Deirdre Byrne is a visual artist based between Wexford and Seville.Her current series of drawings on wood combine research into landscape and a sense of place with a love of experimenting with materials and colour. Sketches, photographs and satellite imagery were collected as source material from a number of sites in Andalucía, primarily the edgelands of Doñana National Park. The works show singular objects plucked from the landscape: stork nests, cacti, a plume of smoke from a forest fire, and clouds; as well as abandoned buildings that have been reclaimed by the landscape. There are also aerial views showing extreme weather conditions such as sand storms and drought in this increasingly warm, dry place. Observing and making work on this landscape has allowed her to draw meaning from and feel attachment to this particular environment.
Deirdre has a fine art painting degree and a postgraduate diploma in Visual Art Education from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Recent exhibitions and projects include; selection to the 191st RHA Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, selection to the 140th RUA Annual Exhibition, Royal Ulster Academy of Arts, Belfast. She was awarded a commission to create a new animation to be projected on the exterior of dlr LexIcon in October 2021. This commission is funded by Creative Ireland and supported and managed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Arts Office.
Her work has been exhibited in Ireland and internationally, including in Museo ABC, Rizoma Galería, Madrid, Draíocht, Blanchardstown, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin and Tinahely Courthouse. In 2018 her work was selected by NCAD, Business to Arts, and Dublin Airport to be exhibited as part of the Creative Journeys Billboard project in Dublin Airport.
Her work is part of the following collections: AWAS (Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services), Bank of Ireland, Beacon Hospital, Fingal County Council. She has completed residencies at Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Cill Rialaig, Draíocht and was awarded the Irish Arts Council Travel and Training award for a residency in SíM, Reykjavík.
The Long Way Round, a forthcoming solo exhibition will open on 2nd May 2024 in the upstairs gallery of The Customhouse Studios & Gallery, Westport, Co. Mayo.
