Helen O’Shea

NAME: Helen O’Shea FROM: Cork City, Ireland PROFESSION: Textile Artist

BUSINESS/COMPANY/PRACTICE NAME:

ABOUT ME

I enjoy innovating and exploring with different material to discover its qualities. Throughout this en- counter I learn and ask questions… What if? This always leads me to develop further, push bound- aries and new ways of presenting material.

To date ‘low tech’ and slow hand methods of manipulation have been my practice. I applied to this iAtelier project to experience the different possibility’s technology can offer and contemplate how these might bring forward new ways of working.

I also look forward to working in collaboration with others. To push beyond the vision of one individ- ual is a very stimulating environment for me and I am open to the potential this offers.

A key drive in my current practice is the reuse of materials. Five years ago I chose to work with waste plastics, and call attention to the potential still available within this unwanted material.

Recently completed a Master’s by Research in MTU Crawford College of Art and Design (CCAD). The resulting exhibition ‘Balancing Relations’ looks at the speculative prospect of what is beyond our vision, in the depths of the oceans. It uses the transformation of waste plastics to raise themes of environmental, material, and ecological concern. The resulting intimate creations foreground the mark of the hand using textile sensibilities, while exploring the potential to reuse waste plastics in a contemporary art setting. Disrupting perceptions of waste and exposing this material’s potential through subversive aesthetics, questions end-of-life issues.

I have exhibited internationally as part of Crafting A Difference, London and Collect Edit 2021, Dis- covery in Tresor Contemporary Craft Fair, Basel, Switzerland, also in China as part of Irish Wave 3 &

4. I undertook residencies in Cill Riallaigh also with a mentoring role in CCAD and received support from Arts Council in 2015 to undertake a residency in Iceland.

MY SKILLS

I have a good understanding and intuition of materials with a broad range of hand skills.

I like to innovate and respond to different materials. My textile Skills include – weaving, spinning, dying, felting, sewing by hand and machine, fabricating, and using sculptural techniques. I have also worked in clay, print and metals.

Have knowledge of Photoshop and a good grasp of computer skills.