Author: NiamhMcGuinne

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CV


EDUCATION
2018 – 2020 MFA Fine Art, NCAD
1989 – 1991 MA Conservation of Fine Art, Newcastle Polytechnic, UK
1985 – 1988 BA History of Art and Archaeology, University College Dublin

EMPLOYMENT
1995 – present Paper Conservator, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
1994 – 1995 Paper Conservator, Delmas Bindery, Marsh’s Library, Dublin
1993 – 1994 Paper Conservator, National Museums Northern Ireland
1992 – 1993 Conservation Assistant, Bodleian Library, Oxford

AWARDS
2021 Arts Council Visual Arts Bursary Award
2020 Arts Council Professional Development Award
2020 Long listed for the RDS Visual Arts Award
2018 Sponsors Portfolio, Graphic Studio Dublin

SCHOLARSHIPS & RESIDENCIES
2023 Centre Culturel Irlandais
2022 Artist in Residence, Senge Group, Chair of Organic Chemistry, TCD; supported by Science Foundation Ireland
2001 Sharing Conservation Science Scholarship, (ICCROM) The Louvre, Paris
1996 5th ICCROM Japanese Paper Conservation, Kyoto (JPC96) ICCROM

ACCREDITATION and MEMBERSHIP
Member of the Darkroom since 2020
Member of Graphic Studio Dublin since 2010, currently on board of directors.
Accredited member of the Institute of Conservator-Restorers in Ireland

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
MIDDEN, Luan Gallery Athlone, 01 October – 20 November 2022
Returning Home, in aid of SIMON, Graphic Studio Dublin at CHQ, 27 October – 05 November 2022
Shelter, National Gallery of Ireland, curated by Anne Hodge & Sharon Murphy, 08 July – 12 November 2023
Carapace, Highlanes Gallery Drogheda, 26 August – 14 November 2023
Shelter Collective, Draíocht from 06 December 2023

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017 Wilgefortis, Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin 21 April – 09 May
2013 Surreal Estate, OC Architects, Ranelagh Arts Festival, Dublin, 13 – 29 September
2013 Surreal Estate, Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin, 09 May – 01 June

CURATED EXHIBITIONS
2017 Kennedy, R. McGuinne, N. and Ruane, A., Bristle: Hair and Hegemony, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
Geomancy, IMPACT 12 The Printmakers’ Voice, Bristol, 21 – 25 September
Ulysses Imagined, Graphic Studio Gallery, curator Anne Hodge, 11 June – 23 July
you breathe differently down here, Draíocht, curator Amanda Coogan 02 March – 30 April 2022
Gormworm, Tapir Takt Gallery, Berlin 19 March – 16 April
Expanded, curator Andrew Folan, Graphic Studio Gallery, 05 February – 12 March
2021
191st RHA Annual Open Exhibition, 27 September – 30 October
[Hu]Manned Mission, Lumen Crypt, Bethnal Green, London, 26 – 30 October
City, Highlanes Gallery Drogheda, 15 August – 02 October
Woman in the Machine/Artworks 2021, VISUAL Carlow, 04 June – 12 September
Lost and Found, The Darkroom, Dublin, Photoireland festival 2021, 15 – 22 July
UnEditioned, Manhattan Graphics Center, curator Katie Michel, 01 June – 31 July
Diamond Point, Graphic Studio Dublin, 12 December – 15th May 2021
Spectacular Replica, NCAD Gallery, curator Anne Kelly 21 – 29 January
2020
CIACLA Online Program https://ciacla.com/online-program/
NCAD digital Catalogue https://ncad.works/courses/mfa-in-fine-art
The Human Heart, Graphic Studio Dublin 18 June – 22 August
Highlanes Gallery Open Submission 2020, Drogheda, 07 June – 11 July
2019
The Body of Empathy, Hendrix College, Arkansas, USA, September 2018 – 2019
189th RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA, Dublin, 22 May – 11 August
Impressions Biennial, Galway International Arts Festival 15 – 28 July
Come Back to Me, RUA RED, Tallaght, Dublin, 02 – 10 May
2018
10th Sponsors Portfolio, Graphic Studio Gallery, 08 December – 15 January
On the Flipside: Wendy Judge, Niamh McGuinne & Mella Travers, The Darkroom, 19 – 27 August

