Angelica Santander

I am a Clown originally from Chile and living in Ireland since 2002. I studied Acting in Chile and I continue with my development as an artist in Ireland completing a Technical theatre course 2005 and a master’s degree in Theatre studies in 2009. The same year I started working as a clown and in 2013 I started my training in the Pochinko Method, “clown through mask”, with Sue Morrison. This training revolutionised my understanding of the art of clowning and brought my practice towards a higher artistic level, its main principle is:

If we ever face all directions of ourselves at once we could only laugh at the beauty of our own ridiculousness.

Following this principle, I am interested in the creation of original work that reveals the essence of our humanity in a genuine and abandoned way, creations that speak and deal with themes that are relevant to our times. I want to connect with an audience and bring my personal experience in the performance of universal themes.
Furthermore, utilising theatrical and clown techniques I want to investigate and develop the interconnection between theatre, clown and Circus arts. I believe that Circus arts are the forefront of contemporaneous performance arts and that the general public is thirsty for more.

My work is based on the ethos of hard work, commitment, respect, consistency, discipline, free expression and fun.

Austin Ivers

Austin Ivers is a Galway based artist and educator, lecturing in Contemporary Art at GMIT. Having initially studied printmaking in LSAD and CCAD, his practice has been almost exclusively digital (durational and still) objects for over 20 years. Austin has had one-person shows in the Galway Arts Centre, 126 and the Dock, Carrick-on Shannon and exhibited in group shows including the RHA Annual & Tulca.

Billy Dante

Billy Dante’s work explores the mirrored effect of art as life and life as art, fascinated by the spectacle and theatricality of every aspect of our existence. The work creates a primitive/ritualistic environment in the modern world, highlighting and observing aspects of everyday life to the extent that they become bigger then life. Through the blending of different points of reference, Dante’s practice develops a unique language of expression, in this the viewer feels lost and found all at the same time. The viewer picks up on moments of recognition, but these moments are fleeting and quickly dissolve into the hum of experience. As one grapples for meaning, they are placed outside of their comfort zone and therefore become open to broadened thoughts. The work speaks for the importance of forgotten languages as forms of expression, sounds that have lost their meaning but carry power like a mantra or prayer. The meaninglessness reflects the uselessness of art, taking reference from Oscar Wilde’s, A Picture of Dorian Gray, (‘the only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely’). The work has an intensity that speaks for the empowerment of art, the ability to take simplicity (objects such as the telephone directory) and making them the source of profound feeling. Inspired by the great Irish literary figures Wilde, James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, this work intends to stand for art’s ability not to reflect or define the human condition, but once this work is experienced the viewer knows less about life and more about existence.

Bob Campbell

“to find for each person those umbilical cords that put us in communication with other suns“

Roberto Matta

Ciara Scanlan

Ciara Scanlan is an Artist and Curator based in Dublin. She holds a Masters in Art in the Digital World from NCAD Dublin and graduated from Crawford College of art in 2005 with a First class BA in Fine Art. In her Art practice she is interested in the ever-present force of the media and its ability to both unify and segregate society. Ciara works primarily through the medium of Video, performance, web based interventions. She is a founding Director of MART since 2007; a multidisciplinary arts organisation that is committed to the development and promotion of Contemporary Visual Arts.

Colleen Keough

Colleen Keough is an Integrated Media Artist working across multiple disciplines and genres of expression. Her work explores poetic-feminisms and phenomena associated with identity, technology, voice, mythos, and the natural world. These investigations take shape as multimedia performances, 2D visual art, animations, video projections and installations, audio recordings, and digital art works. Colleen is an award winning artist and creative writer and has taught and mentored artists in higher education for over a decade. Her works have been exhibited and screened nationally and internationally.

Conor Burke

My work is predominantly focused on exploring systemic themes, be they social, political, lingual, material or meta-physical, within which I seek to highlight social relations and the dialectical interactions that are the source of change within the world. A key theme that underpins much of my work is the concept of power and class and how that finds expression in the structures that we create as a society and how it is reflected in the built environment around us. l often make drawings and paintings of specific buildings with a certain social significance and then layer them with multiple perspectives, abstracting the image to an extent in order to give expression to a deeper social meaning such as class consciousness or our relation to nature or the likes. These more philosophical concerns act mainly as a point of embarkation but which also fuel the evolution of my work throughout the creative process.

