Geraldine O'Reilly, Visual Artist and Printmaker. She is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Awarded a Fulbright scholarship to New York in 1989 to research Irish emigration to America for her exhibition 'Journal'. She has had many solo exhibitions and shown in selected group exhibitions throughout Ireland, America, Australia, France, Belgium, Sweden, England and Poland. A former board member of Graphic Studio Dublin and elected chairperson in 2008. In 2004 she was elected to Aosdana for her contribution to the arts in Ireland. In 2007, O'Reilly she was short listed for the Golden Fleece Award.
Selected for the exhibition Ciall/Sense in April 2011 at the Aislann Centre, Gweedore, Donegal she was awarded the judge's prize. In October 2011 she was awarded % for art commission by Offaly County Council to produce artwork based on exploring the Grand Canal. She completed a commission for Dublin City Council Arts Office as part of their public art programme in January 2013. Selected to make work for an exhibition celebrating 400 years of the Franciscans in Louvain, Belgium and Irelands presidency of the EU. The exhibition opened at the Irish College, Louvain, Belgium on the 9th May 2013. The exhibition was titled Shaping Identities Together/Ag Cruthu le Cheile. It transferred to the National Print Museum in Dublin in August 2013.
In May 2014 she exhibited at the Lab, Foley Street, Dublin in a two person exhibition titled 'Of Space and Place' accompanied by an essay by Professor Luke Gibbons of National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Co Kildare. She completed a residency at the Irish Cultural Centre, Paris, France in July 2013. In August 2014, O'Reilly was at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in County Mayo. Her work features in the volume on Art and Architecture - A 5 volume set published by the Royal Irish Academy.
In November 2014 She was selector/curator for the annual open submission exhibition at Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise 2014 and in July 2015 selector/curator for the Birr Arts Festival. In July 2015 she was selected to exhibit at the Burren School of Art Gallery in a group exhibition titled Postcript and was artist in residence at Aras Eanna, Inis Oirr, Aran Islands in May 2015 - where she made the work for Postscript. In March 2016 she exhibited a suite of new etchings and 3d prints for a three person exhibition titled Fragments, Metaphors and Smithereens at the Graphic Studio Gallery, Temple Bar, Dublin. The prints were based on her researches into the history of the Irish College/Centre Cultural Irlandais, Paris. In March 2016, she exhibited a new suite of drawings in the Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, County Mayo in the exhibition Kathleen Lynn- Insider on the Outside as part of their 1916 commemorations. Co Mayo. She made a short documentary with RTE television as part of their 1916/Every county has a story/Mayo which can be viewed now on You Tube.
In Febuary 2017, O'Reilly won % for art commission to make an artwork for St. Joseph's National School, Rathwire, Co Westmeath. The commission titled A Sense of Place was launched in March 2019. O'Reilly's series of photo etchings The Deserted Village featured in the exhibition Coming Home, Art and the Great Hunger from the Great Hunger Museum, Quinniapiac University, USA. It opened in Derry in 2019 having previously toured to the Coach House, Dublin Castle and the West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen in 2018. In January 2019, O'Reilly exhibited in the exhibition St. Bridget's Day at the 12 Star Gallery, Europe House, Westminister, London and at the Hamilton Gallery, Sligo. The exhibition was organised by the Hamilton Gallery to celebrate St Bridget's Day and the work of poet Leland Bardwell.
O'Reilly was curator and exhibitor for the exhibition Plate, Paper, Print at Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise, Co Laois. It featured 10 printmakers from Graphic Studio Dublin. The exhibition opened in January 2019 and ran until the end of February. O'Reilly was awarded a Westmeath County Council art grant for the project. She created a limited edition etching for an exhibition based on the poems of Seamus Heaney which opened at the Irish Festival, Bassano, Italy in June 2019. Invited artist for the exhibition 1919, an exhibition to celebrate the poem of the same name by William B.Yeats on the 60th anniversary of the Yeats Summer School, Sligo. The exhibition was organised by the Hamilton Gallery, opened in July 2019, Sligo and transfered to the Irish Consulate in New York City.
