Stephens, M., 2011.

Material Messages

This exhibition presents the different approaches taken by artists and makers to the materials they choose to work with and the messages they wish to convey using those materials, what those messages are and the methods of production they use to make the work and what process that involves.

The show presents the work of nine different Irish artists and makers who use diverse materials, have a specific message to convey and have distinct production methods.

Donna Bates and John Piekaar are furniture makers who collaborated to produce an abstracted furniture piece with the title SNUG: "Snug is a response to the need for an individual to find a private space for reflection in a pressured environment."

Lesley Frew and Tara Murphy focus their jewelry making skills on recycling otherwise discarded materials to produce tasteful works of art that make the viewer rethink ideas about waste and the world around us.

Adam Frew and Catherine Keenan handle Ceramics and Glass with a focus on colour and shape and its impact on emotions, Catherine's smooth flowing glass works are juxtaposed with Adam's jagged and scared glazed compositions.

Michelle Stephens and Joe Hogan tackle the problem of weaving and the satisfaction of technique and rhythm in making, from Joe's baskets and sculptures to Michelle's laser cut assemblages based in pattern history with that element of chance always present in both artists work.

Patricia Murphy's work in fabric, colour, line and form add a mix that blurs the edges of natural and the man-made, a struggle that all the artists and makers in this show have in common.