Gallery – Page 14 – University of Atypical

Graduate Award 2020 – Dominic McKeown & Sinéad O’Neill-Nicholl

Posted on 23 June, 20205 March, 2022 by info@universityofatypical.org

University of Atypical is delighted to once more announce our annual Graduate Award, aimed at supporting D/deaf and disabled artists at the beginning of their professional career in the arts. This year’s cohort of students have faced a number of challenges brought about by COVID-19, with many missing out on aspects of the experience, most notably the end of year showcase event and the opportunity for new artists to gain valuable visibility locally.

Image: Dominic McKeown

We usually attend the exhibition preview event in order to select and offer one student the Graduate Award. This year, we’ve worked with all departments within Belfast School of Art, Ulster University, inviting staff to nominate D/deaf and disabled students for shortlisting. In response to the quality of work this year, we are offering two Graduate Awards for 2020, to Dominic McKeown and Sinéad O’Neill-Nicholl. Artists receive a bursary, production budget and 8 hours of one-to-one mentoring with a mid-career artist, as well as curatorial, access, marketing and technical support.

Chairperson of University of Atypical, Damien Coyle, said:

‘Both artists will feature in our 2021 gallery programme and we’re really looking forward to working with them both. Their respective practices, in sculpture and audio installation, will complement our existing programme and hopefully have real resonances with our audiences. Now – more than ever – it is important to amplify the voices of D/deaf and disabled artists, particularly those who are emerging from college into a changed cultural landscape.’

Dan Shipsides, Lecturer at Belfast School of Art, said

‘We are delighted for both Sinead and Dominic to receive this award – both have fascinating practices and are extremely deserving of it. The support that it will offer them will be invaluable in helping them both continue to develop on from the MFA. It’s an honour for our MFA students to receive recognition and support from University of Atypical.’

Recipient Sinéad O’Neill-Nicholl said:

‘I am absolutely thrilled to have been offered this opportunity by the University of Atypical. The organisation plays such a special role within Belfast, promoting inclusivity in the arts and advocating for people with disabilities and it is a real honour to be recognised by them in this way.’

Acupuncture for Artists

Posted on 26 February, 20206 March, 2022 by studiogoodtime

Mental ill-health amongst artists is three times the national average. To coincide with Confessional’s themes of trauma and anxiety, we are offering free acupuncture sessions for artists in partnership with Extern. 24 places are available and will be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Please note: this is auricular (ear) acupuncture rather than whole body. Auricular acupuncture treatment decompresses the nervous system to produce calmness. It detoxifies and balances the body energy channels.

This will be supported with acupressure techniques (which do not involve needles) and complimentary therapies massage – head, hands, full body, reflexology – as well as reiki.

Gillian O’Hagan & Helen Sloan – Missing Voices

Posted on 16 October, 20199 March, 2022 by info@universityofatypical.org

Over a five week period, Helen and Gillian worked with a group of nine adolescent girls from four schools across Belfast. Using smartphones, the girls produced a series of 34 photographs, giving a powerful and moving insight into their lives inside and outside of the mainstream school environment.

Led by Gillian O’Hagan and Helen Sloan, this discussion will delve deeper into the focus of the Missing Voices project which aims to amplify the adolescent female voice of ASD. The panel will look at the importance of creative expression in helping girls with ASD to allow parents, teachers, friends and others to understand their experience of the world around them.

They will also discuss the chronic problem of misdiagnosis in female ASD, asking why practitioners continue to use male-led diagnostic criteria that leaves countless young girls unseen, unheard and unrepresented.

Alma Haser – Pseudo

Posted on 14 June, 201911 March, 2022 by info@universityofatypical.org

Pseudo is a series that plays on what’s real and what’s not. In a world where we are constantly told about Fake News, not to believe the first thing you read or are told. And where social media and the internet toy with our beliefs and acceptances. Alma explores the idea of the fake and the real and the in-between with everyday plants. Here she uses techniques of paper-layering, cutting and manipulation by hand to create multiple images that confuse the eye by contorting reality, similar to a Chinese whisper effect, or the more recent ‘Fake News’ phenomenon.

Richard Canning – The Space Between

Posted on 30 March, 201911 March, 2022 by info@universityofatypical.org

The Space Between is an expansion of the work in Richard’s final MA end of year show and explores the consistencies of construction and deconstruction. For this exhibition, Richard has created a series of four wall drawings, delicate observational studies of places in the process of destruction and disappearance. These quiet, still drawings place…

Mary Cody – String

Posted on 15 January, 201911 March, 2022 by info@universityofatypical.org

Mary’s practice investigates the material nature of painting today. Through her steady, considered and labour-intensive approach, layers of wool, string and acrylic are carefully articulated onto canvas. Only Mary knows when an artwork is complete and when the optimum level of balance is reached.

Launch: Saturday January 19th 2019 2pm to 4pm
Exhibition Dates: January 21st to March 1st 2019

Category: Gallery