Art Attack
The design team for the Hali brand envisaged the spaces they were creating as more than a blank canvas for residents. They strived to bring life to the walls and they drew inspiration for the project from the Cherrywood vicinity and it’s rich history.
Senior Design Manager Helen Walsh led the project and after much initial research approached Dublin art gallery, Hang Tough with the goal of creating a selection of bespoke works of art for the Cherrywood development. These pieces adorn the walls of your new homes and social spaces today.
Helen saw this collaboration as a fantastic opportunity to reach a truly diverse group of people. We are lucky to have a large community of creatives within our fair city and highlighting this, and sharing their talent with the Hali audience was important to the team. Hang Tough’s broad portfolio shines a light on both established and rising artists and their diversity afforded the opportunity to pitch the project to a wide range of artists.
The teams ambition was to create three sets of abstract, contemporary pieces that would represent either the historical or geographical elements of the Cherrywood site. Your new neighbourhood is home to a wide range of unique Irish historical sites including Glendruid Dolmen and Tully Church. It also boasts uninterrupted views of the Dublin mountains and Dublin Bay and artists were urged to consider all of these elements.
In addition to the pieces providing a splash of colour and style to our interiors, having a strong conceptual story to each artists series was essential in bringing aspects of the locality alive in your homes.
Flux and flow
Wexford native Mary O’Connor has experienced much flux and flow throughout life, having moved from New Zealand to Belize then Central Asia, and finally back to Ireland in 2014 where she settled in Dún Laoghaire. This travel has had a huge impact on her work. Mary paints, screen prints and designs large-scale wall murals as well as recently delving into sculpture, for which she takes inspiration from the many vast landscapes she has encountered. Her works are gestural featuring recurrent shapes. They are made up of bold abstract geometric designs and feature a strong colour palette.
Hidden parallels
On her travels Mary became aware of parallels between the people of Kazakhstan and the Irish in how they communicate. She observed a tendency to be secretive and leave much unsaid. Both former colonies, Mary believes that this is a throwback to imperial times, when secrecy was a necessity to survival. The process of printmaking involves layering colours and is not what it seems at first glance. What looks to the observer like pink ink can actually be orange underneath a grey layer. Mary uses layers as secrets that are sometimes hinted at, or revealed.
The mountains and the sea
Mary’s Cherrywood series was inspired by the geographical location of the development. Nested between the mountains and the sea, it is a lively urban environment next door to places of astonishing natural beauty. The shapes representing the man made elements of Cherrywood overlap gestural references to seascapes, mountain views, sun rises and sunsets, merging with the nature of the local environment in the Cherrywood parks.
Urban inspiration
Born, educated and based in Dublin, Neil Dunne always had an explorative curiosity in the aesthetics of cities. From a young age, Neil found that there is a captivating aura in every city which drives an emotive response in him, sometimes happiness, other times sadness, and all the emotions in between.
As he developed as an artist he began to break down and analyse the complexities of our urban spaces and began a lengthy research and response to the subject matter. In a lot of ways, the city is a plethora of inspiration for Neil. By its very nature, it is filled with experience and history, ambiance and change – within those intricacies is where he gets most of his inspiration. He tries to build up his own worlds from these encounters and scenes that unfold through abstraction. Experiencing the energy of cities while simply walking through them is a really important part of his practice.
Contemporary twists
Neil’s Cherrywood works were inspired by the local ancient burial site and he focused on the Glendruid Dolmen in his preliminary research. He discovered a visual language amongst the arranged stones which are characterised by a fluid form and sharp line with a connection to the landscape. The juxtaposition of historical artefacts and contemporary spaces encouraged Neil to delve deeper into reimagining these ancient structures with a contemporary twist.
Lockdown takeovers
An assistant lecturer in NCAD, Neil specialises in expanded print practice and teaches silkscreen printing. He has also spent time working on curatorial projects and he co-founded a unique gallery concept with fellow artist and friend, Robyn Carey. It saw them take over disused retail spaces in Dublin where they hosted shows throughout lockdown.
A moment preserved
Jane is a painter and sculptor who was born and raised in Dublin and currently works from her studio on Talbot Street. Her unique paintings are made using egg tempera meaning that the paints are made from scratch daily and the colour is then slowly built up, layer upon layer. The palettes for the paintings are derived from photographs, questioning how colour can concentrate and preserve a moment. The work is slow and contemplative in its creation due to the nature of the processes involved.
Jane’s work could be deemed a conversation with an artist who has long since departed but whose legacy lives on.
Frozen in stone
Jane’s Cherrywood series drew inspiration from the Rathdown slabs. She found herself instantly drawn to these local artefacts and studied their markings and textures before deriving a colour palette from her photographs. The granite slabs are etched with geometric patterns dating back to early Christian times. This ancient artists gestures were frozen in stone reaching out across the centuries. She was interested in how these paintings could be deemed a conversation with an artist who has long since departed but whose legacy lives on.
The next generation
When she is not creating, Jane works part-time at the Hugh Lane Gallery. She is the project facilitator for Zooom which introduces primary school children to the gallery. As a new mother she enjoys the family time she can have in between work and creating.
