Current Residents

List Grid

Current Resident: Sep 1, 2024–Nov 30, 2024

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin, Arts Council of Ireland

Studio #302

Artist

Sonia Shiel

Sonia Shiel’s paintings take the shape of terrains, portals, pageants, and props. Her exhibitions have a multi-dimensional quality that transcends their material form, creating dynamic opportunities for performance where the audience often becomes entwined in a shared folie à deux. In these otherworldly realms, humans, animals, plants, gods, and ‘artists’ coexist non-hierarchically with cosmological and enchanted phenomena. Drawing inspiration from art history, theater, mythology, and literary fiction, Shiel delves into our capacity for self-determination, love, autonomy, and courage.

Sonia Shiel has exhibited work at VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art; Kunstverein Aughrim; and Void Art Centre, all in Ireland, among others.

soniashiel.com

Past Residencies

2013–2014
Arts Council of Ireland

One irregularly shaped painting hangs on a white wall. It has botanical qualities, with a dark green vertical section splitting in two, and bordering a burst of yellow. Inside the yellow section are spiraling spurts of seed-like red and orange, and fringed with a green frill.

Sonia Shiel, Dirty-Wow-Sun / The bud, 2024, oil on canvas, and wooden lapel frame, 31 × 23 in. (78.74 × 58.42 cm)

Two paintings which appear to be free standing are at either end of a large brightly-lit white gallery space. On the left, at the far end of the room one of the large paintings stands in two pieces each the mirror image of the other, the joining middle section is hinged open. Its irregular shape is characteristic of a butterfly, and is pink and green. The imagery includes golden reptilian scales, and white wing-shaped clouds, four triangular teeth, foliage, and branches. On both sides the clouds form crescent shapes and arms with gloved hands emerge wearing elaborate yellow sleeves with yellow and black yarn tassels. One arm holds a fan. In the foreground, the second painting occupies half the frame. This circular-shaped work displays elements of a shell. Slabs of blue and green animal print border the same motif in a white and blue crescent hinge, with translucent tones, wherever they merge.

Sonia Shiel, Medusa In Pieces / Installation Shot, 2023, oil on canvas, on wood, dimensions variable

One painting appears to be free standing in the centre of a wide brightly-lit white gallery space. It stands in two pieces each the mirror image of the other, the joining middle section is hinged open with two further sections closed over, creating a slight gap, like two saloon doors flapping. Its irregular shape is characteristic of a butterfly, and is pink, green, with vertical shafts of blue. The imagery includes golden tails, that curl like coils of hair, and white fan-shaped wedge-like flowers, leafy foliage, and branches. On the top two golden claws reach to meet each other over the middle and form an arch. In the foreground, brightly colored fabric sleeves and gloves, in pink and yellow, with yellow and black yarn tassels, sits in a pile like a discarded animal skin.

Sonia Shiel, Medusa In Pieces / Act 2 Break Fall, 2023, oil on canvas, on wood, with fabric sleeves on stool in foreground, 390 × 350 in. (990.6 × 889 cm)

One painting, in three rounded parts, with two capsule shaped lapels, is attached to a set of large swing doors, dividing a sun-lit room. The painting has geometric and symmetrical values, with red, blue and white motifs, and two yellow horizontal lines. Small bone-shaped fragments, made of clay, appear attached to the surface of the painting like four ribbons, and together form a double-helix-like shape. At each end the final bone is shaped into a foot and at the centre the final bone is shaped like a hand. The painting is interrupted by a large natural granite rock, over which the two hinged sections meet. On the rock appears to be a stick of incense, burning within a pile of leaves, also made with clay. On the floor a circular groove is embedded into the concrete and extends in a half semi-circle from the centre of the painting, towards the bottom left frame of the image.

Sonia Shiel, Supernatural Bureau / The bones, 2023, oil on canvas, on wood, attached to revolving door structure. With natural granite rock and insence, 82 × 203 in. (208.28 × 515.62 cm)

A figure is seated under a spotlight, in a large red velvet chair within a blackened room. The figure’s legs, in black, are crossed with one bent knee perched on the seat. The figure is wrapped in a deep saffron yellow silk cape, with yellow yarn tassels fading into black towards the ground. Pink ruffled fabric forms a flower on the figure’s lap, and the figure wears a blue glove which holds a microphone, while the other hand falls over the figure’s knee in a gold and black glittered glove.

