Latest news with #NationalCollegeofArtandDesign
RTÉ News
6 days ago
- Lifestyle
- RTÉ News
NCAD student Clodagh Leavy tapped as 'Designer to Watch'
NCAD and Brown Thomas Arnotts marked 10 years of collaboration for the 'Designer to Watch' Bursary Award last week, naming fashion design student Clodagh Leavy as this year's winner. Hailing from Co. Meath, Clodagh, a final-year fashion design student at the National College of Art and Design, won the coveted title thanks to her colourful collection of clothing, Anna's Studio. As the winner of this year's award, Leavy will receive a bursary worth €4,000 and the opportunity to display her collection at Brown Thomas Arnotts this summer. "My whole collection and concept is based around my granny, Anna-Marie," she told RTÉ Lifestyle. "She was a watercolour artist for over 60 years, and growing up, she was always my biggest influence." Sadly, Anna-Marie passed away last summer, but Clodagh says she was a huge inspiration to her as an aspiring artist: "She actually went to NCAD back in the day, so she was delighted when she found out that I was going and studying fashion." Drawing on memories of her grandmother's studio, which she described as being filled to the brim with colour, texture and stories, Clodagh says her collection is hugely personal to her. "I created a really bright collection that reflected her personality," she explains, describing her creations as maximalist, playful, wearable, and fun. "There's lots of smocking, quilting, embroidery," says the up-and-coming designer, who recently interned with British fashion company Molly Goddard. "It's quite daunting, but I'm excited to actually get into the industry now," she muses. "I'm very passionate about things being made in Ireland and being a designer at home." Announcing the winner at NCAD, Darren Feeney, Head of Art Direction and Creative, Brown Thomas Arnotts, said: "The standard from this year's fifteen finalists was incredibly high, but Clodagh Leavy's collection truly stood out. Inspired by her grandmother's art, she presented beautifully hand-painted garments that showcased a confident use of colour, volume, and texture." Members of the public can view Clodagh's work and all NCAD graduates' collections and designs, across all disciplines, as part of NCAD WORKS 2025 at the National College of Art and Design graduate showcase. It runs from Friday, 6 June to Saturday, 14 June.
Irish Independent
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Wicklow artist who draws inspiration from landscapes and woodlands to hold first solo exhibition
Wicklow People Today at 01:00 A local Wicklow visual artist is gearing up for her first solo exhibition which invites audiences to find beauty in the unexpected and to appreciate the delicate balance between nature and the human experience. Sarah Randle's work intertwines the wonders of the natural world with the captivating narratives found in film, books, life and the limitless realms of her imagination. She lives in Wicklow town and often explores nearby forests, woodlands and gardens which serve as both a sanctuary and an inspiration towards her work. Speaking about her upcoming 'A Visual Awakening' exhibition, Sarah said: 'I have been involved in different group exhibitions before but this will be my first solo exhibition, which I am very excited about.' Graduating with an Honours degree in fine art painting from the National College of Art and Design, Sarah honed her skills in various media, including oil, acrylic and ink. 'My creative process is deeply influenced by nostalgia, cinematography and world events,' said Sarah. 'I seek to capture fleeting moments of beauty and emotion, transforming them into vibrant and atmospheric visual experiences that resonate with viewers. "I believe that beauty exists not only in grand landscapes but also in the subtle details of everyday life, prompting me to explore themes of connection, memory and the passage of time, while also using my art as a platform to advocate for the preservation of our planet's beauty.' 'A Visual Awakening' exhibition launches in Wicklow Library on Tuesday, June 3, at 7pm and then continues until Monday, June 30.