FILM SCREENINGS / FESTIVALS
2021 Peripheral, Homeland Dog Days,
Damer House Gallery, Roscrea 23 October – 03 November
Alalímon Galeria, Barcelona Loop film festival, 11 November – 18 December
2019 Peripheral, Merciful Hour, The Darkroom, Dublin 3, 10th December
2013 Shadowlight, The Poetry Project, 01 January – 30 September
2013 Shadowlight, Kinsale Arts Festival, 06 – 14 July

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Fitzpatrick, O. Bristle: Hair and Hegemony, eds: Kennedy, R., McGuinne, N. and Ruane, A., Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, 2017
McGuinne, N. A History of Conservation in Ireland, Museum Ireland, Vol. 15. 2005
Reid, Z. McGuinne N. & Fields, J. The Yeats Archive: a method of identifying wax crayon, IIC Biennial Congress 2002, Baltimore.
McGuinne, N. McLean P. & Plunkett, C. Protecting the Integrity of Impermanent Art, Conference Proceedings IPCRA, 2001
McGuinne, N. Art Meets Science at the National Gallery, Technology Ireland, 1998
O’Connor A. & McGuinne, N. The Deeper Picture – Conservation at the National Gallery of Ireland, NGI 1998

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Peripheral + Surreal Estate in City at Highlanes Gallery

Exhibition Dates 14 August – 2 October, 2021

Helen Cammock, Sean Edwards, Joy Gerrard, Seamus Harahan, Anthony Kelly & David Stalling, L.S. Lowry, Christine Mackey, Niamh McGuinne, Hardeep Pandhal, Kathy Prendergast, Gary Reilly, Dorothy Smith, Andrea Luka Zimmerman.

Cities in Ireland, the UK and across the world have developed and diversified more rapidly over the last ten years than ever before in their long histories, and today over half of the world’s population live in an urban area.

With the Coronavirus pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement, there has been much reflection on what we now want from our urban environments. This exhibition aims to look at how city dwellers and society have engaged with their built-up surroundings and, will hopefully prompt conversations about towns and cities of the future. The many facets of city life – architecture, migration, commuting, crowds, noise, lights – have been a rich source of inspiration to artists and this exhibition brings together a diverse range of work and media, and considers some relevant topical issues. 

The film works are all from the UK’s Arts Council Collection, at the Southbank Centre, which is the largest loan collection of modern and contemporary British art, with works from the Drogheda Municipal Art Collection, as well as from artists living and working in Ireland and the UK.

Peripheral + Surreal Estate

Peripheral, 2019, 03:24, music by Lisa O’Neill and Christophe Capewell 

Surreal Estate, 2013, thermal transfer screen print on constructed aluminium boxes containing interiors with etchings/screen prints/monoprints.

The protagonist in Peripheral is the artist who is continually searching for a sense of place, physically and metaphorically, often on the fringes of society. Being of no perceived economic value or use to the majority, but instead considered surplus to requirement, the artist abides.  

Surreal estate grew out of my interest in shadows, reflections and windows. Working in a beautiful old studio surrounded by a variety of old and disused windows, obsolete vitrines and historic picture glass, I was particularly drawn to how the inherent distortions formed in glass during manufacture and the subsequent creep of ageing can influence how and what we see. Such idiosyncratic textures together with additional visual patterns of rain, dust and oil provide a unique impression; a distorted reality. This in turn led me to look closer at patterned and decorative glass, nets, curtains and blinds, all of which control or alter what we allow of our private life to be seen and how we view our surroundings.

Peripheral
Surreal Estate
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The Shell/ters in Woman in the Machine at VISUAL, Carlow

In an industrial site at the edge of a regional town, the rhythm of machines and people stopped a long time ago. A giant landmark – an edifice, sat impatiently, waiting for someone to hit play and turn it on again. Vast spaces were idle and still, air vents flapped and rattled furiously. We are bringing sound to this place, turning up the bass, lighting the shadows… the rats have run from their quiet corners, the air has changed and something brand new is vibrating. A 72 hour lost weekend unfolds.

Woman in the Machine, co-created by VISUAL and Carlow Arts Festival, will unfold through film, exhibitions, sound works, light installations, digital native events, a 360 virtual exhibition space, performances, talks and community engagement projects created in response to Carlow’s landmark former Braun site, and inspired by the film about female pioneers in sound Sisters With Transistors by Lisa Rovner and women working at the intersections of art, science and digital media.