Sonia Shiel, Pulse Event - an event of the heart, 2023, video documentary and performance, 5:39 min

Residents from Ireland

Aileen Murphy

Ireland

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin

2023

Celina Muldoon

live performance, moving image and installation

Ireland

Arts Council of Ireland

2023

Aideen Barry

Ireland

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin

2023

Denmark

Current Resident: Nov 1, 2024–Dec 31, 2024

Danish Arts Foundation

Studio #304

Artist

Jens Settergren

Jens Settergren’s work delves into the production of collective imaginaries and visual culture within late-capitalist society. Using video, sculpture, sound, and installation, he examines the collective fears and fantasies of contemporary life, often in relation to technology and nature. His work investigates the realities images construct and the power they wield, capturing both grand, iconic visuals and placing everyday objects and commercial imagery in unfamiliar contexts.

Jens Settergren has exhibited work at die raum, Germany; Copenhagen Contemporary, Denmark; and Kunsthal Aarhus, Denmark, among others.

jenssettergren.com

Past Residencies

2019
Danish Arts Foundation

Events & Exhibitions

Spring Open Studios 2019

March 29–March 30, 2019

Jens Settergren, Milk Plus, 2024, transparent LED screen, LED pharmacy signs, 8.1 surround sound, dimensions variable

An oversized wheat stalk in synthetic colors.

Jens Settergren, Harvest, 2024, stainless steel and chameleon paint, 14 × 1 in. (35.56 × 2.54 cm)

Jens Settergren, Architect, 2023, glass mosaic

Jens Settergren, GhostBlind Loading, 2021, rock speakers, electronic hunting pigeons, hunting mirror panels, plastic leaves, 5-channel surround sound, dimensions variable

Two large steel sculptures that appear as technological instruments or occult apparatuses.

Jens Settergren, The Copenhagen Interpretation, 2023, stainless steel, glass insulators and 6-channel surround sound

Residents from Denmark

Marie Munk

Denmark

Danish Arts Foundation

2024

Jeppe Ugelvig

A wallpaper depicting a living room is pasted on a board produces a mis-en-abyme.

Denmark

Danish Arts Foundation

2024

Christine Overvad Hansen

From the exhibition Sleepers, 2023, Gether Contemporary, Copenhagen, DK

Denmark

Danish Arts Foundation

2024

Canada, Barbados

Current Resident: Oct 1, 2024–Dec 31, 2024

Canada Council for the Arts

Studio #305

Artist

Kara Springer

Kara Springer’s work centers on armature—the underlying structure that holds the body in place. Using photography, sculpture, and site-specific interventions, she explores systems of structural power and support. Her practice is deeply rooted in processes of care and attentiveness, focused on understanding the specificities of a given context and environment. This sensitivity allows her to consider how a structure might exist sustainably in relation to the world around it.

Kara Springer has exhibited work at Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, among others.

karaspringer.ca

A hanging wall work consisting of deep purple prints of high resolutions scans of clay hanging over a poplar wood rod mounted on the wall.

Kara Springer, The Shape of Mountains, 2023, double-sided inkjet prints on rice paper, poplar wood support structures, ceramic fragments, 120 × 72 in. (304.8 × 182.88 cm)

A structure containing two light boxes, each featuring the same image of a woman whose face is partially obscured by a print of a ceramic scan. Wires descend from the light boxes and coil on the floor beneath.

Kara Springer, Judith Mae Part III, 2023, two double-sided lightboxes, dimming mechanism, arduino panels, power source units, wood support structure, dimensions variable

A skeletal pyramid like structure, one face contains a high resolution photograph of oil thickened into industrial grease. The print appears shimmering and purple as the images were taken at sunset with the light reflecting off of the sticky black oil

Kara Springer, Do I have to build you a fucking pyramid?, 2021, double-sided prints on dibond panels, poplar wood, dimensions variable

An industrial light box, 5 ft wide, features an image of a ladder protruding from the sea. The scene is idyllic with the bright blue sky, fluffy white clouds. The lightbox is held down on a rudimentary cart like structure on wheels with a ratchet strap.

Kara Springer, The Earth & All Its Inhabitants, 2019, double-sided light box, found materials, dimensions variable

Thirteen brightly colored light boxes mounted in a structure made of 1 x 1 planks of poplar wood. Cables descend from each box and wind their way to a central control panel which controls the luminosity of each box

Kara Springer, I / must be given words, 2022, twelve double-sided lightboxes, dimming mechanism, arduino panels, power source units, wood support structure, dimensions variable