Tuam Artist Spotlight: Jennifer Cunningham

Creative Places Tuam is delighted to present the Tuam Artist Spotlight, a rolling programme celebrating the artists, makers, musicians, performers, writers, filmmakers, creatives and cultural contributors living and working in Tuam and its surrounding areas.

The Tuam Artist Spotlight features a two-week public display in the windows of Connaughtons on Shop Street, an online Artist Spotlight profile shared across Creative Places Tuam’s website and social media channels, and a fun and informative artist interview, which you can read below.

Artist Spotlight: Jennifer Cunningham

Click here to visit Jennifer’s website.

Follow Jennifer:

Instagram: @jennifercunninghamartist
Facebook: Art classes by Jennifer Cunningham

Get to know Jennifer Cunnigham and her artistic practice:

Biography

I am an artist based in Tuam with a strong teaching and exhibition practice. I graduated with a First-Class Honours degree from GMIT in 2002 and completed a Master’s in Fine Art at NCAD in 2008. I currently run art classes in Tuam.

I have received a number of awards and supports throughout my career, including the ADI Research and Development of Work Award 2025, the ADI Connect Mentoring Award 2023, the Arts Council Visual Artist Bursary Award 2021, the Agility Award 2021, several Galway City and County Individual Artist Support Scheme awards, Creative Places Tuam Cultural Growth Fund 2025, the Creative Places Tuam Artist Bursary (2020), the Thomas Damann Travel Award (2008) and the Taylor Art Award (2002).

My residency experience includes Cybernate, a Galway Culture Company/Pôle Pixel Lyon collaboration in 2024/25, as well as Fire Station Artists’ Studios 2013, the RHA 2012, the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annamacarrig 2013, and SIM Iceland 2008.

I have exhibited nationally and internationally and notable solo exhibitions include All That Surrounds Us at the Ashford Gallery, RHA (2017), After the Future at Galway International Arts Festival (2018), which attracted more than 30,000 visitors and received a five-star review in The Irish Times, and Between Worlds at Galway Arts Centre as part of Baboró International Arts Festival for Children (2019).

Artist Statement

I am an autistic artist whose practice explores climate change, biodiversity and our changing relationship with the natural environment. I am interested in bringing the climate conversation into communities and creating new ways for audiences to engage with and become more aware of the environmental crisis.

My background in mountaineering, and my membership of Mountaineering Ireland, have deepened my connection to the natural environment. During recent research trips to the French Alps, I was shocked by the extent to which the glaciers had retreated. Glaciers that would once have been wet and expansive had been reduced to grey, stone-covered remnants of previous years. This experience, alongside my daily walks in Knockma, has heightened my awareness of the biodiversity crisis and prompted me to consider what I can do as an artist to highlight these changes.

I explore the idea of solastalgia – the grief and distress experienced when the environment we know and feel connected to is altered. My memory paintings consider what we stand to lose if action is not taken. This body of work began when I discovered a series of old family slides, which became a starting point for exploring memory, place and the changing environment.

My practice is interdisciplinary, encompassing painting, printmaking, drawing, model making, film, digital media, theatre, set design and performance. In recent years, it has become increasingly collaborative, with a particular interest in combining visual art, projection, film and performance to create shared experiences and new ways of engaging audiences with environmental and cultural themes.

What is your connection to Tuam? 

I moved to Tuam in 2014 and I have lived and worked here ever since.

Perhaps moving to Tuam was fate as I have previously taken part in the Earwig Arts festival. It was great craic. I also had two great granduncles, Michael and Dennis who were saddlers in Tuam. They lived in Church View and Shop Street and were brothers of my great grandfather the seanchaí John Cunningham. My people are from Caltra and Biggera so I guess I’m kind of a cream bun.

I run art classes here for adults which are a lot of fun.  You see my work on ww.jenniferart.ie, Instagram or Facebook. I’m starting a new art class in Tuam on Wednesday evenings, for bookings email jennifercunninghamartist@gmail.com.

Our Shared Ground: Exhibition at Tuam Library and Connaughtons 

Launching Friday 4th September, 4 PM at Tuam Library, running until the 30th of September

This work, alongside the work on display in Tuam Library, brings together my own artistic practice and the work I have recently been developing with my local community.

It all started with a conversation.

We live in the most connected era in human history, yet loneliness is widespread. WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook have become a poor substitute for face-to-face connection. Technology has offered endless convenient alternatives to being together.

I long for community, for the sense of a village, for the analogue instead of the digital.  I spoke with Pádraig Stevens last January, and he gave me a notebook to begin a Village Voice project, with the idea that it would be passed around the community for people to contribute to.

While working on the project, it quickly became apparent that I would need more than one small notebook, so I passed around several sketchbooks.  People also called to my studio, where I did drawing warm-ups with them, and we worked on the notebooks together. They were passed back and forth.  It was like a strange postal service…. It was wonderful; the feel of pencil on paper and being in person with people can’t be replicated by a FaceTime call.  I loved seeing what people had created. In my studio, I would look at them slowly, deliberately, savouring them.  Small details would stand out, the way someone had scratched into the paint or how they had carefully created a collage. We don’t often pay attention in that way anymore. I used to devour books, but even finishing them now can be hard. Drawings and handwritten work make you slow down and pay attention.

