IADT Degree Students ​—
In the making

In the making

Megan Bass, Ross Bradley, Vanda Brown, Laura Clarke, Ellen Clifford, Alexander Cokyna, Teodora Cursaru-Pirvu, Nikkita Cowman, Molly Doyle, Ryan Egan, Lorraine Ene, Caoimhe Farrell, Sean Farrell, Zara Hering, Jamie Howard, Paola Iacovone, Haide Itua, Hannah Jones, Carol Jordan, Joanna Kiszka, Eugene McAteer, Michelle McGeown, Aveen McKernan, Eilis McLoughlin, Ava O’Donohoe, Camille Peat, Jane Prendergast, Blaithin Ring, Emily Ryan, Ella Sexton, Richard Stone, Moya Woods

In the making presents a taste of the future. For three weeks in February-March 2024, Pallas Projects provides an exciting platform for emerging art practices, hosting three consecutive exhibitions of new work by degree year students from IADT’s BA in Art. Conceived as an experiment in learning through exhibition-making, the project has been developed with guidance from PP/S co-curator Gavin Murphy and assistance from post-graduate students on IADT’s MA in Art & Research Collaboration (ARC). Each exhibition will provide an early-stage glimpse into the ideas, materials and techniques currently being researched and tested by the BA students and a valuable opportunity for them to extend their practices beyond the IADT studios.

In the making is conceived in three instalments, titled Spleen, Navel and Aorta. A series of invited respondents have been asked to engage with a specific instalment and will be in conversation with IADT students as part of the exhibition’s public programme.

The three exhibition openings will take place from 6pm to 8pm, on Thursdays 15, 22 and 29 February 2024.

In the making 1: Spleen

Nikkita Cowman, Molly Doyle, Sean Farrell, Jamie Howard, Haide Itua, Joanna Kiszka, Eugene McAteer, Eilis McLoughlin, Ava O’Donohoe, Emily Ryan

Spleen brings together the work of degree year students from IADT’s BA in Art in the first of three exhibitions at Pallas Projects in February 2024.

Spleen explores disparate phenomena of social connection and disconnection, highlighting both conflict and belonging. Through media that include video, photography, textiles, painting and sculpture, many of the works in Spleen grapple with difficult issues that include toxic relationships, supressed sexualities, pressures to mask, and situations of ongoing political conflict. Yet these artists also embrace art’s potential to articulate such experiences, and make a vital connection between the realms of the individual and the collective.

In the making 2: Navel

Megan Bass, Alexander Cokyna, Teodora Cursaru-Pirvu, Ryan Egan, Caoimhe Farrell, Zara Hering, Carol Jordan, Aveen McKernan, Camille Peat, Jane Prendergast, Richard Stone

Navel brings together the work of degree year students from IADT’s BA in Art in the first of three exhibitions at Pallas Projects in February 2024.

Navel focuses on the human entity observed from multiple vantage points. The human figures as an anatomical structure, a physical form that is subject to internal and external forces, and a consciousness continually shaped by memories, fantasies and dreams, which might be technologically mediated. Working with performance, video, painting, drawing, installation, sculpture, sound, text, and found objects, the artists in Navel investigate how bodies are contained and constricted, but also dissolved and transformed in the realm of the virtual.

In the making 3: Aorta

Ross Bradley, Vanda Brown, Laura Clarke, Ellen Clifford, Lorraine Ene, Paola Iacovone, Hannah Jones, Michelle McGeown, Blaithin Ring, Ella Sexton, Moya Woods

Aorta brings together the work of degree year students from IADT’s BA in Art in the first of three exhibitions at Pallas Projects in February 2024.

Aorta brings together many different visions of the organic world, ranging from the scientific to the fantastical. Through media that include turf, bones, ceramics, print, photography, painting, video and large-scale sculpture, the artists in Aorta articulate a fascination with organic life that is observed directly, imagined or even invented. Their works include joyful floral compositions, images of microscopic creatures, studies of coastal environments and explorations of land use, highlighting the tensions between cultural traditions and the demands of sustainability.

Events

Invited Respondents Biographies: 

Dr Georgina Jackson is the Director of The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art at Trinity College Dublin. Prior to this she was the Director of Exhibitions & Programs at Mercer Union, a centre for contemporary art, Toronto, and has held curatorial roles at The Hugh Lane, the Irish Museum of Modern Art and The Mattress Factory Art Museum in Pittsburgh. She has commissioned new work by artists including Bassam Issa Al-Sabah, Deanna Bowen, Duane Linklater, Jumana Manna, Garrett Phelan and Alice Rekab. She has partnered with the Toronto International Film Festival, Images Festival, the Irish Film Institute and aemi and was a member of the Steering Committee of the National Campaign for the Arts from 2018-2022. She completed her practice-based PhD through the Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media, Dublin, and has taught at the University of Toronto, the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire and the National College of Art & Design.

thedouglashyde.ie

Vanessa Zelek is an abstract artist whose expressive work is a direct response to her environment and things in her proximity. Originally from Poland, she has been living in Wexford since early childhood. She recently graduated with a BA (Hons) in Art from IADT, Dún Laoghaire (2023).  Vanessa’s work addresses the artists' relationship with nature. For her, the experience of creating is just as important as the final outcome, using a range of colour combinations and qualities with careful but free and expressive mark-making, often using motions of the body and found objects as tools to apply paint.  Vanessa recently exhibited her work in a duo show titled Exchanges at DIVA, Dún Laoghaire (2023). Her work has recently been featured in a show titled  Small Things Like These in LHQ Gallery, Cork (2023), Winter Exhibition at Be Framed, Cork (2023-24) and Tooth at DIVA (2023). She also has a piece in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown public collection and Office of Public Works.

@vanessa.zelek | vanessazelek.com

Áine Osborne is a Dublin based artist and recent graduate (BA Hons, Art, IADT 2023).  She has been painting from a very young age, making her first oil paintings at just eight years old. The artist has always had an interest in the materiality of paint and has been honing her painting skills on a more serious level since 2019 as she began her studies at IADT. Áine’s work explores themes relating to the natural world, the passing of time and the relationship between art and labour. She explores these themes through large scale oil paintings, experimenting with abstraction. Her colour field paintings are immersive in scale, with careful attention to colour mixing. Áine has recently completed an internship in Madragoa, Lisbon. Recent exhibitions include MHC Annual Art Exhibition, Mason Hayes & Curran (2023), Small Things Like These,  LHQ Gallery (2023), Exchanges, DIVA (2023), IADT student exhibition In the Making: Butter, Pallas Projects (2023) and, On Show, IADT (2023).

@aineosborne_ | aineosborne.com

Mark O’Gorman is the inaugural curator and producer of visual art at The Complex, a multi-disciplinary arts centre in Dublin's north inner city, since 2018. Comprising seventeen artist studios, a large warehouse performance space and a gallery, The Complex brings a diverse range of arts practitioners and audiences together in a dynamic urban environment. The exhibition programme focuses on commissioning site-specific work with a prolonged developmental process and conversational approach with artists, with an emphasis on community building, encouraging experimentation and risk.

@mark_o_gorman

In the making is conceived as an experiment in learning through exhibition-making, the project has been developed with guidance from PP/S co-director Gavin Murphy, and assistance from post-graduate students on IADT’s MA in Art & Research Collaboration (ARC).