A new series of oral histories, led by Donal Maguire, curator of the Gallery's ESB CSIA, documenting some of the experiences and thoughts of artists living and working through the COVID-19 emergency.

Oral histories are a unique record of an individual’s personal thoughts and experiences. They are a valuable source of knowledge for researchers, providing insight and connection to a person’s life and character.

The ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art, at the National Gallery of Ireland, builds, cares for and makes available the national record of art in Ireland for public study and interpretation. Oral histories are a type of archival record and form an interesting part of the ESB CSIA’s collection. In recognizing the significant impact of COVID-19, the ESB CSIA is carrying out a series of short conversations with artists to document some of their experiences and thoughts of living and working through the pandemic.

These conversations, led by Donal Maguire, Curator of the ESB CSIA, were recorded using technology that is conveniently available to the artist. The use of commonplace technologies for this project reflects the more general and increasing significance of these platforms for everyday communication.

The ESB CSIA acknowledges the generosity of the artists for agreeing to talk about their life and work during this uncertain time.

This oral history project has been generously supported by ESB, sponsor of the ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art

Artists' Voices: Life in a Pandemic

listen 1

Aine Phillips (writer, curator and multi-media performance artist) presenting some of the research for her book Performance Art in Ireland: A History which examines the evolving practice and challenges of writing and researching Irish performance art, and how this informs new art historical studies of contemporary performance and live art both nationally and internationally.

This talk took place on Saturday 17 January 2015, IMMA

Performance Art in Ireland: A History

To mark the final day of the Gerda Frömel exhibition at IMMA, renowned art historian and curator Frances Morris (Director of Collection, International Art, Tate Modern, UK) reflects on her extensive research on post war art and examines how this time of vast turmoil and vigorous creativity continues to influence artistic practice of the last decades.  Conversation moderated by Seán Kissane (IMMA)                                                                            
                                                                                               
This talk took place 5 July 2015 at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin.



Post War Art and Existentialism,Gerda Fromel: Frances Morris

Willie Doherty addresses ongoing themes of memory and place in his acclaimed lens based practice and film, Remains, 2013, a recent acquisition to the IMMA Collection and presented in the galleries. 

This fictitious film is based on real events and the locations of punishment shootings in 2012 in Derry by the dissident Republican group Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD). Revealing how ‘place’ inscribes the social, the political, and the historical, Remains is a potent portrayal of the generational nature of conflict and its vicious circle.  

Further Information
Willie Doherty was born in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1959. He lives in County Donegal and continues to work in Derry. Since the early 1990s, he has had numerous international solo exhibitions, including the Stadtische Galerie in Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich and Hamburger Kunstverein, Hamburg; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas; The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City; The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; The Renaissance Society, Chicago, Illinois. In 2007 he represented Northern Ireland at the 52nd Venice Biennale. His work has been presented in prestigious international group exhibitions, including dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel, Germany, 2012; Manifesta 8, Murcia, Spain, 2010; 51st Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, 2005; 8th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey, 2003; 25th Sao Paulo Biennial, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2002; and Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, PA,1999.  He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize twice, in 1994 and 2003, and was awarded a DAAD residency, Berlin, 1999. He joined the University of Ulster in 1998, and has been Professor of Video Art since 2000

Art | Memory | Place is a year-long programme of talks and events taking place over the course of 2015-16 in the context of the ‘decade of centenaries.’ Focusing on artists whose work addresses themes relating to memory and place, the purpose of this programme is to broaden and deepen the current discussion about the subject of remembrance and commemoration and to take account of such work.

This talk took place on 21 September 2017 at IMMA.

Image Credits : Remains (Along the Wall) 2013, Colour photographs, c-type photograph, 120 × 160 cm / 47 × 63 in edition of 3.

Art Memory Place

Art Memory Place: Willie Doherty - Remains, 2017

Daphne Wright, artist and exhibition curator of The Ethics of Scrutiny joins Angela Griffith,  The Irish Art Research Centre, Trinity College Dublin, in a conversation that explore Wright's role as curator, her response to the work of Lucian Freud and her own artistic practice. The Ethics of Scrutiny, curated by artist Daphne Wright, is the second exhibition to be presented as part of the IMMA Collection: Freud Project - a five-year loan of 52 works by renowned artist Lucian Freud (1922-2011). 

