KILKENNY VISUAL ARTISTS MENTORING PROGRAMME
Kilkenny County Council Arts Officer Mary Butler is pleased to invite applications from eligible artists for the Kilkenny Visual Artists Mentoring Programme. This programme is part of Kilkenny Arts Office’s Artists Supports Programme 2022 and provides an opportunity for artists to meet face-to-face with a specialist mentor who has expertise in their artform to discuss and develop their artistic practice. The sessions will provide expert guidance, practical support and advice. This Programme is open to Kilkenny visual artists who are registered members of ArtLinks only. Artists interested in applying for programme support should download an application form from the bottom of this post.
The closing date for receipt of Visual Artists Mentoring applications is: 4pm Tuesday May 3rd, 2022.
Any queries can be sent to : artlinks.ie@gmail.com
ABOUT THE MENTORING PROGRAMME
The mentoring sessions will cover a range of topics specific to an individual artist’s needs. The sessions provide the artist with the opportunity to discuss such areas as;
- Planning and developing your artistic practice and professional development path
- Working in context with the wider artistic community/ socially engaged practice
- Marketing your artistic practice and maximising online awareness
- Applying for commissions and public art
- Finance, budgeting and applying for funding
- Creating sustainability for your current artistic practice
The mentoring service offers the following benefits to the artist:
- Expert guidance
- Objective, independent advice
- Relevant and practical support
- Confidential assistance on sensitive issues
- A sounding board to help in making decisions
Successful artists will receive six mentoring sessions, both in person and online, over the period of May to November 2022.
Mentoring is provided by the following mentors:
Eamonn Maxwell
Eamonn Maxwell is a contemporary art curator, advisor, and mentor. Having studied fine art at Camberwell College of Arts, he has spent 20 years working with visual arts and organisations including the Arts Council of Ireland, Goldsmiths College of Art, and Lismore Castle Arts. Since graduating from Camberwell College of Arts, Maxwell has been involved in over 60 exhibitions in UK, Ireland, and Europe, including curating the Irish Pavilion at 2011 Venice Biennale. He has advised some of the leading contemporary art collectors and has served as a board member for many not-for-profit organisations. He is passionate about the importance of art in contemporary life and helping artists become successful in their disciplines.
Pauline O Connell
Pauline O’Connell is a visual artist, sometimes curator and educator based in rural County Kilkenny, Ireland and Amsterdam. Born in Dublin, Pauline grew up in Kilkenny city, studied Fine Art, Mixed Media at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology (1988-92), and received a 1st class M.A. in Social Practice and the Creative Environment at Limerick School of Art and Design (2012). She is completing a PhD at the University of Amsterdam, School of Heritage, Memory and Material Culture, where her practice-led, (auto)ethnographic research uses a range of media, including sound, video, photography, drawing, installation, and text, to focus on post-rural identity.
Ann Mulrooney
Ann Mulrooney has worked widely across the creative and cultural sector for over 25 years as an artist, curator, producer, programmer and director. She has curated over 80 exhibitions in Ireland and internationally and led significant cultural institutions including the National Craft and Design Gallery, the VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art and the Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin. She is deeply invested in creating meaningful engagement with sustainability, creativity and culture and works as an artist mentor, advisor and consultant for a number of organisations and agencies to support creative practice in various disciplines, as well as working voluntarily with local groups to develop biodiversity projects in her home town of Kilkenny. As a mentor she facilitates a reflective practice that aims to develop insight and clarify intentions and goals.
Aisling Prior
Aisling Prior is an independent, freelance curator.
She has curated major international and national group exhibitions such as ‘Neutral’, TULCA Festival of Visual Art, Galway in 2014, ‘See Through Art’ at the Hugh Lane, ‘Ireland and Europe’ at the Iveagh Gardens and ‘Art in The Life World’ in the Old Swimming Pool in Ballymun where less well known artists exhibited with those who are internationally renowned. Nationally curated exhibitions include ‘The Golden Fleece Award: 21 Years’ Solstice, Navan, April – June 2022, ‘SURVEYOR’, Solstice, 2021, ‘Agnès and I’ for the Black Church Print Studios at the Library Project, Temple Bar, ‘Hermione’ at Alexandra College, ‘Periodical Review’ at Pallas Projects and ‘Something Else’, Kilkenny Arts Festival in 2010.
She was Public Art Advisor to the Arts Council of Ireland (2011 to 2015) and Director of Visual Artists’ Ireland (1990 to 1997) and a founder director of the Galway Film Centre. As Artistic Director of the internationally acclaimed Breaking Ground, the Ballymun Regeneration Ltd art commission programme (2001 to 2009) she produced over forty art projects with international, national and local artists. She has since curated many public and private commissions, has participated on selection, evaluation and review panels, and has acted as an artists’ mentor for organisations and individual artists. She was co-curator of Fingal County Council’s Public Art commissions programme ‘Infrastructure’ (2016 to 2020)
One of her main interests as a curator is platforming emerging artists and exhibiting or commissioning them to make work alongside more established artists.
She holds a BA in Philosophy (UCD) and a 1st class Hons MA in Curatorial Studies (IADT). She is a member of the Programme Board of the RHA.
Download the Application Form Here:APPLICATION FORM
PLEASE EMAIL COMPLETED APPLICATION FORMS BY 4pm MAY 3rd TO: artlinks.ie@gmail.com
