elemental forces through art as a medium of understanding the ineffable. Art provides a set of motifs in order to have a semblance of control, even if we know this is not the case.  He believes art remains one of our methods of survival in a universe we cannot fathom.

Liam Rice

Liam Rice trained as a carpentry/joinery and is the woodwork technician in the MTU Crawford College of Art & Design.

In his work he uses building materials and recycled timber believing everything has value. His work is largely influenced by folk and primitive artforms. He is also a photographer and is working on two projects at the moment ‘’I see patterns’ and ‘Where I live.    

Joe O' Neill

Photography Technician Joe O Neill graduated Crawford College of Art and Design 1986. Joe worked half-time as print technician from 1990-2005 and then as slide librarian 2005-2006. Since 2006 Joe has been the Photography Technician at Crawford.

Bernadette Tuite

Bio

After many years in California where Bernadette worked as a boat captain she returned to Ireland. She reinvented herself through an Art education, completing her Pottery Skills and Design Degree in Thomastown and her Applied Art Degree studies, in Cork, obtaining multiple awards. Today she works from Backwater Artist Studios in Cork city and exhibits her Ceramic work nationally and internationally.

My ceramic practice revolves around articulating my explorations by sea into hidden, inspiring sea sculpted places. Through my sculptural work I endeavour to express this beauty and vulnerability, this extraordinary dynamism of water and rock into my ceramic vessels.

Artist Statement

Through my explorations by sea along the Co. Cork coastline I venture into hidden, undervalued and undeniably beautiful places accessible only by boat. My explorations have led me not only to appreciate but question our relationship between ourselves and our surroundings. How can I encourage responsible eco-stewardship of our coastal surroundings?

I carefully map and archive my observations, gather and test materials creating a clay narrative, of my observations. I manipulate found coastal items into the individual ceramic sculptures declarative of each area. 

By integrating the found items into the sculptural piece I make visible the deep time, the eroded history, the dialog of water with rock. My observations within the littoral zone translated into sculpture gives a physical narrative from these extraordinary places to the gallery viewing public, articulating the relationship between us and our surroundings.