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LOTS OF IRISH makers and artists are making wall art that goes beyond paint and paper to include textiles, ceramics, wood, plants and more. Here are just some of the makers catching Ruth O’Connor‘s eye this month.
Paula Moen
Paula Moen transforms vintage plates into striking and sustainable wall art. She sources beautiful vintage plates and gives them new life by designing and adding decals to create eclectic pieces that are perfect for any gallery wall. Her unique wall hangings are available from her online shop and via Instagram. Prices range from €30 to €49.99 for online sales while she can also personalise pieces for customers from around €55.
Instagram: @paulasvintageplates
Karena Ryan
Award-winning textile artist Karena Ryan creates evocative works that weave together heritage, memory and place. Based in Tuam, Co. Galway, she transforms locally sourced Irish wool and vintage Foxford blankets into richly textured, hand-embroidered, beaded and stitched portraits inspired by family photographs. Karena’s collection includes Irish wool wall panels and bespoke cushions which blend traditional craft with contemporary design. Her limited-edition Giclée prints on Foxford wool and Galway wool felt reflect the same tactile beauty as her originals. Ryan’s new textile artworks will be showcased in her upcoming solo exhibition Inherited Threads at the Leitrim Design House. Original artworks from €150. Prints from €60.
Instagram: @karenaryantextiles
Sarah McKenna
Sarah McKenna has been crafting Irish pottery and homewares in Dundalk, Co. Louth for over two decades. Using stoneware clay, she creates a range of functional and decorative pieces that includes framed ceramic wall art. The wall pieces are made from slabs of clay which are imprinted using letterpress typefaces, wallpaper and even gold lustre to create pieces that are resonant with nostalgia and sentimentality. Her range of wall art includes her Irish Coast Collection, her Compass Collection and her ‘Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin’ handmade ceramic tiles. Prices for Sarah’s framed wall pieces start at around €105 and she can also produce customised items for clients.
Instagram: @sarahmckenna
Emer Whelan
Emer Whelan creates distinctive, light-filled artworks that bring a sense of connection to any space. Inspired by Irish landscapes, folklore and natural forms, her pieces combine modern design with organic textures. Each artwork is laser-cut from wood and hand-finished in her studio, creating layered compositions that play with light and shadow throughout the day. Her collections, including Solara and Lunára, are modern yet rooted in Irish storytelling and make for unusual statement pieces for the home. Prices start at €240.
Instagram: @emerwhelanart
Gráinne Kenny
Gráinne Kenny is a textile designer from Gorey, Co. Wexford. Originally trained in hand-weaving and with a background in mixed media textiles, Gráinne creates textile art and other products such as lampshades. Much of her work is inspired by the sea and she uses Irish wool and other yarns as well as seashells and beads to create her pieces. Her work is available in a range of sizes from miniature works to large textile seascapes ranging in price from €40 to around €600 for larger commissioned pieces. Find her work in Cronins, Kinsale, The Top-Drawer, Achill Island and Anchor in Ardmore as well as online.
Instagram: @grainnekennydesign
Orla Ó Regan
Orla Ó Regan, founder of Orla O Visual, abandoned a career in the construction industry to establish her own business creating porcelain pieces that designed to evoke laughter and tears, warmth and nostalgia. Orla’s ‘Words in Porcelain’ collection is an emotive one which aims to stir the senses through meaningful words immortalised in porcelain. Using vintage letterpress, Orla imprints words of words of love, reassurance, motivation and memory making her pieces a lovely gift for every occasion. The piece above is from her new colourful ‘Pop of Colour’ collection. Prices range from €50 to €500.
Instagram: @orlaovisual
Paola Di Legge
Based in Dún Laoghaire in Dublin, Ninfa Studio by Paola Di Legge, is tapping into the trend for biophillic interiors with unique, textural, maintenance-free moss art pieces. Paola handcrafts these three-dimensional pieces using a combination of real preserved moss, ferns and botanicals that retain their vibrant colour and natural softness for years and require zero maintenance. These artworks are sensory pieces which are designed to impart a calming experience of the natural world indoors. Prices start at €55.
Instagram: @ninafastudio_com
Anita Reynolds
Anita Reynolds gave up her career as an art teacher in 2020 to follow her dream of being a fulltime artist and her work is now available in galleries and shops countrywide. Anita draws on the natural and historic heritage of the Boyne Valley to create three dimensional embroideries that echo the textures of the Irish countryside. Each piece begins as a batik on cotton, is printed and individually stitched using free-motion embroidery, and finished with hand stitching before being framed in an oak-stained box frame. Framed pieces start at €140 online, with small embroidery hoops priced at €40. Find her pieces at the Púca Harvest Festival this week and at the Meath Made Christmas Fair in The Swift Cultural Centre in November.
Instagram: @anitareynoldsartanddesign
Erica Devine
Erica Devine creates botanical relief walls and wall panels in plaster and resin to create nature-filled interiors that respond to the changing light in an interior. Her work is to be found in high-end retail, hospitality and residential developments both at home and abroad and she’s even been commissioned to create bespoke wall panels for the beautiful Jo Malone store in Paris (see image below). Devine chooses plants that are beautiful but also relevant to the end use of the piece – such as chestnut for a laundry room as it was traditionally used to make soap for washing clothes. Erica works to commission with prices starting at around €2,000.
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