Graphic Studio Gallery, Cope Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

15th March – 19th April

Floriography, an exhibition of new work by Cliona Doyle & Sharon Lee

Floriography brings together acclaimed printmaking artists that share a deep interest in nature: Cliona Doyle & Sharon Lee. 

‘My work explores equilibrium and transience.  I am interested in patterns and recurrent forms which occur in nature. My work explores the symbiotic relationship between plants and animals.  As Albert Einstein said –  look deeply into nature and you will understand everything better.’ – Cliona Doyle

Cliona Doyle is perhaps best known for her large-scale carborundum depictions of trees.  Her work is concerned with presence and the experience of nature.  She frequently works outside en-plein air, creating (copper sulphate etchings and/ or/ carborundum plates) that she later prints at Graphic Studio Dublin.   Her work takes inspiration from antiquities, the colour theme on a Ming vase, the surface of a fresco by Fra Angelico or the negative space on a Japanese Screen. Cliona Doyle has explored eco-friendly materials and etching techniques in this new body of work, using copper sulphate or blue stone to etch plates in situ. This reflects her concern for our environment.

Sharon Lee is an artist and printmaker based in London. She creates exquisite hand printed original works on paper, frequently employing lithography and chine collé as her mode of expression.  She is also well known for her artist books and work in expanded print media.  Her work explores themes of science, nature and human interaction.

‘Some of these prints are inspired by moments such as looking through a glass house window seeing shadows and reflections layered upon the plants. Others from discovering a pressed flower inside a book that has accidentally made its impression on the pages of the book. I wonder how this glass house can influence evolution and how the book has accidentally become a printing press. The glass house creates a forced encounter between species and environment. The printed book becomes a printing press itself. Science, art and nature are bound together by human interaction.’  – Sharon Lee

Biographies:

Cliona Doyle was born in Dublin in 1968. She studied fine art at National College of Art and Design, Dublin. She received an Honours Degree in fine art print in 1991. Her work has been exhibited in the following Institutions – The National Gallery, Dublin, The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, The Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, The Original Print Fair London, and The Woolwich Original Print Fair, London. She teaches etching classes and drawing workshops.  She is represented in major collections including AIB, OPW, National Gallery of Ireland and Chester Beatty.

Sharon Lee was born in Galway in 1978. She graduated with first class honours from National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 2003 and received the Graphic Studio Dublin graduate award. She has worked at Graphic Studio Dublin as an artist, collaborative printmaker, edition printer and retains membership there. In 2008 she was awarded Master Printer in Lithography from the Tamarind Institute, New Mexico. She was elected a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in London, 2015 (RE). She currently works as a technical instructor in Print at the Royal College of Art, London.
She is represented in major collections including National Gallery of Ireland, Chester Beatty and Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

‘In both nature and printmaking there are many hours of invisible labour that go into the creation of the finished work. The process of evolution has slowly transpired over millions of years, each generation contributing to the finished creation that we witness at this moment, as an exquisite flower blooms. Similarly, the body of work of an artist evolves over time. These aspects involve intellectual, emotional and physical investments that extend far beyond the physical outcome. Research, concept development, skill building, practice, emotional labour, material preparation, revisions, iterations, reiterations and even the labour of the artist’s support system all have a place in the evolutionary cycle of the artist and the greater evolutionary cycle of humanity.’  – Sharon Lee

For further details or images contact Peter Brennan, Gallery Director, Graphic Studio.  email: gallery@graphicstudiodublin.com, 01-6798021