My work is often based on certain vexations towards the systemic forces that dominate contemporary society, but rather than concentrating on the negative associations of this, I prefer to look at the positive potentiality for progressive change. My work up to this point has consciously excluded figurative representations of the human form, as I’m more concerned with expressing the structural nature of systemic oppression that exist, rather than the subjective or individualistic experiences that each of us go through. My work possesses a strong Marxian influence which often underpins the social expression that I am aiming to incorporate into the work. These concerns are more about my own subjective input, they act as the driving force that under pins my creative process. My work tends to look at the common threads that exist between our manufactured environment and that of the natural world and the symbiotic structures that exist within this relationship.

Aesthetic concerns play a significant role in how the work finds expression, these deeper social and philosophical concerns at a certain point give way to the simplicity of creating a visually pleasing image or structure. Aesthetics I feel It are important with regard to our collective need for order and symmetry in relation to making a connection with the viewer. Which in essence is actually a material reflection of these deeper systemic themes that I an attempting to address. My work often tends to start off with a simple image, design or text that appeals to me, and through a process of drawing or writing it evolves and incorporates various different elements throughout, I tend not to start off with a comprehensive plan but rather a loose outline and I just let the project evolve as I go, this method allows the work to take on a life of its own which can lead to sometimes unexpected and interesting results.

Conor Nolan

Conor Nolan is an illustrator currently based in Dublin. You can spot Conor’s work through its bold shapes and bright, limited colour palettes inspired by the aesthetics of different analog making techniques such as screen printing and collage. Conor’s work consists of a graphic depiction of a variety of characters and motifs, with interesting expressions, inky lines, and a distinct textured appearance.

David Whelan

Whelan’s work is uniquely his own, mixing humour and surrealism to make fun, colourful, funny artwork. Whelan originally studied Printmaking but has now branched out into a variety of different mediums, including creating comics, 3D artwork and digital art. Whelan uses a mixture of dreams, his own background and storytelling to influence and create his unique pieces of art.

Edward Sheehy

Edward is our Operations & Finance Manager. He knows all the buildings inside out and here to answer any of your questions on our wonderful portfolio of studios. He has a background in Animation and Illustration.

Eileen Mills

Places consist of the fleeting and the constant, and can acquire and lose significance. Familiarity, newness, perception and circumstance drive this process. The time and process of painting allow me to connect to the significance of place, while being fluid about the notion of a visual truth.

Eoin Heaney

Eoin is an award winning filmmaker. He writes and directs projects together with writer / producer Nora Windeck. They are Highly Stimulating Productions.

Gavan Duffy

I am a trained artist and designer living in Dublin. My work is primarily the result of a need to paint. Though acrylic is my favourite medium, I also work with oils, gouache, metallic leaf, ink and charcoal. My ultimate goal is to seek feeling, and be unafraid to share what I find. In recent years my work has been mainly commissioned by private clients.

Georgina Diaz

Specialized in Historical Costumes for the Television and Film Industry, Georgina Diaz is a Fashion & Textile Designer from the NCAD in Dublin. Passionately interested in all History related subjects and particularly in the fashionable garments as material culture of any given period of time.

Helen Horgan

“ I am a Neurodivergent artist working in experimental documentary moving image and installation using nonverbal mediums and novel narrative forms to explore our sensory-emotional relationship to place and each other. Rooted in a heightened sensory awareness, I use observation, documentation, and archival methods to challenge conventional ways of seeing and open up more expansive, embodied modes of understanding. Projects like ‘The Grammar Tables’ (2014), where found images are organized into a visual language system, and ‘Malta Location: Sound and Image’ (2021), a sensory mapping of landscapes through film and sound, explore alternative ways of sensing and perceiving, fostering a dialogue with the world where meaning emerges through visceral, felt connections. Recent awards include an ‘Arts and Disability Ireland Connect Mentorship Award’ (2024) (with Alan James Burns), an ‘Irish Arts Council Agility Award’ (2024) and ‘FSAS Chronic Connections – Networking for Sick and Disabled Artists Award’ (2025).”

Irene Uhlemann

Primarily a painter Uhlemann also makes artists books. She frequently uses words as a springboard for ideas; the lyricism of poetry and the fluidity of paint and mark-marking complement each other.

Jessica Checkley

I completed my studies in 3D design, model making and digital arts in 2019 and during my time there I learned to work with a wide variety of materials and tools. This combined with the skills and knowledge I’ve gained as a wax work technician and mold maker in bronze art has influenced the work I create today. My sculpture is intricate and detailed and I like to explore my practice by producing work in a variety of materials through experimentation. The context of my work is inspired by a lot of film, mythology and science fiction. I would describe my style as a mix of the surreal and the macabre that I hope both intrigues and fascinates people.

