Creatives Against Covid-19 called on the creative industry to design and donate inspiring posters to raise funds for vulnerable women and children during the current crisis.
I was honoured to take part in this initiative. The organisers went on to create an exhibition in the Guinness Storehouse, displaying over 1,000 posters of all of the graphic designers, illustrators and creatives from over 30 countries who took part. Tickets for the exhibition can be bought here.
The posters can be purchased here at A3 size, with all proceeds being donated equally between ISPCC Childline and Women’s Aid.
My submission ‘Clear Vision Ahead‘, was a play on an optician’s eye chart and offering optimism towards what we can envision ahead post quarantine. It can be purchased in the ‘Typography’ section of their website here.
Creatives Against Covid-19 Exhibition at Guinness Storehouse 1
Creatives Against Covid-19 Exhibition at Guinness Storehouse 2
Creatives Against Covid-19 Exhibition at Guinness Storehouse 3
Creatives Against Covid-19 Exhibition at Guinness Storehouse 4
Creatives Against Covid-19 Exhibition at Guinness Storehouse 5
Two Videos Displaying the Laser Cutting & Etching Process of Typography on Wood:
Video Displaying the 3D Printing Process of Icons:
DesignWest is a creative growth design program set in Letterfrack in Connemara. It is designed for creatives worldwide who have previously been through university and are established in their careers, who are now seeking to grow creatively through new experiences, being inspired and collaborating with their peers and working on projects outside of their general day to day scope. There are mentors from top design agencies such as Pentagram New York, R2 Design Portugal, Isidro Ferrer Spain and also a number of high profile Irish agencies such as Design Factory, Studio Or and Unthink.
It was a really great experience. We got to use a wide range of facilities such as letterpress printing with Sean Sills from the National Print Museum, riso printing with Studio Or, laser cutting and etching to wood, large scale format printing, debossing and stitching, 3D printing and the use of the wood work room and team. The reputable mentors gave inspiring talks, workshops and advice – really encouraging us to get playful and more hands-on with our creativity, breaking away from the computer screens, with a number of different activities. There was also plenty of practical advice which can be easily applied to our everyday workflow, on return to our own client work.
We were inspired by the local environment, the beautiful west of Ireland, and brought on a number of trips to places such as mussel and oyster farms, the grounds of Alcock & Brown – the first transatlantic flight, Inishbofin island and artist’s studios and talks – all of which went on to inspire our individual projects. In the evenings, we sometimes watched design films in a special screenings cinema and there were some exhibitions also. We had two exhibitions of our work, one of which will travel from Letterfrack to Dublin later this year. It was impressive to see the finished work come together for everyone in the exhibitions and the overall experience of meeting and working with so many international creatives was really enjoyable and good to have established a new network of peers working in the design industry worldwide.
DesignWest was a great way to re-immerse myself in design and creativity and be re-inspired going forward in my career, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The end result was graduating with a NFQ Level 9 Special Purpose Award Certificate in Design Research with the subject ‘Design Unplugged’ at GMIT.
I was delighted to have my work selected to be in the Halftone 2017 exhibition, featured in the Library Project in Temple Bar, Dublin.
HALFTONE is an initiative by PhotoIreland Foundation, hosted every year at The Library Project. Running for 18 days, the fair brings together a large selection of works by established and emerging artists, showcasing Ireland’s exciting Art scene.
This humorous and playful collection, depicts the famous seagulls which heavily populate Dublin city centre’s boardwalk, along the River Liffey. These seagulls are known to circulate people eating their lunches, hoping to get a bite.
One print features these birds characteristics of being feisty, friendly and fearless. It also plays on the Dublin slang word for women or girls which is ‘birds’. On another print in the set, the birds have been given popular Dublin girls names. On two of the prints, there is a play on the famous Irish / Dublin song, ‘Molly Malone’, changing the lyrics to feature the birds. This again could refer to the seagulls or Dublin girls.
Images of Dublin’s boardwalk and Liffey in the city centre can be seen through the silhouettes of the seagulls.
See more on the Halftone website here or if you would like to purchase one of these prints, please see them on Etsy.
It was great to take part in the monthly St Stephens Green Art Exhibition, where artists feature their paintings all around St Stephens Green Park, where passers-by can enjoy the art and purchase paintings.
I chose to display a collection I had created based around the concept of communication and the wonder of the story of ‘The Tower of Babel’; the story of how we all ended up speaking different languages. The paintings represent the bricks that make up the tower of Babel, with each brick depicting a different language / hieroglyphic or form of communication; various symbols from different languages falling in confusion when the tower collapsed; being tongue-tied with the confusion of so many different languages in the world;tow modern communication such as emojis and the universal understanding in communication such as thumbs up / fingers crossed / the ok hand gesture. They are painted in gouache acrylic in a bright and modern graphic way, with colours that really pop. With art being subjective, the viewer can take their own interpretation of what each painting is and what it may represent for them.
Being part of the exhibition is a great experience – some highlights include meeting and being inspired by other artists and talking to the public about art and what it means to them. I also had some greeting cards available to purchase, which many people enjoyed. They can be purchased here and also ordered at a number of sizes and formats here.
It was great to be part of the group illustration exhibition recently in Filmbase, Temple Bar in Dublin city centre. There was lots of excitement with putting up our framed art after a year of hard work in developing our illustration style leading to all the prep work involved preparing for an exhibition. There was a huge turn-out on the opening night, everyone agreed it was a great success.
The theme I chose was the wonder of the Tower of Babel – the story of how we all ended up speaking different languages. The concept shows the confusion that followed the collapse of the tower in the story where everyone began speaking different languages, with the tongue-tiedness that the language barrier brought. I featured some of the earliest forms of communication – ancient hieroglyhics and pictograms – in a bright and modern graphic way, using gouache colours that pop. I went on to show how language and communication has developed to today – where we use smiley faces and hand gestures to communicate which work through all languages. I enjoyed researching this theme, learning about the Rosetta stone and Egyptian hieroglyphics. There are some beautiful symbols used among all the languages and, although it would be simpler if we all spoke the one language, I would hate to see such individuality and beauty of each language’s unique symbols and form of communicating ever to become extinct.
One of the advantages of the location was that during the week, there was still a lot of visitors popping in as the artworks are displayed in the windows of Filmbase and attract plenty of passers-by and art lovers. Many of us had our own pop-up shops selling our giclee prints and greeting cards, which still continued to attract interest throughout the week.
My greeting cards and prints are available to purchase on Etsy at:
Looking forward to the exhibition of the illustration course I have been attending over the last year. It’s on in Filmbase in Temple Bar, Dublin 2, opening 6.30pm on the 6th June and continuing until 10th June. It’s been great fun to be part of and I’ve met some really talented and friendly people along the way.
There’s a pop-up shop selling our giclee prints and greeting cards also. Come along and check out all the great work.
Poster artwork by Virginia Fiorini, graphic design by Fintan Wall.
I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to visit Mix Some Noise 2016 on a recent trip to Singapore.
Noise Singapore is an initiative of the National Arts Council to make noise about the young creative talent in Singapore, using many different platforms throughout the city to showcase the level of creativity. It’s aim is to support, inspire and encourage local young creatives in developing their relationship with the arts.
Have a look at some of the inspiring international art on display:
This year’s CEAD exhibition brought a huge and diverse range of art out on display. I was delighted to be featured among all this talent. Here are a few highlights below:
Exploring Portraiture
Eyes are said to be a window to the soul. For this exhibition, I wanted to explore this further in the work through portraiture, to show how someone is painted in portraiture can depict an openness and innocence within a person or a contrasting darkness by painting in a more distorted manner and also a more voyeuristic view of painting someone who seems unaware, such as the male portrait below.
Artists I looked at who had explored similar themes and/or painting styles were Jenny Saville, Marcella Dumas, Frida Kahlo and Francis Bacon.
A Piece of Me, Naomi Kelly
This piece is about the body with a focus on breast cancer – the process of chemotherapy, mastectomy, cancer cells and how it all affects the body all shown in a visual way. Naomi uses utensils from around the home in her art as a lot of women can be in the domestic home environment. I thought this piece was very well thought out and implemented and it connects the viewer to the sensation and intrusion to their body that women go through when dealing with breast cancer. I thought Naomi tackled this sensitive subject manner in a visually-interesting and powerful way.
The Watchful Eye of CCTV
Camera City, Stuart Pearson I found the subject matter of photographer Stuart Pearson quite interesting, a very popular topic at present – the level in which we are all, as a society, being monitored in our daily lives. Stuart explores how humans interact with the built environment and designed public spaces. He explores how security cameras are incorporated into our built environment where we are recorded hundreds of times per day, often without even realising, with facial recognition software utilised that can identify and even track us individually and our movements over time and concerns over it’s use on social media such as Facebook.
Through his work, he raise the question of if we still have a right to the freedom of privacy and anonymity in public places and online. There are a lot of uses of this level of tracking in terms of reducing crime, targeting specific audiences through monitoring online consumer activity and increased awareness of current happenings such as traffic incident coverage but there definitely does beg the question of – how much is too much – and are we ok with the current level of it? I found his work quite thought-provoking.
Further Art on Show
There really was so much quality work on display that it would be difficult to run through them all but have a browse below and feast your eyes on some more of the talented artist’s work.
Offsketch is an Illustration Event held in connection with Offset and Illustrators Ireland:
A gathering of illustrators including myself joined up to sketch around various locations across Dublin city centre, led by well-known illustrators Steve Simpson and Steve Doogan. It was an enjoyable drawing day (despite some rain here and there!) and it was great to visit some new hidden-away places in Dublin to sketch.
The exhibition of work was held in Ogilvy Dublin. It was interesting and inspiring to see the range of different styles of drawing or subject point by each illustrator displayed in the exhibition, some samples can be viewed above.
A great build-up towards Offset 2016.
If you enjoy sketching, another good event to check out in Dublin is Melissa Doran’s drawing in the Botanic Gardens events. It’s a relaxing way to draw and connect with other illustrators amidst the colourful flowers and trees in the lovely gardens and greenhouses of the Botanics in Glasnevin. Find out more here.