This artist's discussion is introduced by Christina Kennedy, Head of Collections, IMMA. The event coincides with  ‘Shadows and Lights; Women in Irish Visual Culture’ discussion series, now in it's seventh year and is a key feature of the Department of History of Art and Architecture and TRIARC outreach programme. Presented in conjunction with the IMMA & TCD TRIARC Lucian Freud Talk Series October 2017 to April 2018.

FURTHER INFORMATION
IMMA Collection: Freud Project:  The Ethics of Scrutiny, Curated by Daphne Wright                        

The Ethics of Scrutiny places Freud’s paintings alongside the work of writers Emily Dickinson, John Berger and Lydia Davis, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, and artists Gwen John, Kathy Prendergast, Wiebke Siem, Marlene Dumas and Thomas Schütte, The Ethics of Scrutiny calls into question how we see ourselves, how our gazes fall onto one another, and importantly how our identities shift over the cycle of time. The exhibition sees the addition of two major works by Freud, Two Brothers from Ulster, 2001, and Man in a Silver Suit, 1998.

About Speakers
Daphne Wright, born 1963, Ireland is represented by Frith Street Gallery, London, and was elected as a member of the Aosdána, in 2011. She lives and works in Dublin and Bristol. Wright has exhibited extensively in England and Ireland since 1994, with solo exhibitions at many venues including, Where Do Broken Hearts Go, Douglas Hyde Gallery, 2002, Nonsense with Death, Sligo Art Gallery, 2001, and Daphne Wright, Limerick City Art Gallery, 2006, Cornerhouse, Manchester, 1994, The New Art Centre Sculpture Park and Gallery and The Lowry, 2001. She has also participated in various group exhibitions at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2008, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 2000, P.S.1, New York, 1999, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, 1997, and Tate Liverpool, 1995. Commissions include Ham House, Trust New Art, Hanbury House, Worcester and Carlow County Council, South Tipperary County Council and Cork City Council. Works by the artist are held in the following collections: Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Rhode Island School of Design Museum; Towner Art Gallery, Sussex and private collections in Ireland and the UK. Further information here.
Dr Angela Griffith is Assistant professor, Department of the History of Art, Trinity College Dublin. Her current research focuses on the history, contexts and theories of the printed image in Britain and Ireland from the beginnings of modernist fine art printmaking to contemporary multidisciplinary print practices. Selected publications include  ‘To-morrow’s artist: Cecil ffrench Salkeld and an Irish modernist periodical’, in P. Coleman, K. Milligan and N. O’Donnell, eds. BLAST at 100, (Leiden: Brill, 2017),  "Extra, Extra, read all about it ..." negotiating printmaking in the Post-Print Age: imPRESS a perspective from Ireland' in imPRESS [noun - the act of marking a mark or leaving an impression] (Cork, 2017) And she is co-editor and contributor with Roisin Kennedy & Marguerite Helmers of Harry Clarke & Artistic Visions of the New Irish State, forthcoming from Irish Academic Press. 

This talk took place on Saturday 10 March 2018, at the Robert Emmet Hall, TCD

Image Credit: Marlene Dumas / Kissing the Floor, 2014 / Watercolour on paper / 27 x 22 cm / Private Collection, London. Courtesy of Frith Street Gallery.

The Ethics of Scrutiny

IMMA & TCD - TRIARC / LUCIAN FREUD TALK SERIES - Daphne Wright & Angela Griffith

Christina Kennedy, Head of Collections, IMMA, presents an insightful walk-through of the exhibition Life Above Everything: Lucian Freud and Jack B.  This talk is is part of our informal curator’s talk series, where an IMMA curator who has worked on a particular exhibition will guide you through a short walkthrough of the work, highlighting key pieces of interest. In most cases the curator will have worked directly with the artist, or their estate, and can provide a fascinating insight into the artist’s practice, and the overall process of exhibition making at IMMA.

Reference Only: Due to the informal and conversational nature of gallery based talks, some of this recording might be inaudible in parts.

About IMMA Exhibition
Life above Everything is a major exhibition that brings together the work of two acknowledged masters, Lucian Freud and Jack B. Yeats. Exploring the affinities and interconnections between these two artists, this exhibition draws the work of these two stubbornly individual painters into dialogue, placing them side-by-side for the first time in 70 years.

This talk took place on 12 July 2019.
Image Credits: Jack B. Yeats, White Shower, 1928 © Estate of Jack B. Yeats, DACS London / IVARO Dublin, 2018. Image courtesy of The Model, home of The Niland Collection.