Jordan Holms 

MART Member Spotlight : Jordan Holms

Jordan Holms is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting, textiles, and sculpture. With a keen sense for architecture and design, her practice considers how aesthetic ‘tastes’ are materialized, organized, and made to mean. Mining source materials from the built environment (both physical and online), Holms’s references range across commodity culture; from folk art, to flea markets, reality television, boutique ‘concept’ stores, and so-called aspirational design accounts on social media. Filtered through the lens of abstraction, her work interprets the things we find in our homes and in the built environment that signal something about how taste produces meaning. Holms constructs irreverent and errant spaces that index their own meanings in an attempt to make sense of what ‘having taste’ might look like in a moment wherein cultural trends are dictated by algorithms as well as elites.

Katherine Nolan

An artist, lecturer and curator specialising in gender and new media. With a particular focus on tensions between the experiential and the spectacular body, her research investigates gender, identity and desire in the context of digital cultures. Recent publications include Fear of Missing Out: Performance Art through the Lens of Participatory Digital Culture (2021) and Reading Queer Irish Performance across Live and Digital Practice (2021)

Kieran Guckian

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Kieran’s art journey began with a love of ornithology and drawing birds. His first mentor and teacher was Sister Maureen McMahon, founder of the High Loft painting group. Kieran went on to attend Crawford College of Art and Design graduating with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Painting. Fine art has always been his greatest passion and after a career in the tech industry Kieran took the step to become a full time artist. Painting the landscape on location is central to Kieran’s current practice, capturing in real time the light and feeling of places that inspire him. His location work will continue to inform his larger more conceptual studio pieces. Kieran has won awards for his plein air work and reached the final of Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year in 2025 where the three finalists painted Stonehenge.

Margarita Vásquez Cárdenas

I’m Margarita Vásquez Cárdenas, a Colombian artist based in Dublin, Ireland. My practice explores stillness, beauty, and quiet moments drawn from everyday life. Through painting and drawing, I seek to express the subtle interplay of light, shapes, and feeling—offering viewers a space for reflection and connection. With a background in Fine Arts from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Ohio University (USA) through a Fulbright Scholarship, I’ve exhibited nationally and internationally, across disciplines including drawing, painting, photography, and video. Over the past two decades, I’ve also worked in arts and project management, leading collective and public engagement projects, always driven by my belief in art as a way to bring people closer to themselves and one another. Also I’m a huge fan of Blues music and dancing.

Matthew Nevin

Matthew Nevin is a Cultural Producer with over 20 years of experience working in film, television and the arts throughout the US, Ireland, UK and Europe.  He is Co-Director of The MART Gallery & Studios Dublin where he oversees the running of over 100 artist studios and a Contemporary Art Gallery, and serves as Executive Director of CIACLA – The Contemporary Irish Art Center Los Angeles – a non profit which produces contemporary Irish cultural events in California. 

Matthew has recently Produced and Directed the award winning feature length documentary What is Going to Happen Next?, which reaches into the minds of one person from every country in the world; winning several awards and screening at 21 international film festivals. Recently produced projects include the short films ‘Maggie’ and ‘180 Degrees’ both filmed during the covid-19 pandemic. As an Art Director & Designer for film and tv he has worked on hit shows, such as Luther, Eastenders, The Bill, The Amazing Race, working with CBS, BBC, ITV, Element Pictures, RTE, TG4 and MTV.

Matthew has produced over 60 exhibitions internationally, curating several large scale creative projects in Ireland, UK, Europe, USA and Japan; for MART, CIACLA, PQ, IrelandWeek, EUCIA and Imagine Ireland. Through his own artwork he has exhibited internationally and created artwork for leading brands such as Ralph Lauren.

Matthew is a passionate advocate for the arts, he looks to create conversation and dialogue about key world issues, directly connecting the audience with a relatable narrative. He has a particular interest in the creation of inclusive projects that actively break down social and economic barriers.

Matthew holds a degree in Film & TV & Scenography from the University of Wales Aberystwyth and a Masters in Art in the Contemporary World from National College of Art & Design Dublin. He has secured funding from Culture Ireland, Arts Council of Ireland, Kildare, Galway & Dublin City Councils, Visual Artists Ireland, IFA Germany, Alliance Francaise, David Manley Awards, JEC Fund, Dept of Foreign Affairs Ireland, Creative Ireland and received a commission from Ralph Lauren.

www.matthewnevin.com – www.mart.ie – www.ciacla.com  – www.whatisgoingtohappennext.com 

Maura Culbert

Hi, I did my degree in fine art many years ago. I paint using acrylic on board. The two subjects I like to paint are interior space and seascapes. Only recently l brought out a series of prints which are really great quality.

