Nuala O DONOVAN
Shortlisted 2010

work shown : Teasel Stretched Form #3 (2008)
High fired unglazed porcelain
50 x 26 x 23 cm
(click on picture to see larger image)

Project

I am a 'career changer' and began working as a professional artist two years ago after graduating with an MA from the Crawford College of Art and Design in 2008. I currently work exclusively with porcelain, creating sculptural forms. Since graduating I have been renting a studio space in the National Sculpture Factory in Cork where I have been mainly making work for exhibitions in Ireland and Europe. Although I have been delighted with my success in qualifying for exhibitions and awards over the past year I have found that the income from my work barely covers the expenses involved. Funding would make it financially possible for me to set up a permanent studio and to continue producing work for exhibitions until I have become more established as a professional artist.

Exract from Artist Statement

My work combines regular pattern with the characteristics of irregular patterns and forms from nature. Each element of the pattern is individually made, the form is constructed slowly over a period of weeks or months, and fired a number of times during the making process.

The finished forms are the result of an intuitive response to the direction that the pattern takes as well as the irregularity in the handmade elements of the pattern. I have used the characteristics of irregular/fractal patterns in nature as a system of constraints or guidelines when taking decisions about the forms:
- The patterns are regularly irregular
- The patterns and form are self-similar
- The pattern records a response to random events during the making process.

The result of using the characteristics of fractal geometry in making decisions regarding the form of the sculptural pieces, is that the form is resolved but retains a sense of potential change. The viewer engages with the piece by allowing their own personal experiences to influence their view of the outcome of the form and/or future possibilities. I hope that this aspect of my work also evokes the transitory quality of living organisms, combining traces of history, the present and the future, in the patterns that make up their surfaces and forms.

My decision to research patterns and forms in nature stemmed from my interest in the narrative quality of irregularities in patterns. The history behind a scarred or broken surface is what fascinates me. The evidence of a response to random events visible in patterns in nature, is testimony to the ability of living creatures to recover, to respond, and to continue growing and changing. It is the imperfections in the patterns caused by a unique experience that are evidence of the life force in living organisms.

Website : http://nualaodonovan.com