Kathryn Maguire—Material Acts

Pallas Projects/Studios are pleased to present Kathryn Maguire—Material Acts, the sixth exhibition of our 2025 Artist-Initiated Projects programme.

A sculptural re-mapping of sacred and ritual geologies. 

Maguire’s work examines the ritual and magical possibilities of minerals as deeply embedded alternatives to the comparatively recent regard for minerals as purely extractable commodity.

Red stain oozes out of the cave walls and dries. This substance, Ochre, a ferrous rock, when ground into a powder and mixed with water, saliva, or urine, creates an impressive substance for use on the body or other surfaces. The relationship with minerals began possibly 300,000 years ago. Some of the ochres shimmered as mica or pyrite may have been present. People travelled far and wide, trading the potent minerals for ritual, magic, and storytelling purposes. The material had meaning and was valued. ‘Ochre altered our relationship with the earth. The dead rock underfoot yielded something miraculous, something striking and powerful, something that with conscious intervention could be transformed, and then used itself for transformative effect.’

‘Material Acts’ condenses some of Maguire’s research into minerals, mapping and mining and the relationship to rocks over the centuries. In 1824, Ireland was the first country in the world to be mapped by the British Ordnance Survey; the mapping of Ireland was developed to facilitate taxation and evaluate the 'Underground Potential' of geological and material reserves. Mapping was done by triangulation, by creating a series of primary triangles. Sightings were taken between stations using theodolites and light (often moonlight) on specific Mountains. Maguire has used real artefacts from the field, such as surveyors’ tripods, Gunter's Chains and geological drill core boxes that once housed drill cores of riverine deep strata. 

Material Acts is derived from the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), which was implemented across parts of the world starting in 2019. Each country is to compile a list of minerals and assess the mineral potential of its territory. ‘The EU’s demand for Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) such as lithium, copper and cobalt is set to increase exponentially, as the EU transitions to clean energy systems which require the building up of EU production of batteries, solar panels, permanent magnets and other green technologies.’ 

Maguire’s works explore contemporary practices of mapping and modelling using real geodata and 3D printing and mould-making. As Ireland transitions to a global green economy, Maguire questions what the rare-earth and critical minerals look like in real terms. Her ‘geophilia’ (love of rocks) has led her on a journey of lithic conversations with wonderful geologists across the globe, as well as with fellow artists who share similar, deep-time thinking and concerns with extraction and reparation.

This, and the artist's question, 'Do Mountains commune with us?' has inspired the fabrication of the works on show, which draw on geoscience, mapping, mineralogy, and sculptural history. Maguire is increasingly questioning and researching the sacredness of minerals, developing transformative interpretations; this exhibition can be viewed as a research station along the way.  

Event

Biography:

Kathryn Maguire is a sculptor based in Sligo with a Master’s in Sculpture awarded from the Royal College of Art and Art in the Contemporary World, NCAD, Dublin. She creates artworks that convey the experience of the complexities of deep time visible in materials.

Selected exhibitions include her forthcoming solo show in Pallas Projects titled Material Acts in September 2025. Micron 1 & 2 will be featured in the forthcoming ecoartspace book Soils Turn, launched in Ithaca & White Columns, New York, in October 2025. She was recently awarded The Model Studio residency award, the Sligo Arts Office LIVE/WORK/PLAY Artist Bursary, and the Arts Council Visual Arts Bursary. 

Her solo show at Leitrim Sculpture Centre in 2024, titled ‘To the Mountain’, was the culmination of a three-month Exhibition Residency. Group shows include: When We Cease to Understand the World, curated by Marysia Carroll, part of the Galway International Arts Festival, 2024; Hivernal group show curated by Eammon Maxwell at Roscommon Arts Centre in 2024. She was featured in the Artist’s Profile in VAN March/April issue. Her Public art project, The Mourning Band, was profiled in the JAN/FEB edition of VAN. 

kathrynmaguire.net | @kathrynmaguireartist

Artist-Initiated Projects at Pallas Projects/Studios is an open-submission, annual gallery programme of 8 x 3-week exhibitions taking place from March-November 2025. This unique programme of funded, artist-initiated projects selected via open call is highly accessible to artists, with a focus on early career, emerging artists and recent graduates. Projects are supplemented with artists' talks, texts, workshops or performances, and gallery visits by colleges and local schools.