Visual Artist in Residence – An Táin Arts Centre, Dundalk

Summer 2022 Residency

Lijuan McQuillan was born in China and has lived in Ireland for almost twenty years. Based in outskirts of Drogheda, she is working on her artistic practice as an oil painter and print maker. Lijuan’s life has shifted from Eastern Asian to Western European, as well as her career from health care profession to artist due to health issues several years ago. She has been interested in art and creative practices since she was very young, and her interests have grown and developed immensely since she opted to take her Bachelor Degree in Fine Art (Honours) from Technological University Dublin (TUD).

Lijuan is interested in painting’s ability to connect with day-to-day life. Her paintings bring together her diverse past experiences of living in China and her present experience of living in Ireland. Her art not only translates experiences across space and time, but also enhances her own identity, and highlights the complex relationship of Western European and Asian identities.

Lijuan intends to stimulate the viewers imagination by featuring subjective story-telling through the body of realistic and surrealistic art works, with their aesthetic beauty, saturated colours, and the stories that unfold on their canvases.

During her time studying in Technological University Dublin, Lijuan won the Mont Kavanagh Scholarship, an award to support and recognise talented and committed students. She graduated as the recipient of the Evan’s Graduate Award and Best Studentship Award. She is also the winner of the Agility Award of Arts Council Ireland. Lijuan’s work has been collected by the Contemporary Irish Art Society (CIAS), the International Office of TU Dublin and private collectors. Lijuan has also exhibited her works in the Ireland Institute Dublin, Arklow Library and the United Arts Club (UAC).

Exhibition | Basement Gallery | TBC
Lijuan is in residence in the Basement Gallery studio during July, August and September 2022.
Follow her progress on Facebook @lijuan.mcquillan , on Twitter @LijuanMcQuillan & on Instagram @lijuanmcquillan #antainartists

Summer 2021 Residency

Suzanne Carroll is a visual artist specialising in drawing and painting. Suzanne’s practice involves the mining of forgotten or hidden historical archives. Questioning her findings through a contemporary lens, her paintings explore themes of place, time and female identity. Suzanne is graduating in June from NCAD, with a Joint (hons) degree in Fine Art and Critical Culture. https://suzannecarrollart.com/ “In my artistic practice, I am interested in how the memories we choose to recall and the memories we choose to forget, shape our own personal narrative. What historical novelist Hillary Mantel refers to as “the scaffolding we build to hold our lives together”. Part of this scaffolding is the importance we sometimes bestow on inanimate objects; and how we imbue these objects with memory and meaning and become attached to them. During my residency in An Táin Arts Centre I hope to explore this idea further. By reaching out to local people who have emigrated and/or to people who have come to Ireland in the hope of making a new life in here. What are the inanimate, often everyday objects that are intrinsically linked with memories of home? In response to these discussions I plan to make some new work that I intend to include in my solo exhibition in September.”

Exhibition | Basement Gallery | 9th September – 2nd October
Suzanne was in residence in the Basement Gallery studio during July, August and September 2021.
Follow her progress on Instagram @suzanne_carroll_ #antainartists

Summer 2020 Residency

Ceramic artist and facilitator Etaoin O’Reilly was An Táin Arts Centre’s artist in residence for 2020. Etaoin is a graduate of NCAD (2014), and of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland’s Ceramics Skills and Design Course (2016). She is also a former artist in residence at NCAD (2016) and LSAD (2018). Etaoin hopes to explore the fading industry and skills of bone china factory workers, with an exhibition of new works and open studio planned for the month of September. “When I was studying pottery I attended the British ceramics biennial, while I was there I became fascinated by the work of Neil Brownsword. The piece was called “Factory”. It highlighted a very interesting topic of the bone china flower makers fading away. I think it is critical in ceramics to pass on our skills to the next generation. I am starting a residency in An Tain Art Centre, where I will be making pieces to symbolise my hope that this beautiful technique will thrive. I will be making traditional pottery shapes, such as teapots, vases and storage jars. Then I will be hand building bunches of flowers in ceramics and attaching them to the form. The idea is that the flowers will be bursting out of the piece, this symbolises that the flowers will always thrive in any environment. I want people to come and join in with making ceramic flowers, and have a go on the pottery wheel. I would like to introduce people to the techniques of ceramics, and spread awareness about the ceramic craft and how it could become extinct.”

Open Studio | August | Tuesday – Thursday, 10.00 – 13.00 & 13.30 – 16.00
Our Visual Artist in Residence invites you to pay a visit to her open, working pottery studio in the Basement Gallery. Come watch an artist at work!

Exhibition | The Thriving Flower Basement Gallery | 5th – 26th September See the streamed launch here!
Etaoin was in residence in the Basement Gallery studio during July, August and September 2020.
Follow her progress on Instagram @etaoinoreillyceramic #antainartists

Summer 2019 Residency

Rozzi Kennedy is an emerging artist from South Armagh and a proud graduate of the painting department at Limerick School of Art and Design. She has exhibited in selected, curated shows within Ireland and her drawing ‘Devil Shack’ was purchased by Limerick City Gallery of Art. Her first solo show – a series of paintings and collages rooted in her South Armagh landscape was exhibited during 2018 at The Alley Art Gallery, Strabane, with support from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland SIAP awards. She is keen to develop a community-engaged practice. During the residency, Rozzi’s collaborated with people living with dementia and their loved ones to produce art in a safe, social and comfortable environment where participants can express themselves openly. She hopes the process will evoke some great memories and emotions. Rozzi was in residence in the Basement Gallery studio during July, August and September 2019.

