ARTIST Ciara Gormley
Ciara Gormley’s prolific body of work is heavily informed by the magical surrounding of the Blackwater Valley where she has been based for the last 10 years. Her early career as an art director and set designer shaped her current style of painting, capturing the energy and essence of each scene, inveterately observing the natural world.
Painting landscapes, trees and seascapes in oils, Gormley paints quickly, keeping brushwork loose with sketch-like mark-making and fluid overlapping areas of colour in an attempt to capture the vitality of the light and to reflect the temporary and transient nature of the subject.
Having trained at both the RHA and the Crawford College of Art, she is largely self taught. She has also studied with London artist Nick Bashall and US based artists Josette Urso and Peter Schroth. In recent years, she attended the Ballinglen Arts Centre, completed a second residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Co.Monaghan and has just received her 4th Artlinks Bursary from Waterford County Council.
Ciara has exhibited extensively in Ireland and now also in London. A selection of her work can be found in galleries and private collections in Ireland, UK, Portugal and the United States of America.
Her images are both inspired and influenced by the rural beauty surrounding her studio, which is situated within the striking West Waterford Countryside.
She aims to capture the unique light, space and visual cycles of the natural landscape, which she is surrounded by. She merges shape and tone to replicate the impact of object and light.
Inside the Studio of Ciara Gormley
ARTWORKS BY Ciara Gormley
ARTIST’S Accolades
Collections
A selection of her work can be found in galleries and private collections in Ireland, UK, Portugal and the United States of America.
Exhibitions
- ‘The Strangest Sea’ with The Violet Hour Curators, November 2020 London.
- ‘Emerge’, the 2nd Edition at Highgate Contemporary, October 2020 London
- ‘I am of Ireland’, November 2020.
Awards
Ciara was awarded an Artlinks Bursary in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020 from Waterford County Council, who also awarded her a 2nd Residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in 2019.