element15

Hannaleena Ahonen: Hannaleena is a textile artist with a strong affinity to hand embroidery. She grew up in Finland where traditional skills are valued and encouraged and she has carried those skills through to her current contemporary art practice. Her work encompasses embroidery, free machine stitching, crochet, knitting, weaving, screen printing and fabric manipulation techniques. She works intuitively and often comes back to slow, contemplative stitching as a way of expressing herself and slowing down away from her career in a helping profession.  She is inspired by nature and the imaginary world and values natural materials.  She is a member of element¹⁵, a collective of fifteen artists based in Co. Kildare.

Fidelma Barton: Fidelma is a self-taught mixed media artist specializing in paint mediums, often experimenting with techniques on various textiles. Drawing inspiration from everyday objects and nature, she employs a diverse colour palette to create works that evoke calmness and tranquility. Committed to enhancing her artistic skills, Fidelma explores various art forms and continuously broadens her expertise. Throughout her artistic journey, she has successfully held solo and group exhibitions and regularly facilitates art classes in her local community. As a member of element¹⁵, she expands her knowledge and interest in textiles, exploring new creative directions.

Catherine Dowling: A mixed media artist working with textiles, collage, paper, found objects, dyes and paint. Catherine draws inspiration from the visual and atmospheric elements of the natural environment. The patterns, colours and feelings inspired by nature act as an endless resource for her artwork. She is influenced by the work of Gerald Brommer, Corduala Kagemann, Edward Hopper, as well the Impressionist movement, but is trying to develop her unique style. Her current practice combines collage, textiles, paper and paint to produce handmade art that explores her artistic search for calmness and serenity. After a career in IT System Design, Catherine has attended various textile and painting courses to develop her mixed media practice. Catherine is a member of element15, a collective of fifteen artists based in Co. Kildare.  Instagram: @Catherine.dowling.710

Marie Dunne: Marie’s creative practice includes sculpture, felting, painting and stitch both hand and free machine embroidery. Her love of textiles began while training at the Grafton Academy and, after years of working in dress design, she discovered contemporary textile art. Being introduced to the work of artist Barbara Lee Smith sent her in a new direction and she is still a big influence today. The driving force in her work is form and colour and experimenting with unconventional materials. Being a mixed media artist allows Marie to experiment with a variety of materials and be open to exploring new processes. The ideas and inspiration that inform her work are very varied. It may start off with a doodle, or a photograph randomly snapped, but ends up as a more complex form. She is a member of Felt Makers Ireland and the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland.

Caroline Fitzgerald: Caroline is a mixed media artist. After almost 20 years of working in Interior Design she returned to part-time education and completed a Certificate in Visual Arts Practice in the National College of Art and Design in 2020. Her work explores nature, interpreting its colours and textures using natural materials like cotton, silk, thread and paint. Her creative process usually starts with photographs, taking inspiration from her many travels, she likes to use these images to create multi-layered works. She is a member of Element¹⁵, a collective of fifteen artists based in Co Kildare.

Sally Hewetson: Sally is a multi-disciplinary visual artist working with handmade paper, print, wire and textiles. She explores these elements, utilising a wide range of techniques as she develops her practice. Her work investigates how fibre, wire and other materials can be combined to suggest a narrative, revealing hidden truths and unknown stories. She is interested in the dynamics of familial and social relationships, the interactions between generations and the impact of economic, social and political events on our lives. Sally is a recent graduate of Atlantic Technological University with an MA in Creative Practice. She completed a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Applied Arts in MTU Crawford College of Art & Design in Cork in 2020. She is a member the Irish Embroiderers Guild, element15 textile collective, Cork Textiles Network and Cork Printmakers

Kathrina Hughes:      Kathrina is a textile and community artist. She is a member of element¹⁵ textile collective. With a background in dressmaking and a passion for natural materials, she creates unique and personal pieces using cloth as her preferred medium. Her work combines hand and machine stitch techniques, as well as felt work, to express her emotions and memories. Kathrina is currently exploring eco and rust dye on recycled fabrics, drawing inspiration from nature and the world around her. Kathrina has furthered her education in art, craft and design, also obtaining a City & Guilds qualification in embroidery.   As a panel member of Kildare Wicklow Education Training board, she teaches and facilitates artistic expression in community groups.  

Dee Kelly: Dee’s interest in textiles is lifelong, with skills related to handwork and stitch handed down through generations of her family.  The properties, textures and myriad uses of fabric, wool and trimmings have always been to the forefront of her practice.  In 2009 her involvement with Feltmakers Ireland started an exciting new phase which opened her eyes to the wonders of felting. Incorporating stitch, print and mixed media with felt has kept her passion going. Dee continues to challenge herself by developing her knowledge and experimentation with stitch and mixed media techniques.