Irish Independent
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
My money: ‘I felt very poor when working as a stylist in Dublin in the 1980s and living over a joke shop in town'
Helen Cody, fashion designer, whose creations grace red carpets at the Oscars and at Cannes Today at 21:30 Helen Cody is one of Ireland's foremost fashion designers. After studying fashion and textiles at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, she went to work for French Vogue in Paris, where she styled supermodels such as Naomi Campbell. Cody's work also took her to New York and London, and she became a leading stylist for fashion magazines, celebrities and music videos, styling The Corrs and The Cranberries. Her designs have graced red carpets at the Oscars and the Cannes Film Festival. The Dubliner re-established her eponymous fashion label in Dublin in 2013. She will be one of the designers speaking at the 'Fashion Conversations with Coffee' event, at Anantara The Marker hotel on the Grand Canal Dock in Dublin, Friday at 11am. The event is part of the first-ever Design Week Dublin, which runs from tomorrow until next Sunday. How did your upbringing shape your relationship with money? Growing up in Dublin – I was the youngest of four – we weren't poor. I'd say we were pretty average. But early on, my mum instilled in all of us the idea that waste was very wrong. Even a roast chicken was turned into stock and soup to get the best value out of it. She made clothes for my sisters and I, knitting jumpers and smocking our dresses by hand. I would use the scraps of fabric to make my dolls' clothes. So we all developed an eye for great design early on. My father, on the other hand, travelled a lot with the United Nations to far-flung places. When opening his suitcases on his return, they would be full of treasures to spoil us. He loved the finer things in life. Have you ever felt broke? The poorest I ever felt was when I was living over the joke shop on South King Street in Dublin city centre. It was the late Eighties and I was trying to make a career out of being a stylist – but we didn't have a phone in our flat. I would make calls in the morning from the public phone box in The Gaiety next door. I'd raid everyone's coat pockets to get enough change to call Anne Harris, my editor at the Sunday Indo, to see what she had in store for me that week. What's the most expensive place you've ever been to? I think anywhere can feel really expensive – it just depends on your financial situation at the time. I tend not to travel unless I can easily afford it. What was your best-ever investment? Apart from my beloved dogs, it has to be my house. I love it and we've been through a lot there. I feel really sorry for anyone trying to buy a home now in Ireland – I don't know how first-time buyers do it. Do you still carry cash? I will always have some cash to tip waiters as I always want them to receive the money directly. What was your worst-ever job? The worst job I ever had was a long time ago, thankfully. I'd returned from Paris and got a job on Head to Toe, the RTÉ fashion programme. It was a very far cry from the glamour of Vogue and I didn't stay long. What's your biggest financial regret? Every painting I couldn't buy. Are you a spender or a saver? I'm a pretty cautious person. I stopped using credit cards years ago. If I don't have it, I won't spend it. Being self-employed, I've learned to have enough in the bank to cover the tough times. What three things would you not be able to do without if you had to tighten your belt? The three things I couldn't live without thankfully haven't much to do with money. My family, my little dog Joe, and fresh homemade food – that's what matters most.
Irish Independent
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Dundalk-based printmaker Colleen Eilís Murphy takes up residency at Creative Spark
A fine art graduate from the National College of Art and Design, she uses vibrant colours and layering techniques in her printmaking. Inspired by mythology and tarot, she reimagines traditional stories. An active member of Creative Spark Print Studio, Cooleen has exhibited in a group exhibition in An Táin and also in Hen's Teeth, Dublin, Rua Red and Outset, Gallery, and has recently had her work published in Good Day Cork. She was awarded a Visual Arts Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland in 2022 to further develop her practice. Colleen's approach to printmaking mirrors the structure of storytelling: layered, deliberate, and constantly evolving. She uses screen printing and mixed media techniques to reinterpret traditional symbols, playing with repetition and variation to invite viewers to reconsider familiar narratives. Inspired by mythology, tarot, and religious iconography, her work often features striking imagery—such as a suited monkey, a pedigree dog, and a dinosaur sharing space with Adam and Eve. These elements challenge conventional ideas of human origins, evolution, and storytelling with humour and thoughtfulness. Colleen's art practice also extends into community engagement. Facilitating workshops and working collaboratively has become an integral part of her exploration into shared stories and collective memory. They inform her studio practice and allow for a deeper exploration of how myth and identity are shaped through dialogue and exchange. During her time at Creative Spark, Colleen will explore themes inspired by the Irish language, focusing on how it connects—or disconnects—us from place, memory, and identity. This new direction will see her experiment with printmaking, installation, and mixed media—using the FabLab to push her work beyond the page and into more physical forms. Colleen also hopes to connect with the local community to gather Irish words, phrases, and stories that will shape her evolving project.
