Today we’d like to introduce you to Ciara O’Keeffe.
Ciara, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I studied Ceramic Design in limerick School of Art and Design, Ireland. I graduated with a Bachelor of Design Degree in 1999. Since leaving college I’ve done tons of jobs just to earn the money to buy Clay. In 2009-present I am employed as a ceramic teacher, teaching my favorite subject to kids who have dropped out of school early. So, working 9am-5pm as a teacher, then home and Mom to Will (12) and Roisin (10). I am unbelievably passionate about my art. People ask where do I have time to make my art. To be honest its every single other minute that I’m awake I’m creating in clay. My creativity comes from “My sense of place”. At certain stages in my life, my sense of place changes and in that change, comes an array of emotions. These emotions help me create my ceramic art.
Selling my childhood home had a profound effect on me. I’m constantly brought back to the emotions I felt while I lived there and the histories that I experienced there. In my dwellings range, the ceramic art I create, chases the ghosts that remain in the built environment when the dwellers have moved on. What the anthropologist Melanie van der Hoorn called ‘buildings that speak’. The Mantel piece, the sacred heart lamp, the once new carpet and faded wedding picture. ‘The oldest body remembers the youngest physical encounter’. I reflect on how the rural towns again empty as young folk move from Leinster Street to Houston Street, from the People’s Park to Central Park. These are personal revelations telling universal stories through my beloved medium of clay.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
My art is 3 dimensional sculpture made from Ceramic, I’m what’s referred to in ceramic terms as a hand builder……“I’ve always had to draw, to make, to create: my soul requires it and my sanity is grateful for it” (Ciara O’Keeffe).
My message or narrative in my artwork is that we metaphorically leave some part of us behind, once we move on. Maybe it’s a memory encased in the wallpaper of your parents sitting room. Or saying goodbye to your favorite poster on your bedroom wall. Perhaps, its leaving behind the emotions you felt when you were told that your pet had died, or that you just got dumped by text. We all leave residue when we move on, whether physically or emotionally. I attempt to capture my residual emotions in the dwellings that I create, using them as my vehicle to tell my story.
What responsibility, if any, do you think artists have to use their art to help alleviate problems faced by others? Has your art been affected by issues you’ve concerned about?
I think artists have a moral obligation in many ways to use their medium as their voice. Artists like American potter Roberto Lugo and British ceramist Grayson Perry are two fine examples of contemporary Ceramic Artists using their gift to speak loudly about what they believe in. Artists e.g. Banksy has brought the artworld into the public domain. He has made art current. He has brought his voice into our homes. No longer is Art the conversation of the elite. That is what art should be, accessible to all. Too many people are afraid to enter a world they feel they know nothing about.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I have been commissioned to create many pieces of artwork in Ireland, from the President of Ireland Mary McAleese, Dublin City Council, The Department of Foreign Affairs and many more. I have exhibited quite extensively throughout Ireland, I am presently exhibiting in Dublin Castle with Ceramics Ireland. I would however, love to bring my work to a new audience so I am open to suggestions from your readers. Presently my work can be seen and purchased, in Millcove Gallery, Kenmare Co.Kerry, Gallery Crafts Kenturk Co.Cork, The Cat and the Moon, Sligo and The Narrow space Gallery in Clonmel, Co.Tipperary
My website is www.ciaraokeeffe.ie where I showcase my work, unfortunately you can’t buy from the website yet but you can message me on my website and I can organize to get my work to you. I’m also on Facebook at Ciara O’Keeffe and my Instagram handle is @theartfulmug.
Contact Info:
- Address: Westering, Carlow road,
Athy, Co.Kildare Ireland - Website: www.ciaraokeeffe.ie
- Phone: 0876404428
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theartfulmug/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CiaraokeeffeCeramix/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ciaraceramix
Image Credit:
Ciara O’Keeffe
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