Woman in the Machine is part of Carlow Arts Festival 2021, VISUAL’s Summer Programme and presented as part of Brightening Air | Coiscéim Coiligh, a nationwide, ten day season of arts experiences brought to you by the Arts Council. To see the full Brightening Air | Coiscéim Coiligh programme, visit www.brighteningair.com

ARTISTS

Sound + Light — Invited + Commissioned
Jenn Kirby / Sarah Jane Sheils / Kate Butler / Jennifer Walshe / ensembÉal / Elizabeth Hilliard

Visual Arts — Invited + Commissioned Work
Chloe Brennan / Michelle Doyle and the Digital Druids / Barbara Knežević / Nadia Armstrong / Elaine Byrne / Caroline Campbell / Kate Fahey / Judy Foley / Fiona Harrington / Jeanette Lowe / Linda McCann / Colin Martin / Eleanor McCaughey / Fiona Mc Donald / Tara McGinn/ Niamh McGuinne/ Ida Mitrani / Meadbh O’Connor / Paul O ‘Neill / Liliane Puthod / Amanda Rice / Katherine Sankey

Arts Council Collection
Lucy Andrews / Rhona Byrne / Maria Farrington / Niamh McCann, Maria McKinney / Helen McMahon / Margaret O’Brien / Fiona Reilly / Lorraine Tuck

Film + Digital — Invited + Commissioned Work
George Bolster / Josephin Böttger / Ciara del Grosso / Umay Gunes Kurtulan / Jennifer Moore / Sharon Phelan / Susanne Radelhof / Lisa Rovner /

Performance — Invited + Commissioned Work
Mish Mash & Reckless Ross / Seve Feathers / Sibéal Davitt / Spraoí Waterford / Prymary Colours / Tumble Circus / Chancleta & Carla Rod

Engaging with Architecture
Emma Geoghegan and 4th year students from TU Dublin School of Architecture

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Altar Flowers

Lost and Found
Running 15 – 22 July 2021
at The Darkroom, 32 Brunswick Street, Dublin 7

as part of Photoirelandfestival 2021

Installation: plinth, lantern slides, printed artificial flowers, vase, time delay light, donation box.
147 x 40 x 40cm

https://www.darkroom.ie/exhibitions/groupshow

Reference slide: an amateur/semi-formal flower arrangement featuring large dark pink quilled Chrysanthemum with smaller pink and yellow chrysanthemums/dahlias with a variegated ivy arranged in a vase. The flowers are on a table in front of a net curtained window with red brick sill. 

Reference sticker: Flash

The subject, tonality and suggested suburban setting immediately brought the 1980s to my mind. The waxy looking petals and showiness of Chrysanthemums always appeared artificial and plastic and remind me of church flower arrangements.
In my memories they were chosen, arranged and displayed by a usually female cohort of church acolytes. I guess their function (of the flowers and the women) was to soften the often austere architectural and spiritual space…but only on a superficial level, all the while adhering to a tightly arranged formulaic pattern designed to keep everything in its place.

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IMMA International Summer School 2021

CONTAINMENT

IMMA International Summer School participant.

This programme of online of talks, seminars, discussions and workshops was held over three weeks in June and July 2021. The programme featured a range of national and international artists, theorists and educators. Focusing on the theme of ‘containment’ they explored how mapping, border regimes, architecture and the politics of incarceration inflect contemporary culture and how art and artists explore, question and engage with this subject.

To explore these questions, we are bringing together a range of contributors – artists, writers and educators – including Beatriz Colomina Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Romuald Hazoumè, Jackie Wang, Emma Wolf-Haugh, Nils Norman, Rajindar Singh and Alice Feldman, RESOLVE, Clodagh Emoe, Sarah Karikó, John Wilkins, Kimberly Campanello and Roisin Power Hackett. 

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Manhattan Graphics Center

A Company of Night Windows
Thermal transfer stencil mono print with screen print on aluminium
40cm x 60cm
2021
Late Night Daydreaming
Thermal transfer stencil mono print with screen print on aluminium
65cm x 50cm
2021
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Woman in the Machine – VISUAL/Carlow Arts Festival 2021

Presented by VISUAL Carlow and Carlow Arts Festival at Woman in the Machine ARTWORKS  2021. 