IMMA Freud Project, Life above Everything, Freud, Yeats

Curators Talk / Christina Kennedy: Life Above Everything: Lucian Freud and Jack B. Yeats

Episode 1 of a new series of oral histories, led by Donal Maguire, curator of the Gallery's ESB CSIA, documenting some of the experiences and thoughts of artists living and working through the COVID-19 emergency.

In this first conversation, Nick Miller discusses his work, including 'From Pat Cogan’s Shed' , and talks about aspects of his life during the COVID-19 emergency. This conversation was recorded on 8 May 2020.

Born in London, Nick Miller moved to Ireland in 1984 and now lives and works in Sligo. He is a painter who works in the genres of portraiture, still life and landscape. Focusing primarily on local subjects, including the rural landscape of north-west Ireland, he has developed a vigorous painting technique that merges representation and expressionism. He was the winner of the National Gallery of Ireland’s inaugural portrait prize in 2014.

About Artists' Voices: Life in a Pandemic:
Oral histories are a unique record of an individual’s personal thoughts and experiences. They are a valuable source of knowledge for researchers, providing insight and connection to a person’s life and character.

The ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art, at the National Gallery of Ireland, builds, cares for and makes available the national record of art in Ireland for public study and interpretation. Oral histories are a type of archival record and form an interesting part of the ESB CSIA’s collection. In recognizing the significant impact of COVID-19, the ESB CSIA is carrying out a series of short conversations with artists to document some of their experiences and thoughts of living and working through the pandemic.

These conversations, led by Donal Maguire, Curator of the ESB CSIA, were recorded using technology that is conveniently available to the artist. The use of commonplace technologies for this project reflects the more general and increasing significance of these platforms for everyday communication.

The ESB CSIA acknowledges the generosity of the artists for agreeing to talk about their life and work during this uncertain time.

This oral history project has been generously supported by ESB, sponsor of the ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art

Artists' Voices: Life in a Pandemic | Nick Miller in conversation from his studio in County Sligo

Episode 2 of a new series of oral histories, led by Donal Maguire, curator of the Gallery's ESB CSIA, documenting some of the experiences and thoughts of artists living and working through the COVID-19 emergency.

In this second episode, Amelia Stein discusses her approach to photographing the landscape, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on her practice. This conversation was recorded on 1 May 2020. The artist dedicates this recording to the memory of Ailbhe Garvin.

Born in Dublin, Amelia Stein lives and works between Dublin City and the Erris region of north-west Mayo. She is a photographer who focuses primarily on portraiture and landscape. Her collections include portraits of artists and aspects of the landscape and coastline of north Mayo.

About Artists' Voices: Life in a Pandemic:
Oral histories are a unique record of an individual’s personal thoughts and experiences. They are a valuable source of knowledge for researchers, providing insight and connection to a person’s life and character.

The ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art, at the National Gallery of Ireland, builds, cares for and makes available the national record of art in Ireland for public study and interpretation. Oral histories are a type of archival record and form an interesting part of the ESB CSIA’s collection. In recognizing the significant impact of COVID-19, the ESB CSIA is carrying out a series of short conversations with artists to document some of their experiences and thoughts of living and working through the pandemic.

These conversations, led by Donal Maguire, Curator of the ESB CSIA, were recorded using technology that is conveniently available to the artist. The use of commonplace technologies for this project reflects the more general and increasing significance of these platforms for everyday communication.

The ESB CSIA acknowledges the generosity of the artists for agreeing to talk about their life and work during this uncertain time.

This oral history project has been generously supported by ESB, sponsor of the ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art

Artists' Voices: Life in a Pandemic | Amelia Stein in conversation from County Mayo

Episode 3 of a new series of oral histories, led by Donal Maguire, curator of the Gallery's ESB CSIA, documenting some of the experiences and thoughts of artists living and working through the COVID-19 emergency.

In this episode, artist Kathy Prendergast talks about her life in London during the COVID-19 pandemic and aspects of her ongoing work. This conversation was recorded on 24 April 2020.

Born in Dublin, Prendergast lives and works in London. Over the past four decades she has developed a sophisticated and critically acclaimed art practice across various disciplines including installation art, sculpture, drawing, photography and video.

About Artists' Voices: Life in a Pandemic:
Oral histories are a unique record of an individual’s personal thoughts and experiences. They are a valuable source of knowledge for researchers, providing insight and connection to a person’s life and character.

The ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art, at the National Gallery of Ireland, builds, cares for and makes available the national record of art in Ireland for public study and interpretation. Oral histories are a type of archival record and form an interesting part of the ESB CSIA’s collection. In recognizing the significant impact of COVID-19, the ESB CSIA is carrying out a series of short conversations with artists to document some of their experiences and thoughts of living and working through the pandemic.