O'Reilly won a Creative Ireland Grant in May 2019 to create a project based on The Family Albums of the Parish of Killucan which resulted in an exhibition and the photographic legacy archived at Mullingar Library. An Post selected the painting Emigrant's Letter and Envelope from O'Reilly's first exhibition 'Journal' to create one of six special edition stamps under the title The Irish Abroad . The stamps were launched February 2020. O'Reilly exhibited in the exhibition KANREKI, at the Model and Niland Gallery, Sligo. Kanreki is an exhibition of Japanese Mokuhanga prints and it transfered to Graphic Studio Gallery in April 2021. Kanreki travelled to the Mokuhanga Conference in Nara, Japan in October 2021 where it was exhibited at the Cultural Centre, Nara, Japan. O'Reilly was selected for the exhibition Expanded, Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin in February 2022.
In 2020/21 O'Reilly created 10 illustrations to accompany poems by the poet and writer Mary O'Donnell and project managing the making of 'Unlegendary Heroes' which is a limited edition box set of screen prints. The prints were printed at Graphic Studio Dublin. The project was launched at the end of 2021 and exhibited at Dunamaise Arts Centre Portlaoise, Co Laois, March 2022. It then transferred to Maynooth University Library in April 2022. It was exhibited as part of the Royal Hibernian Academy annual exhibition May 2022 where O'Reilly was an invited artist. It was exhibited at the Grilse Gallery, Killorglin, Co Kerry in November 2023.
She exhibited a painting with the Hamilton Gallery, Sligo in the exhibition based on the poem 'St. Bridget's Well' by Eileain Ni Chuilleanain which transferred to Nanchizi Art Mueum, Beijing, China and opened 1st February 2024. O'Reilly created a suite of paintings for the exhibition Lapus Lazuli for the Hamilton Gallery in 2022. It opened at the Choi Centre - Cloud House, No 16 Huantie Zhixian Section A, Jiangtai, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China 14th June 2024. It transfers to the Hamilton Gallery, Sligo. O'Reilly had a painting selected for the exhibition Europe in the heart of Ireland, Europa Gallery, Chatham Gallery, Dublin on the 4th October 2024. In 2023 she exhibited at the Hamilton Gallery in the exhibition Impressions and in Ancestral Homes at Lolligo Art Space, in Beijing, China. It transferred to Chegdu and Chongqing. The exhibition was organised by the Hamiton Gallery in conjunction with the Irish Embassy in China. O'Reilly created an artwork celebrating past traditional musicians from the County of Westmeath titled 'Mullingar Remembers/Cuimhnigh muid'. The artwork was launched duirng the All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil 2022 held in Mullingar. This project was funded through Creative Ireland and the artwork hangs in Aras an Mhuilinn, Comhaltas Regional Headquarters, Mullingar.
In November 2022, O'Reilly curated an exhibition to accompany a weekend of events titled A Single Rose celebrating the work of Leland Bardwell, Model and Niland Gallery, Sligo. The commission 'A Grand Canal' is on loan to The Esker Arts Centre, Tullamore, Co Offaly, April 2023/24 by Offaly County Council. A podcast titled the Curiosity Series made to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Arts Council of Ireland is available on https://www.artscouncil.ie/the-curiosity-series/ The podcast features O'Reilly and Mary O'Donnell talking about their collaboration 'Unlegendary Heroes'. The interviewer is Maeve Higgins,comedian/writer and podcaster. Poetry Ireland Review 2024 features my etching 'The Blackbird of Glanmore on the cover and a selection of my drawings and paintings inside. The photo etching Offerings to Briget was selected for a new anthology of writing and art titled Fire, Brigid and the Sacred Feminine launched on the 26th September. Publisher Arlen House.
Contact Details: Geraldine O'Reilly, Thomastown, Killucan, Co. Westmeath
Mobile: 00353 (0)87 9231106
Landline: none
www.hamiltongallery.ie
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