Niki Collier

Niki Collier is a fibre and people curious artist. She deploys science, art & performance to make fibre art and to produce performances elevating the audience to a protagonist. Her practice blends contrasting strands. Set as an academic with a doctorate in AI makes her relentlessly curious. Living as a disabled person instils her resilience. Her practice is nurtured by meaningful connections with people with various abilities and from diverse backgrounds. All is done with wool.

Her process starts at exploring humans in art participatory engagements. Meanwhile, experimentation with techniques and materials is at full steam in her studio. Both her felt and the feltmaker get stronger by trial. Eventually, wool transforms into a sculpture and a site specific installation. Each sculpture embodies the journey from the darkness of personal and tribal aches into the light of hope and possibilities. Certain aspects of the work are collaborated in performances which enable us to examine values and nudge us to shift perspectives.  All is done with the intention that art would empowers us to become the difference we need in the world.

Her creative battles are in Symbols of Mobilty – a multidisciplinary body of work informed by bird lore. They start with art participatory research. This develops into sculptures at site specific dance installations, captured in photography and film. The flock has enticed people and stakeholders and has enabled Niki to collaborate supported by Culture Ireland, Creative Ireland, Arts Council and Design and Crafts Council Ireland and the Bulgarian and Irish Embassy. In 2025 a couple of pairs of wings were acquired by the OPW, and installation photos are owned by the Bulgarian Government.

All this has lead to a special place in her new work -Fofusaka Creatures. These contorted but joyful creatures celebrate choosing joy when faced with pettiness and fear. The complex felt sculptures incorporating intricate nodes and closures, reviewed as the pinnacle of every creator by peers. 

Ruth O’Mahony-Brady

Ruth is a musician, producer and composer. She has recorded and toured with a number of artists around the
world as a pianist, keyboardist and vocalist. Performing under the moniker ROMY, her solo project explores music
that seeks to combine her beginnings as a classical pianist with her love of vintage synths, organs and electronics.

SC Walsh

S.C.Walsh is an emerging artist best known for industrial dockland scenes, strong in composition, and contradictive in use of material, redefining the use of soft watercolour to depict hard industrial subject matter.

SC Walsh is interested in the ordinary, crafting semi abstract compositions recurring themes depicted in the artist’s work are docks, boats, city streets, rooftops, heavy machinary.

Walsh studied Painting in Galway with the artists Loughlan Hoare, Geraldine Quinn and Hugh Mc Cormack, and Printmaking with Siobhan Piercy and Declan Holloway. The artists work is influenced by the Technical processes employed in the Fine Art Lithography process. The strong compositions in the Artists pieces are reminiscent of Snapshot Photography.

Walsh’s close focus on subjects result in a tension between the representational and abstract.

Sean Clarke

Sean Clarke is a Dublin based director and cinematographer. He works mainly in documentary and film.

Terence Erraught

Terence Erraught is an artist, educator and project manager. His artistic practice encompasses a combination of traditional mediums such as painting, drawing and sculpture with digital modes of dissemination, primarily through digital video installations. He has lead creative projects across a diverse range of ages and environments including children, adults, the elderly and participants with learning disabilities with a focus on confidence building, ownership and opportunity.

Education includes:  Masters Degree in Visual Arts Practices (2011), B.A. (Hons.) Degree in Fine Art (2007) and a (Level 9) Special Purpose Award in Training and Education (2015).

National and internationally exhibitions include Los Angeles, Japan, England and Ireland.

Awards include: New Project Award (Irish Arts Council 2012), Fingal Arts Bursary (Fingal County Council 2015), Travel and Training Award (Irish Arts Council 2014).

Residencies include: NIDA Art Colony, Lithuania (2015), Market Studios Curatorial Award (2012).

The Ljilja

The Ljilja is a visual artist born in Croatia. She made her first debut in 2006 and since then her art has been shown in group and solo shows. Her work range from installations and paintings to photography and performances.

The Ljilja is an ongoing photography / ritual project . “As an artist my main aim is making the subconscious conscious, and bringing it to the light. We live in an era where most of us are showing the best part of ourselves, the most beautiful parts (a wonderful Kingdom of Selfies), and I am showing those, hidden, dark, disturbing parts. By covering my face and hiding my identity, I become no one; and by becoming no one, I have become everyone. By disfiguring my face, covering my eyes I am allowing my Primordial Self to step out from the darkness. I am reconnecting all over again with my true Self.” – says the Ljilja.

In her work Ljilja is in a constant search for selfless, content and Ego free body. Body that becomes. Bursting body. A body in which human soul live in a complete freedom stripped from all false teachings. A body which is “breaking down areas hardened by perspective of the Ego”. Primal body. Her work can be described as a transformation through creativity and connecting all over with her primal “I”.