Art Attack
The design team for the Hali brand envisaged the spaces they were creating as more than a blank canvas for residents. They strived to bring life to the walls and they drew inspiration for the project from the Cherrywood vicinity and it’s rich history.
Senior Design Manager Helen Walsh led the project and after much initial research approached Dublin art gallery, Hang Tough with the goal of creating a selection of bespoke works of art for the Cherrywood development. These pieces adorn the walls of your new homes and social spaces today.
Helen saw this collaboration as a fantastic opportunity to reach a truly diverse group of people. We are lucky to have a large community of creatives within our fair city and highlighting this, and sharing their talent with the Hali audience was important to the team. Hang Tough’s broad portfolio shines a light on both established and rising artists and their diversity afforded the opportunity to pitch the project to a wide range of artists.
The teams ambition was to create three sets of abstract, contemporary pieces that would represent either the historical or geographical elements of the Cherrywood site. Your new neighbourhood is home to a wide range of unique Irish historical sites including Glendruid Dolmen and Tully Church. It also boasts uninterrupted views of the Dublin mountains and Dublin Bay and artists were urged to consider all of these elements.
In addition to the pieces providing a splash of colour and style to our interiors, having a strong conceptual story to each artists series was essential in bringing aspects of the locality alive in your homes.
Flux and flow
Wexford native Mary O’Connor has experienced much flux and flow throughout life, having moved from New Zealand to Belize then Central Asia, and finally back to Ireland in 2014 where she settled in Dún Laoghaire. This travel has had a huge impact on her work. Mary paints, screen prints and designs large-scale wall murals as well as recently delving into sculpture, for which she takes inspiration from the many vast landscapes she has encountered. Her works are gestural featuring recurrent shapes. They are made up of bold abstract geometric designs and feature a strong colour palette.
Hidden parallels
On her travels Mary became aware of parallels between the people of Kazakhstan and the Irish in how they communicate. She observed a tendency to be secretive and leave much unsaid. Both former colonies, Mary believes that this is a throwback to imperial times, when secrecy was a necessity to survival. The process of printmaking involves layering colours and is not what it seems at first glance. What looks to the observer like pink ink can actually be orange underneath a grey layer. Mary uses layers as secrets that are sometimes hinted at, or revealed.
The mountains and the sea
Mary’s Cherrywood series was inspired by the geographical location of the development. Nested between the mountains and the sea, it is a lively urban environment next door to places of astonishing natural beauty. The shapes representing the man made elements of Cherrywood overlap gestural references to seascapes, mountain views, sun rises and sunsets, merging with the nature of the local environment in the Cherrywood parks.
Urban inspiration
Born, educated and based in Dublin, Neil Dunne always had an explorative curiosity in the aesthetics of cities. From a young age, Neil found that there is a captivating aura in every city which drives an emotive response in him, sometimes happiness, other times sadness, and all the emotions in between.
As he developed as an artist he began to break down and analyse the complexities of our urban spaces and began a lengthy research and response to the subject matter. In a lot of ways, the city is a plethora of inspiration for Neil. By its very nature, it is filled with experience and history, ambiance and change – within those intricacies is where he gets most of his inspiration. He tries to build up his own worlds from these encounters and scenes that unfold through abstraction. Experiencing the energy of cities while simply walking through them is a really important part of his practice.
Contemporary twists
Neil’s Cherrywood works were inspired by the local ancient burial site and he focused on the Glendruid Dolmen in his preliminary research. He discovered a visual language amongst the arranged stones which are characterised by a fluid form and sharp line with a connection to the landscape. The juxtaposition of historical artefacts and contemporary spaces encouraged Neil to delve deeper into reimagining these ancient structures with a contemporary twist.
Lockdown takeovers
An assistant lecturer in NCAD, Neil specialises in expanded print practice and teaches silkscreen printing. He has also spent time working on curatorial projects and he co-founded a unique gallery concept with fellow artist and friend, Robyn Carey. It saw them take over disused retail spaces in Dublin where they hosted shows throughout lockdown.
A moment preserved
Jane is a painter and sculptor who was born and raised in Dublin and currently works from her studio on Talbot Street. Her unique paintings are made using egg tempera meaning that the paints are made from scratch daily and the colour is then slowly built up, layer upon layer. The palettes for the paintings are derived from photographs, questioning how colour can concentrate and preserve a moment. The work is slow and contemplative in its creation due to the nature of the processes involved.
Jane’s work could be deemed a conversation with an artist who has long since departed but whose legacy lives on.
Frozen in stone
Jane’s Cherrywood series drew inspiration from the Rathdown slabs. She found herself instantly drawn to these local artefacts and studied their markings and textures before deriving a colour palette from her photographs. The granite slabs are etched with geometric patterns dating back to early Christian times. This ancient artists gestures were frozen in stone reaching out across the centuries. She was interested in how these paintings could be deemed a conversation with an artist who has long since departed but whose legacy lives on.
The next generation
When she is not creating, Jane works part-time at the Hugh Lane Gallery. She is the project facilitator for Zooom which introduces primary school children to the gallery. As a new mother she enjoys the family time she can have in between work and creating.