These exchanges organically developed into a series of art workshops where we experimented, played and tested different ideas. Together, we created artists’ books and journals, cyanotype and intaglio prints, AR and stop-motion animation, field sketches and drawings, as well as a large-scale collaborative painting. We explored the biodiversity around Tuam, took photographs, made rubbings and sang songs (thanks Tome Chanters!).

The town itself became part of the project. Workshops took place along the River Nanny, at Brú Bhríde, on Knockma, in the library and in my studio. Through making, exploring and sharing ideas, we found new ways to connect with one another and with the place we live.

I hope to take the project further in the future. It has been great fun and, as Margaret Moggan put it, “It’s been like a summer camp for adults.”

At the heart of this project is a simple reminder of our need for connection – with one another, with nature and with creativity. Disconnection can cause real harm, while addressing the biodiversity crisis requires collective action. Everyone has a role to play in protecting the natural world for future generations.

By slowing down and looking closely at the nature around us, we have discovered a deeper connection not only to our environment, but to each other.

Special thanks to Valerie Kelly, Creative Communities Engagement Officer and fellow outdoors enthusiast, who supported and mentored me through this project. This project was made possible with the kind support of Creative Ireland Creative Communities funding and Galway County Council.

As well as the exhibition, there will be a free zine making workshop in Tuam Library for Culture Night, Friday 18th September 2026, at 4pm. Contact Tuam Library on 093 24287 to book a place.

Thanks to Tuam Tidy Towns, Creative Places Tuam, Bru Bhríde, Tuam Library, Helen Gillard, Joanna Mc Glynn, Fiona Hession and all the participants of the project: Mary O Connor, Margaret Moggan, Patricia King Callaghan, Mary Burke, Mary Trayers and her grandchildren, Sophie and Cian, Kathleen Comerford, Emily Mai Comerford, JP Mc Manus, Evelyn Stevens, Padraig Stevens, Ann Murphy, Michéal Moloney, Margaret Moggan, Eimear Nic Càba, Daire Nic Càba, Emily Acheson, Marie Cunningham, Timothy Acheson, Mary O Connor, Aisling O Connor and Lauren, Nadia Shchekanova, Nora Shaughnessy, Rana Omar, Mary Connolly, Theresa Harrington, Gary Walsh and Bridget King.

The exhibition launches on Friday 4th September, 4 PM at Tuam Library, with guest speaker Jospehine Vahey and runs until the 30th of September. All are welcome to join us for the opening event and to experience the work throughout the exhibition period.

Quick-Fire Questions with Jennifer

Describe your creative practice in three words.

Nostalgic, multidisciplinary, social

What is one thing you can’t work without?

Connection but also music. I need to play music while working and my art practice is pointless without connection. I love collaborating when I can.

If your creative work had a soundtrack, what would be playing?

The album “Give Up” by The Postal Service as it has a bittersweet nostalgic vibe and I try to create a similar atmosphere in my own work.

What’s the most underrated thing about Tuam?

The wealth of talent here. I was at the Paul Cunniffe concert last week and between that and being in the Tome Chanters choir, the range and depth of musical talent in the town has been brought home to me over the last few years.

If you could put one piece of art anywhere in town, where would it go?

I already have one in Tuam Library, it’s called “Night Stars” and was bought by Galway County Council during my solo show in the Galway International Arts Festival. I love libraries and used to work in one. My other favourite spot in Tuam is the Little Mill, Its like an oasis in Tuam town and Id love an artwork there.

What is your completely useless talent?

Being able to pick the longest, slowest line any place there is a queue… supermarkets, airports, etc. If you allow me to choose, it will be the longest, slowest line.

What food could you eat every day?

Taytos – aka “dinner” in Junie’s.

What song are you currently obsessed with?

“Funny World” by Paul Cunniffe.

What does success look like to you?

Having fun, family and friends, my health, a place to live, the freedom to practice my art and walk in nature.

What talent would you most like to have?

To be organised and tidy. To be able to play piano and sing well.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Ignore your imposter syndrome. Also, get a keyboard to mess on, its a bit of craic!

What do you wish people understood about artists?

That it’s actually quite hard work. It’s enjoyable work, but it’s not relaxing, and that it’s challenging at times to earn a living, especially in the age of AI. I hate AI as it keeps trying to steal the jobs I love, like being an illustrator and being confidently wrong.

If your art practice was an animal, what would it be?

A raven, or maybe a magpie. You should see our shed – way too much hoarding going on.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Two things, both of which aren’t easy to follow:

1. Do not seek validation from other people. There is a Marcus Aurelius quote about it, that seeking validation from others ruins your peace of mind because people’s opinions change all the time.

2. Try and live in the present moment when you can.