GESTURE is a new space within Our Thriving Tribe Project (OTT) where arts professionals were commissioned to consider entrepreneurship from the perspective of the arts in Ireland and respond with a gesture.
Each Gesture was digitally documented: this documentation became part of Our Thriving Tribes research materials. Each unique Gesture remained with the arts professional. The commissioned documentation from GESTURE will be exhibited online, shared through the OTT & AHEH projects digital platforms and published in the Our Thriving Tribe publication.
Bernadette Kiely graduated from the College of Art and Design, Waterford I.T. with first class honours in Graphic Design Communications and worked for two years in Graphic Design in London and Architecture in New York before attending the Slade School of Fine Art, University of London, UK.
Her largescale paintings and drawings have been exhibited in solo exhibitions at The Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, The Source Arts Centre, Thurles, LUAN Gallery, Athlone, Ballina Arts Centre, Co. Mayo, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise, Model Gallery, Sligo, Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, Co. Armagh, N. Ireland, Imagine Arts Festival, Waterford, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Skive Kunstmuseum, Skive, Denmark and in group exhibitions at The Royal Academy, London, UK, The Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, The Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast, N. Ireland, the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Kinsale Arts Festival, the American Irish Historical Society, New York, USA. Bernadette’s recent exhibition “one touch of nature makes the whole world kin” is taken from Ulysses’ famous speech in William Shakespeare’s play Troilus and Cressida. Continuing with Bernadette Kiely’s theme of mapping the changing landscape and the passage of time, the exhibition included paintings depicting flooding on the river Nore and on the Suir and paintings referencing wildfires, a theme she first explored in the late ‘90’s. The exhibition also included a series of small paintings made in response to her nightly walks around the deserted streets of Thomastown where she lives.
She was elected to the membership of Aosdana. in 2007. Studio residencies include the RHA Schools in 2015, the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Co. Mayo, The Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Co. Monaghan and Cill Rialaig Artists retreat Centre, Co. Kerry. Bernadette’s work is held in public and private collections in Ireland, UK, Europe, USA and Korea. She is represented in Ireland by Taylor Galleries, Dublin.
Bernadette partcipated in the OTT zoom room sessions which can be viewed here.
Bernadette Kiely’s website: www.bernadettekiely.ie
Taylor Galleries: www.taylorgalleries.ie