Pauline Kiernan: From the minute we are born we are wrapped in a blanket or a cloth, the physical touch of textile on the skin. Textile artist Pauline Kiernan explores textile meanings at a deeper level, the balance between protection and vulnerability. Graduating with a BA Honours in Contemporary Applied Art from Crawford Art & Design College in 2021, she combines childhood memories, a strong sense of place, and family stories in her art, using techniques like screen printing, machine embroidery, and hand stitching.  Her work has been exhibited at the Stitch-by-Stitch textile exhibition in The Willow Gallery, featured in embroidery, the Textile Art Magazine, and accepted into the international exhibition, Interplay, with The Dairy Barn Arts Centre, Ohio. In her studio, where she also conducts weekly workshops, Pauline creates a dialogue where emotions unravel and find solace. Her art captures the human experience, intertwining personal and collective narratives.

Eimear Molony:     With a background in Landscape Horticulture and Community Arts Practice, Eimear’s art practice explores her interest in the human story and the commonality of complex issues for everyone.  Eimear explores these issues initially through her drawing practice and sketches. The evolving narrative is continued on a textile ground using mainly free machine embroidery. She considers the combining and mixing of threads, and the altered grounds as metaphors for humanity, their interactions and the influences of their backgrounds and the environment

Elaine Peden:  Elaine is a mixed media artist. Harnessing wool fibre, this most domestic of materials, cloth, thread and discarded objects. Incorporating these unwanted fragments of cloth into her work, layering thoughts to reform the salvaged materials to communicate her story. Elaine sees beauty in the ordinary, piecing materials together, spontaneous mark making embracing uncertain outcomes. Working as an artist and HealthCare Professional, Elaine is influenced by narrative medicine, the art of storytelling and examining the human condition with all its imperfections, frailties and beauty. Past and present stories expressed in visual forms. Elaine is a member of element15 Collective and Felt Makers Ireland and has worked with International and Irish artists, exhibiting at home and abroad. Elaine completed her post grad in Art in a Healthcare setting, nursing studies and addiction studies.

Colleen Prendiville:    Colleen’s work with textile and a variety of media has been developing over 25 years. She is still intrigued by the potential this artform has to offer. Her early practice involved building texture with various processes and intense stitch but in recent years has become more deliberate and contemplative, hand stitch being a preference. Colleen is drawn to working in the abstract, her instinct guiding her as she works in tandem with a variety of materials – fabrics, thread, paper, paint, pigment. Her more recent work uses raw earth pigments with soya milk to bind pigment to cloth. This, again, is a slow process which necessitates much reflection. The UK based textile artist, Claire Benn, has been a major influence.

Barbara Seery: Intuitive making and an engagement with materials is at the heart of Barbara’s work.   Textiles are a constant in her practice due to their ability to be manipulated, distressed, printed, layered, and stitched into an altered state.  Her multidisciplinary work makes tangible forms, frequently using delicate textiles, to narrate her lived experience.   After a career in financial services, Barbara returned to part time education in the National College of Art and Design in 2017, achieving a Certificate in Visual Arts Practice and a two year Higher Diploma in Art and Design. In 2023 she obtained a BA (Hon) in Fine Art – Textile Art and Artefact. Barbara is a member of element¹⁵, a collective of fifteen artists based in Co. Kildare, Ambiguity Collective of former mature students of NCAD and Muse ex Machina, a collective of artists and scientists with an interest in biomechanics and women in STEM. Instagram: @barbara.seery

Trish Webb Duffy: Trish Webb Duffy is a textile artist who has been engaged in the art of stitch and textiles from a young age. This interest was reawakened while studying for a Certificate in Visual Arts in NCAD, and later, while completing a Diploma in Art and Design in 2017.  As Trish favours the slow, meditative practice of hand-stitching, and works mainly with recycled textiles, she is happiest finding inspiration in family stories, photos, and memories. Having a deep love of nature in all its forms also provides her with a myriad of opportunities to discover daily inspiration.  Trish is a member of element15, an art collective based in Co. Kildare, and is also a member of the Irish Guild of Embroiderers.

Rina Whyte : Rina’s background is in textile design with a BDes (Hons) from NCAD.  Now her career is largely in Public Art consultancy, curation and project management which also informs her own creative processes.  Rina’s practice is grounded in observational recording in varying mediums and an artist’s notebook is a constant companion.  She then visualises the ‘story’ of what she has seen, sensed, read and heard in the mixed media work that she creates with element15.