In an industrial site at the edge of a regional town, the rhythm of machines and people stopped a long time ago. A giant landmark – an edifice, sat impatiently, waiting for someone to hit play and turn it on again. Vast spaces were idle and still, air vents flapped and rattled furiously. We are bringing sound to this place, turning up the bass, lighting the shadows… the rats have run from their quiet corners, the air has changed and something brand new is vibrating. A 72 hour lost weekend unfolds. 

Woman in the Machine, co-created by VISUAL and Carlow Arts Festival, will unfold through film, exhibitions, sound works, light installations, digital native events, a 360 virtual exhibition space, performances, talks and community engagement projects created in response to Carlow’s landmark former Braun site, and inspired by the film about female pioneers in sound Sisters With Transistors by Lisa Rovner and women working at the intersections of art, science and digital media.

Woman in the Machine is part of Carlow Arts Festival 2021,  VISUAL’s Summer Programme and presented as part of Brightening Air | Coiscéim Coiligh, a nationwide, ten day season of arts experiences brought to you by the Arts Council. To see the full Brightening Air | Coiscéim Coiligh programme, visit www.brighteningair.com

With thanks to Sean Gallagher and Clyde Real Estate

Artists

Sound + Light — Invited + Commissioned
Jenn Kirby / Sarah Jane Sheils / Kate Butler / Jennifer Walshe / ensembÉal / Elizabeth Hilliard

Visual Arts — Invited + Commissioned Work 
Chloe Brennan / Michelle Doyle and the Digital Druids / Barbara Knežević / Nadia Armstrong / Elaine Byrne / Caroline Campbell / Kate Fahey / Judy Foley / Fiona Harrington / Janette Lowe / Linda McCann / Colin Martin / Eleanor McCaughey / Fiona Mc Donald / Tara McGinn/ Niamh McGuinne/ Ida Mitrani / Meadbh O’Connor / Paul O ‘Neill / Liliane Puthod / Amanda Rice / Katherine Sankey

Arts Council Collection 
Lucy Andrews / Rhona Byrne / Maria Farrington / Niamh McCann, Maria McKinney / Helen McMahon / Margaret O’Brien / Fiona Reilly / Lorraine Tuck

Film + Digital — Invited + Commissioned Work 
George Bolster / Josephin Böttger / Ciara del Grosso / Umay Gunes Kurtulan / Jennifer Moore / Sharon Phelan / Susanne Radelhof / Lisa Rovner / Stefano Santamato / Jim Stephenson

Performance — Invited + Commissioned Work 
Mish Mash & Reckless Ross / Seve Feathers / Sibhéal Davitt / Spraoí Waterford / Prymary Colours / Tumble Circus / United Fall / Chancleta & Carla Rod

Engaging with Architecture
Emma Geoghegan and 4th year students from TU Dublin School of Architecture

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Graphic Studio Dublin – Artists Beyond the Studio

Niamh McGuinne – Shelters in a changed world

Friday April 9th 2021 11 am

Worlds of Escape: From Books to Other Spaces. Each of the artists in this next part of the series interprets the world around them and presents us with an altered version, a lens through which to view the world. We are inviting you to join us over the next few weeks and come and view these otherworlds and their creators. Let’s peek behind the curtain!

Niamh McGuinne is an artist, paper conservator and printmaker. She has been a member of Graphic Studio Dublin since 2010, and is currently on the Board of Directors. Niamh returned to college and completed a Masters in Fine Art from NCAD in 2020, which saw her further expanding her already experimental printmaking practice. She works with sculpture, installation and film alongside her printmaking, which is in itself multi-disciplinary- incorporating screenprint, etching and transfer printing on materials including paper, textiles, perspex and metal. 

Niamh’s recent installation pieces – the Shell/ters, comprised three human-scale single occupancy shelters in which to shed anxiety, detach from divisive discourse, reboot energy levels and contemplate one’s own physicality. The structures are thought provoking and paradoxical, at the same time inviting retreat and shelter, but also invoking a sense of unease- treading a line between protection and containment, escape and  isolation.

Niamh will talk about this intriguing new work, these spaces she has created, how the work’s meaning has evolved over the past year, and how the global events of the last 12 months have impacted on it.