Bullock Lane Artist Johanna Nulty

Johanna Nulty has spent three months on the Bullock Lane Residency at Townhall, Cavan. During her time on residency she has created a new body of work.

Speaking about her time on the residency she said:

 “I am very appreciative I got this opportunity when just finishing my BA honours Degree in Fine Art from I.T Sligo and before commencing my Masters Studies.   Townhall is a magnificent art space. Everyone is really welcoming and very supportive. I had an open studio on Culture Night when I met lots of locals and chatted to them about my work.   I created an installation for the ‘Festival of the Dead’ called “The Underworld.”   It was a sight, sound and smell ‘burial experience’ allowing the viewer to climb inside a coffin and experience what it feels like. The festival experience was great fun with lots of positive feedback.”

 In her artist statement Johanna describes the motivation for her practice.

 “In our present consumerist society, we are surrounded by mass-produced objects all the time and relate to them in various ways. I am interested in objects as signifiers of how we live. In my practice, I explore the potential for found objects and domestic materials to have multiple personas. Through the physical processes of sculptural assemblage – including layering, cutting, breaking, adding, covering and folding – I discover how objects are made and question how they come to obtain value or meaning. By reconfiguring household goods into abstract or figurative sculptural forms, I liberate them from being functional objects and allow them to develop new identities in unfamiliar settings.

Possessions, trinkets and artefacts offer important evidence of place, within a particular moment in time. In an ongoing series of new work, I am collecting an assortment of items from people in my hometown of Cavan.  Imbued with sentimental value and nostalgia, as well as personal and social narratives, these objects represent the lives of the people I have engaged with. Collectively, they construct a portrait of this region.”

Johanna Nulty will exhibit “A Portrait of the Region” at Townhall Cavan in April 2017 with an opening event on Saturday 8 April.   She has selected Sally O Dowd to mentor her on the preparation for this solo show and to work on a text to accompany the exhibition.

Bullock Lane Residency is an initiative of Cavan County Council arts office and support by the Arts Council. 

 Further details on the artist here