Irish Examiner
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Blasket Islands to Vogue magazine: Maria Simonds-Gooding on art adventures, Kerry travels, and Peig's son
Lucy and Robert Carter of the Grilse Gallery in Killorglin would have pleased many of Maria Simonds-Gooding's admirers by mounting an exhibition of her recent work. Wisely, they have chosen instead to show a selection of the Dunquin-based artist's paintings, plaster works and prints from throughout her career, demonstrating the evolution of her unique style over six decades. The exhibition, What land and country is this?, will run until 18 May. Simonds-Gooding has led a colourful life. Born in India in 1939, to an Irish mother and an English father who served as an officer in the British army, she moved with her family to Dooks, near Glenbeigh, when she was seven. Hers was an idyllic childhood; she was home schooled till she was 12, and never settled into conventional education, leaving school without qualifications at 16. Simonds-Gooding always had an inkling that she would study art, but her parents were not so enthusiastic about the prospect, fearing she would never earn a living as an artist. But she persisted, working at a variety of jobs while she saved the money to go to college. The one she remembers most vividly was her stint as a matron in Worth Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Sussex. 'I was in charge of 52 boys,' she says. 'I made sure they washed before going to bed at night, and I got them out of bed in the morning, all that sort of stuff. I liked the boys a lot, but I had to darn all their socks, so I spent hour after hour in the sewing room. It was just too much, horrendous. I did it for a year, and then I left to study art.' The first college she attended was the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. 'But that was an absolute waste of time,' she says, 'a nightmare.' She left within a year, moving to Belgium, where another art college, Lausanne de Peinture, proved to be as great a disappointment. She finally found her feet studying painting at Bath Academy in the UK, where she completed her degree. Simonds-Gooding was always back and forth to visit her family at Dooks. In her early twenties, she began venturing further west, visiting Dunquin and the Blasket Islands. 'In those days, Dunquin was extremely remote,' she says. 'But everything about it attracted me, especially the Irish language. Wherever you have remoteness, it doesn't matter where it is in the world, you have more of the original culture and all that goes with it, and those were the things that really did and still do fascinate me.' A piece by Maria Simonds-Gooding. Eventually, she moved to Dunquin. She lived in a caravan in Baile Bhiocáire for a time, and befriended her neighbour Micheál 'An File' Ó Gaoithín, Peig Sayers' son and a well-known poet in his own right. 'I got this idea one day,' she says. 'I brought tons of paper and paints and brushes over to his house. He groaned when he saw them, like he had no interest, but when I went back a few days later, he had done this wonderful painting from memory, of Peig with her cat. And from then on, he never stopped painting till the day he died. I never taught him a thing, but he did hundreds of paintings and drawings.' Many of Ó Gaoithín's paintings adorn the walls of her cottage in the townland of Ceathrú, which she bought in 1968 from Maidhc Shea Faight, a Blasket Islander who'd restored it 20 years before and lived there with his sister until they moved into Dingle. 'Maidhc brought out the wooden roof from his home on the Blasket, and he built the house to fit it. So this is a classic Blasket Island cottage, 12 feet by 22, only it's on the mainland.' Simonds-Gooding soon added a new bedroom, which she used as her studio for many years. She put out cards advertising her paintings and prints, and people would call to the cottage to buy them. Before long, largely through word of mouth, she was showing regularly, in Dingle, Cork and Dublin. She was featured in newspapers, on radio and television. A profile in Vogue magazine led to a number of exhibitions in New York. As she became more successful, she added further rooms to the house, including the large studio she uses to this day. Simonds-Gooding has travelled widely, in New Mexico, Mali, Georgia and Egypt. 'I loved the Sinai Mountains,' she says. 'There's a monastery 5,000 feet up, in a little valley, and then the mountain goes up another 7,000 feet, and that's where Moses received the Ten Commandments.' She has had many adventures closer to home. She recalls how she once wrangled an invitation from the OPW to spend a night on Skellig Michael, but the weather was so bad, she stayed for two. The drawings she made on that occasion inspired a number of the etchings in her current show. Another piece by Maria Simonds-Gooding in the exhibition at Grilse in Killorglin. Further back, in 1968, she spent an enchanting few weeks on Inishvickillane, picking shellfish and snaring rabbits for food as she worked on her sketchbooks. This was long before Charles Haughey bought the island from the Ó Dálaigh family; Simonds-Gooding was ferried out by a party of scuba divers in a dinghy, and she stayed in a tent. There was no bedsheet, 'and you have no idea of how many beetles and God knows what got into my sleeping bag. But I would have put up with anything for my art.' She was enthralled by the island lore. One drystone wall by the Ó Dálaighs' cottage was said to have been built to protect a blind sheep from falling into the sea. 'What farmer today would go to that trouble?' she says. 'But that's the kind of thing I look for, and that's why I love going to such remote places.' In October, Simonds-Gooding will be part of a three-person exhibition, along with Micheál Ó Gaoithín and the Antiguan artist Frank Walter at Dublin Castle. Again, she is taking the whole thing in her stride. 'I'm just sitting here, and all this is happening,' she says. 'And that's how it's always been.' Maria Simonds-Gooding, What land and country is this?, runs at the Grilse Gallery in Killorglin until 18 May. Further information:
