What was your trajectory like as an artist?
I went to NCAD, National College of Art and Design, I studied for four years specializing in textile design, but it was a very open ended course, where it would really focus on manipulation of materials, may that be huge installations, embroidery or weaving- it was anything.
Is the work you’re making now similar to that of NCAD or was it a later development for you?
In the final year at NCAD I was actually mainly focused on plants, and that’s where that whole concept started. Just highlighting the importance of plants, and from there, I just haven’t stopped, I think even if I wanted to remove plants from my work, I don’t think I could. They creep their way back in all the time.
What does your body of work look like now?
My main focus with my work is to highlight the importance of nature in our everyday lives. Particularly living in condensed environments, any relationship with nature is vital to our wellbeing. I think that it is really important to think about our connection with nature and the lack of it really. I introduce nature into our lives in unique and interesting ways so you’re not just looking at the mundane houseplant.
How did you first become interested in working with textiles?
It’s so interesting because in NCAD we do this first year where you get to experiment with all faculties, so you can try anything. I tried fashion and I nearly lost my mind. I tried sculpture and it was far too open ended, and then somebody, a mentor, recommended for me to try textiles. I did and it just opened up a whole other world that I didn’t think existed.
Can you talk more about the aquatic subject matter and how that enters into your work?
Aquatic life, particularly looking at aquatic plants, is very new. I have always had this huge fascination with the sea, as a kid I have very vivid memories of my grandparents bringing me to the sea. The sea was only a twenty minute drive from my house, because it’s Ireland and it’s an island…I have these distinct memories of having my head in every rock pool, looking at these worlds that were just untouched by humans, created by the sea. And they were so accessible, you could just stick your hand in and pull out a fish.
What kind of challenges have there been with working with live plants?
Firstly, keeping them alive, because New York is a very, very harsh environment. Lighting in New York is scarce, it’s so difficult to try to keep plants alive.
Is there a particular process or technique that you come back to?
Painting and drawing. I lost them for a while, because I didn’t have space, but now I’m back to doing large scale paintings which is almost like a side project. It’s not my main focus, but it does help to develop certain ideas. Sometimes they do become a finished piece, that become integrated into the sculptural 3D work.
Do you ever see them going together?
I hope to. I think with the painted rope, that’s when it’s come in slightly, but I’d like it to come in a little bit more, in different ways, larger scale.
So take me through a day in your studio practice, how do you work?
The first thing I do I probably come in and have coffee. I tidy up a little bit from the night before, because I’m a little bit messy. I work in mess, I think. I’ll tidy up and then get down to it. I work through lists, so I’d write a list of what I’d want to get through. And then I’ll sit down and listen to a podcast or maybe music, jazz, preferably.
What was it about textiles that made it work for you? What does it do for you that other mediums don’t?
Honestly, I think it’s the experimental side that drives me most, the unpredictable and experimental is something that I’ve always firmly believed in, and I feel like I’ve followed through with that in my practice. I mean, I honestly tend to lean more on using my hand than machines. Even like a loom, I feel might be too advanced for what I want to do. I’d rather figure it out on my own.
How would you like people to experience your work? Is it meant to be tactile, for them to touch it, in a gallery space, as design?
One of the main reasons I feel I also introduced plants to my work was because plants are something that you obviously have to maintain, and keep in contact with to keep them alive, so I find that, regardless, if I didn’t want my work to be interactive, there’s no way that could be- you have to tend to the plants. There is that element of play, and in my work I always want to invite people to touch, to bring them into their homes. So I want the unaccessible to be accessible to most.
So what are some of your other interests, outside of the studio?
Well, fishing. And obviously, owning plants. But that’s something I don’t even think of as a hobby, it’s just instinct. I like to skate sometimes. I like to explore, I do a lot of cycling and skating around the city. You explore places that- environments I respond to immediately. So if there’s like a building, the facade of the building has like this vibrant color or weird texture I will immediately respond to that, and take pictures. So photography as well. That definitely comes hand in hand with textiles.
Your color palette within your work has transitioned from the monochrome black and white to this vibrancy that now exists in your studio, can you talk about that transition?
That, absolutely was due to moving to New York, which I’m still surprised at. I never thought I had any real idea or concept of what colors go together, I still don’t know if I do, it’s still developing, but it is definitely down to vibrancy of New York. I’m still working on it though. At the minute it’s all over the place. You still have that murky side to nature, but you also have the vibrant, so the contrast is going to be there.
How has the residency at TAC changed your work?
It’s made me think differently as a designer or artist. I don’t specifically label myself as a designer or artist necessarily, but it’s made me think that I can have more of an experimental side, but I can also have a more design based side. It’s okay to have two different parts, I think, two different aspects to my work. Before, I was wracking my brain, I was kind of restricting myself in that way, and allowing myself to develop as an artist or develop as a designer, I’m sort of being a little bit more gentle.
What’s the difference for you, between designer and artist?
Design is something that is like a very polished object or concept, where as art is far more abstract, and you know, I feel design also generally has some sort of function. Whereas art, doesn’t necessarily hold up, it’s not bound to that idea.
Who are some of the artists you look at or who have inspired your work?
Definitely Mark Rothko, Eva Hesse, there’s a lot. They’d be like the two. Matisse, of course, and Hockney for his colors.
Your work feels very contemporary, do you ever feel a pull between the traditional mediums of textile work and the contemporary art and design world?
It is contemporary, but yet, I do look at old basketry- Irish basketry in particular. Lately looking at how they restored and mended nets, and how they would create these turf baskets to carry the turf. I don’t want to be put down as like a contemporary artist or designer, but I think right now, yeah, it is a little bit more contemporary.
Do you have any dream projects?
So many. I would love nothing more than to do a huge outdoor installation. Working with other artists and designers- I like collaborating with people. Definitely, that’s a dream- somewhere in the most bizarre location, not even in the city, somewhere, I don’t even know, in the middle of the countryside.
Do you have anything else you’d like people to know?
Don’t overlook the fact that owning or having plants in your home, they’re not just there for aesthetic reasons, they do help you- they are more beneficial than you think.
