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Tuam is a town with a long history of print – the Tuam Herald has been in the town since 1837, and was once printed on a Gutenberg press, right in the centre of town!
Creative Places Tuam are pleased to invite artists and printmakers Aoife Barrett and Kate O’Shea to Tuam, to build upon this legacy as part of their upcoming Print Residency.
Aoife and Kate will engage in an active research phase with town residents, sharing skills and earning more about the town and what people want to say about it. This will be a space for people to come together and share ideas, make work together and learn a new skill – printmaking! Screen printing and poster design are brilliant ways to engage with others, co-create work together and express your town.
WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR YOUR TOWN?
Aoife Barrett is an established visual artist and printmaker with a broad social practice that focuses on the power of community, creativity and arts and health. She collaborates with hospitals, charities, councils, community-minded groups, arts organisations and other artists, helping people to express their thoughts and feelings by co-creating artworks. Her work is driven by inclusivity, the sharing and enjoyment of collaborative-creation and the communities bonded by this process.
She holds a BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art Printmaking from Limerick School of Art and Design (2010) and MA in Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking from the University of the West of England (2015). She also holds a BA (Hons) Degree in Archaeology from the University College Cork (2006). Recent awards include an Arts Council Visual Arts Bursary (2020), an Artist in Community Scheme Award (2020), Creative Ireland Tipperary Project Award (2020), the inaugural Portiuncula University Hospital Visual Artist in Residence (2019) and Age & Opportunity Artist in Residence in a Care Setting (2019).
Kate O’ Shea is an artist working across printmaking, large-scale installation, performance, and publishing. Kate recently finished her two-year Just City Residency HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? with Common Ground, Dublin 8. In late 2021 Kate began a process of critical reflection and review of twelve years of her artistic practice with mentor Dr Ciaran Smyth of Vagabond Reviews. In their newspaper Gravity Express, they present some fragments from that work together, with support from the Artist in the Community Scheme (2021 Bursary in Collaborative Arts and Community Development). In 2018 Kate co-founded the publishing house Durty Books. In 2015 she co-founded The People’s Kitchen. Kate is a member of The Living Commons Ireland, Housing Action Now, CATU, Community Action Tenants Union, Praxis Artists Union, and Red Wheelbarrow Productions.
