Red Couch Space / The Courthouse Gallery & Studios, Ennistymon, Co Clare
This sensory exhibition of new paintings by Clare artist Caitríona Sheedy is motivated by developing understanding and consciousness. Sheedy uses mixed media to observe the way we are in the world and the effects of the systems we have in place, exploring our ability to transmit and create. Her work acknowledges the principle of mentalism - ‘all is mind, the universe is mental’ set out in Hermetic philosophy, acknowledging the ‘unity of all’, cited in many religions, with love being at the core of all these original teachings.
The artist is interested in our ability to transcend, and in the interconnectedness of everything. She is is fascinated by our ability to act and react unconsciously, and our ability to transcend that. Through these works she explores symbols in our society, the use and misappropriation of them, which she believes allow us to realise our potential as human beings through developing our emotional and spiritual intelligence.
This highly personal exhibition sees Caitríona use her own experience of being human and commitment to resolving her own inner conflict as a starting point, with acute awareness of how the structures in place in our society have affected her directly and through her family line. For more about her work and this process visit www.csheedy.net
Artist Biography: Caitríona Sheedy is a multi-disciplinary artist, living and working on the West Coast of Ireland. Translating the unseen world of feeling, emotion and spirit through her art, Caitríona graduated from design communications in '98, planning to use her skills to highlight issues regarding the environment, trade and social issues. Working as a fine artist since 2001 initially mainly in painting. Her natural flow of work is abstract, organic, expressive and intuitive.
Developing her knowledge of subtle energies she began to marry her natural flow of painting with thought intention and studies of place to create larger bodies of work. Reconciling her desire to highlight issues in the expected way by realizing her work operated on an energetic and spiritual level. Her work is immersed in the journey of the human being and the experiences we encounter, her everyday life, nature and connection are a huge source of inspiration and learning. Fascinated by phenomenology, quantum physics, neuroscience, the effects of trauma, healing, the unconscious, collective consciousness and esotericism.
Caitríona’s work is part of private and public collections including Tallaght IT and Clare County Council Arts Collection. She recently completed an Embrace Residency in Co Clare, working with adults with disability.
Notable exhibitions:
- Present- Be here now, County Museum, Ennis, Co. Clare (2008)
- Presentation of Ennis Goethean Study, 2013
- “Pre’sence” 2014, empty building converted to gallery space, Ennis, Co. Clare.
- Florence Biennale 2007
- NIVAL archiving of books from Temple Bar Gallery Book Fair.
- "Listening" The Record Break, Lower Market St car park, Ennis, Co. Clare. May 2017
- The Secret Garden Gallery, The Quay, Kinvara, Co. Galway and the Gallery Café Gort, Galway.
Addition work has seen her creating arts spaces Clare Culture Night and the Electric Picnic, Stradbally, as well as Collaborating on group exhibitions Poetry and Art Exposition (2018) and Out of the Book (2018), The Record Break, Ennis, Co. Clare.