Follow her progress on Instagram @rozzikennedy #antainartists Funded by Creative Ireland

Summer 2018 Residency

Sean McGuill is a visual artist from Dundalk. He recently graduated with a degree in Printmaking and Contemporary Practice from Limerick School of Art and Design. His artistic practice comes from observing and engaging with society and popular culture. Sean’s work has been exhibited in a number of locations across Ireland and was recently featured in group exhibitions in Galway Arts Centre and Louth County Museum as well as Kunsthaus LA54 in Berlin. His work has been selected for various awards including the John Shinnors Selection at the 2017 LSAD Drawing Awards, as well as the Limerick Lace Drawing Award in 2016 and the LSAD Drawing Awards in 2015. He was shortlisted for the 2017 Hennessy Portrait Prize for his self-portrait and included in the exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland.

Sean’s Open Studio in the Basement gallery was held 3rd – 29th September – INFO HERE
Follow his progress on Instagram @seanmcguillart #antainartists

Visual Artist in Residence Blogposts
August 2018 | Blogpost #1
September 2018 | Blogpost #2
December 2018 | Blogpost #3

Summer 2017 Residency

Roseann Berrill grew up and is currently living in Dundalk, Co. Louth, having recently graduated from the National College of Art and Design (2016) with an honours degree in textile design. Roseann has a strong interest in many areas of textiles, including interiors, fashion and applied arts. Her work techniques include embroidery, illustration, fabric manipulation, mixed media and print. Roseann’s work tends to be somewhat improvised, working and experimenting, having one thing leading into another with free association. A wash of colour and ink, a pen line, strategically placed embroidery. The tactile quality of her work is as important as the visual qualities. Themes of her work include preservation, memory, behaviours, social acceptance, living in a media dominate world, and many more. Roseann aims to work with the community in her residency, to create a collection of art, installation pieces, interactive art, land art or a combination of all or some of these, and to encourage creative and educational experiences in a collaborative setting. “Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in it’s course. It will go it’s own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices.” – Sheng-yen, Chinese Buddhist Monk.

Roseann was in residence in the Basement Gallery studio July, August and September 2017.
Roseann’s exhibition ‘Follow the Stream’ ran from 1st – 30th September in the Basement Gallery.
Follow her progress on Instagram @rosieberrill #antainartists

Visual Artist in Residence Blogposts
August 2017 | Blogpost #1 – What does textiles mean to you?
September 2017 | Blogpost #2 – I think I’m turning Japanese
September 2017 | Blogpost #3 – My girls
September 2017 | Blogpost #4 – Tanabata
September 2017 | Blogpost #5 – Exhibition space
September 2017 | Blogpost #6 – Fear of the white page
September 2017 | Blogpost #7 – Visual Artists Ireland Get Together
October 2017 | Blogpost #8 – Reflection

Summer 2016 Residency

Úna Curley, mixed media artist, grew up in Kerry but is now based in Carrickmacross. She studied at NCAD and graduated with a first class (hons) degree in Textile Art and Artefact. This was the culmination of a long journey of exploring art as a language of expression. Having previously attained a BA (Hons) Mgt from the IMI and an MSc Communication from Queens University, Úna was still curious about the intent or meaning beyond words; in particular, the complexities of stories, concepts, words, thoughts and feelings and the expression thereof. The initial exploration took her to Drogheda Institute of Further Education to explore the field of artistic expression through various materials, such as paint/wood/textiles, and immediately she was hooked. Her affinity with textiles and fabric manipulation led to a level 6 qualification in Fashion Design and a chance to study at NCAD under the excellent tutelage of Dr Helen McAllister and Nigel Cheney. Through textiles and found objects Úna explores our heritage, craft skills and materials for inspiration, and her mixed media pieces are quirky, thought provoking and question our relationship with ourselves and the environment as well as raise awareness of issues such as injustice, the worryingly fast pace of living, rate of consumption and subsequent waste. During her residency with An Táin Arts Centre Úna explored the rich heritage of County Louth for inspiration and idea development. Through collaboration and community involvement she created new works and presented Mi Camino a Través del Arte in the main gallery space during August and September.

Úna was in residence in the Basement Gallery studio during July, August and September 2016.
Follow her progress on Twitter @una_curley #antainartists

Visual Artist in Residence Blogposts
August 4th 2016 | A Suitcase Full of Curiosities and the Mark of a Maker’s Hand
August 10th 2016 | The Shadow Side of Labels
August 17th 2016 | Textile Metaphors
August 30th 2016 | Louth Heritage and Mi Camino a Través del Arte Exhibition
September 16th 2016 | An Artist/Maker/Designer and a fire-lighting stick…
September 29th 2016 | I will not be boxed
October 3rd 2016 | Artist Residency – to do or not to do!