These conversations, led by Donal Maguire, Curator of the ESB CSIA, were recorded using technology that is conveniently available to the artist. The use of commonplace technologies for this project reflects the more general and increasing significance of these platforms for everyday communication.

The ESB CSIA acknowledges the generosity of the artists for agreeing to talk about their life and work during this uncertain time.

This oral history project has been generously supported by ESB, sponsor of the ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art

Photo credit: 12 Star Gallery, London

Artists' Voices: Life in a Pandemic | Kathy Prendergast in conversation from her home in London City

Episode 4 of a new series of oral histories, led by Donal Maguire, curator of the Gallery's ESB CSIA, documenting some of the experiences and thoughts of artists living and working through the COVID-19 emergency.

In episode 4, artist Dorothy Cross discusses her life in Connemara and her works Ghost Ship (1999), Shark Heart Submarine (2011), and Heartship (2019). This conversation was recorded on 15 May 2020.

Born in Cork, Dorothy Cross lives and works in Connemara, County Galway. Over the past forty years she has developed a critically acclaimed, multidisciplinary art practice that combines elements of sculpture, installation, photography, video and drawing. Cross’s works explore relationships between living beings and the natural world.

About Artists' Voices: Life in a Pandemic:
Oral histories are a unique record of an individual’s personal thoughts and experiences. They are a valuable source of knowledge for researchers, providing insight and connection to a person’s life and character.

The ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art, at the National Gallery of Ireland, builds, cares for and makes available the national record of art in Ireland for public study and interpretation. Oral histories are a type of archival record and form an interesting part of the ESB CSIA’s collection. In recognizing the significant impact of COVID-19, the ESB CSIA is carrying out a series of short conversations with artists to document some of their experiences and thoughts of living and working through the pandemic.

These conversations, led by Donal Maguire, Curator of the ESB CSIA, were recorded using technology that is conveniently available to the artist. The use of commonplace technologies for this project reflects the more general and increasing significance of these platforms for everyday communication.

The ESB CSIA acknowledges the generosity of the artists for agreeing to talk about their life and work during this uncertain time.

This oral history project has been generously supported by ESB, sponsor of the ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art

Image: Courtesy Kerlin Gallery. Photographer: Sue Flood

Artists' Voices: Life in a Pandemic | Dorothy Cross in conversation from her home in Connemara

Episode 5 of a new series of oral histories, led by Donal Maguire, curator of the Gallery's ESB CSIA, documenting some of the experiences and thoughts of artists living and working through the COVID-19 emergency.

In this episode, artist Mairead O’hEocha discusses her current work and painting during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. This conversation was recorded on 22 May 2020.

Born in Dublin, Mairead O’hEocha lives and works in Dublin’s city centre. She is a painter and tends to work in series, focusing often on sets of seemingly unremarkable and disparate subjects. These allow her to explore elements of form, colour, gesture and composition, while reflecting on deeper aspects of human nature.

About Artists' Voices: Life in a Pandemic:
Oral histories are a unique record of an individual’s personal thoughts and experiences. They are a valuable source of knowledge for researchers, providing insight and connection to a person’s life and character.

The ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art, at the National Gallery of Ireland, builds, cares for and makes available the national record of art in Ireland for public study and interpretation. Oral histories are a type of archival record and form an interesting part of the ESB CSIA’s collection. In recognizing the significant impact of COVID-19, the ESB CSIA is carrying out a series of short conversations with artists to document some of their experiences and thoughts of living and working through the pandemic.

These conversations, led by Donal Maguire, Curator of the ESB CSIA, were recorded using technology that is conveniently available to the artist. The use of commonplace technologies for this project reflects the more general and increasing significance of these platforms for everyday communication.

The ESB CSIA acknowledges the generosity of the artists for agreeing to talk about their life and work during this uncertain time.

This oral history project has been generously supported by ESB, sponsor of the ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art

Photo: Sharon Blankson

Artists' Voices: Life in a Pandemic | Mairead O’hEocha in conversation from her studio in Dublin

Discussions inspired by the National Gallery of Ireland's collection and temporary exhibitions. The National Gallery of Ireland houses Ireland's national collection of Irish and European fine art, and is located in the heart of Dublin.

Artists' Voices: Life in a Pandemic | Mairead O’hEocha in conversation from her studio in Dublin

NationalGalleryOfIreland