REMAIN IN LIGHT An exhibition of new work by Aoife Barrett and Aisling Ely

Tipperary Excel Gallery

5th April- 12th May

Opened on Thursday 5th April at 8pm by Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

Left: Aisling Ely, oil painting, Right: Aoife Barrett, 3D installation

Aoife Barrett graduated with a BA Honors Degree in Fine Art Printmaking from Limerick School of Art and Design (2010).  She also holds a BA Honours Degree in Archaeology from the University College of Cork (2006).

As a practicing artist she has exhibited extensively throughout Ireland. She recently exhibited in a solo show, Lost and Found, Backwater Artists Studio, Cork (2011) as well as exhibiting in a number of group shows including A4 Printmakers, The Poly Arts Centre, Cornwall (2011), The Woman Factor, The Back Loft, Dublin (2011), Impressions, Galway Arts Centre (2010), The RDS Student Art Awards, Dublin (2010) and Limerick Printmakers Print Exhibition (2010).

Awards received include South Tipperary Emerging Artist Award (2011), Arts Council Travel and Training Award (2011), Cork Printmakers Twelve Month Bursary Award (2010), Fine Art Travel Bursary, Horwath Bastow Charleton, Limerick (2010), RDS Printmaking Award (shared)

(2010).

My art practice is inspired by the role of the archaeologist, investigator and digger, exploring the concept of objects as a container and symbol for our actions, experiences and memories. The purpose of my work is to explore and make sense of the material world and built environment created by humans and express this in a visual manner. Recent bodies of work such as ‘House In Motion’ and ‘As I walked through the wilderness of this world…’ have focused on an exploration of thoughts about the ‘pilgrim’ or ‘traveller’.  The tent is used as a metaphor to express abstract concepts of the mysterious place of sanctuary and survival; the ship a symbol of pilgrimage, salvation of the soul and sanctuary.

Aisling Ely graduated with a BA Honors Degree in Fine Art Painting  from Limerick School of Art and Design (2010).  She also holds a Higher Diploma in Art for Art and Design Teachers from Limerick School of Art and Design (2011).

As a practicing artist she has exhibited in a number of shows in her locality including rhe Thurles Arts Festival and Cashel Arts Festival. 

Aisling was awarded  the Revenue Commissioners’ Award for excellence shown during B.A. (Honours) Degree in Fine Art Painting.

The process of making work is important to my practice.  I am interested in texture and layering; I create these different textures by using materials such as sand, resin, varnish, wax, glass and manipulated photographs together with oil paint and painting mediums.  This creates juxtaposition between image and surface.  My work is inspired by many different elements such as memory; perceived, forgotten and imagined as well as nature and light.  My work also plays on the concept of printed memories, how in a digital era we print many of our images on home printers, I bring a sense of this to my work through painting faded lines through some of my pieces which are similar to the lines that appear in many printed images.The scenes depicted are forgotten spaces, a lost dream-like world veiled by a layer of wax.  The wax keeps this place at a distance from the viewer, a personal space, yet this veil also allows the image to become universal, relatable to the viewer.