Embracing the influence of art and art college.
Rhiannon Caffrey
Shannon Murphy
We look at what inspired students to choose art college and what prompted them to be interested in art. We find that young artists are not just inspired by artists but also by their journeys and the link between the future and the past of the art world.
'I chose art college because it's the only area in the education system that allowed me to think freely and analyze the world with my own senses. Also, I find structure difficult, so the independence I have in the art and creative fields are more suited to me.'
'In college, I have been inspired by many of the artists that I have come across during my studies but I was inspired by Impressionism the most, especially Claude Monet with his painting of landscapes. This has inspired my interest in landscapes and nature. During college, my work has always had some involvement of flowers or nature, even when I have always found a way to incorrupt flowers and find myself moving back towards the subject matter of nature and landscape.'
Murphy Colette Untitled 2024
'I chose to go to art college because I wanted to be involved in some way in the world of art. When I was a child, I loved drawing and painting handcrafts, and I just went to go to an art college to learn how I could find my own way.'
'“Throughout my first year in our college. It was set in stone that I wanted to develop my creative practice in 2D. However, that was until I met the 3D faculty members. They then showed us the endless possibilities that 3D has to offer. During the six weeks, we got to look at the lectures' work and hear about their experiences working in the 3D side of the course. Once the six weeks ended, I was immediately inspired to continue my creative practice by going down the path of 3D.'
Larrosa Jose "Pattern Process" 2024
‘I have always had a passion for art ever since I was young, and I wanted to avail of a fantastic opportunity to work alongside the talented faculty members and students at the University to broaden my understanding of Contemporary Art while also having the opportunity to specialise within the field. I have really enjoyed exploring the opportunity thus far and look forward to continuing my journey.’
'I think what got me curious about art would have been a copy of a printed piece by Kandinsky that was hanging up on the walls at home as I would always look at it and be intrigued by the colour and the shapes that were in the art piece and I remember asking questions about the piece to my parents. The curiosity left then after a while, and it came back when he was brought up again in primary school in about 4th class and I went back to looking at the images and that made me take interest in the image.'
Reynolds Lorraine "Fleeting" 2024
‘There was no choice of going to art college or not ... It is more like on some intangible level I was waiting for the right time ... since I was little art was my pleasure so going to art college was like an impossible dream that has now come to fruition ... Perhaps it was inevitable and I was awaiting the right time...'
'For me I got into art at an early age. I always knew I wanted to use my creativity to express myself. When I was 16, I was introduced to my aunt's neighbor, who was then a secondary school art teacher. She helped guide me, showed me what it is like to study and be a member of the art community. From this experience, I was inspired to continue my creative practice, to not just express myself, but to share my creativity with others and hopefully inspire them through my work in a similar that her work inspired me.'
Moran Elizabeth "Perception" 2024
‘I chose art because I felt that it a young age and now that it has helped me express myself and emotions. My initial interest in art was painting and how you could express all your emotions with just colours and canvas. My inspirations were my older brother who always painted when I was younger, and I was inspired by Monet and the colour palettes he used.'
'Ever since an early age I had always been startled by Kiki Smith and her work especially by the piece titled Wolf Girl, until one day in the library while doing some artist research my friend asked me to look for a book on the bottom shelf of the bookcase. Then while standing up I hit my head on a book that was over hanging on the shelf, and it then fell onto my head. The book was a Kiki Smith book and since that day Kiki Smith is one of my biggest inspirations for my work and is an artist that I always fall back on for my inspiration and research.'
Caffrey Rhiannon "Strings of Influence" 2023
‘I chose to go to art college as I could not have seen myself doing anything else with my future. Picking art as a degree was difficult, as not many choose to go into creative degrees and think of it more to be a hobby. I enjoy the process of creating art and to see an end result.’
“I got into art very young as I was always told I had a creative spark to me, as I was always drawing and painting when I was a child and just continued into playing with arts and crafts and slowly started building on from that for occasions like birthdays and Christmas I nearly always received some form of art sets or materials to use. My first memory of ever doing something anything creative was about when I was four and I took the roll of a toilet paper, and I ripped it up to make a witch that I stuck to the wall at home.'
Gallagher Nadine Untitled 2023
'I chose art college because it felt like the only right choice, every other course felt forced, and art was the one thing I was drawn to above everything else. I just felt like I had to, there was never really a question about it.'
'When I was three or four years old my older brother introduced me to the world of art. I would sit and watch him draw people and objects from around the house for hours and then mimic all his sketches while he was away at college. Eventually when I was old enough, he finally taught me how to draw and we would spend ages at the kitchen counter drawing together when he came over to visit. This then sparked my interest in art and gave me the inspiration to study art in college and to become an art teacher to teach kids how to draw and sketch just like he did for me.'
Nungesser Yana "Is it good, Friend?" 2023
‘Choosing to go to art college was quite an easy decision for me. I had only put a handful of art courses on my CAO when applying for colleges because I knew that art was something I had wanted to get into to continue my studies. What I find really made me decide art college was what I wanted was my secondary school art teacher as she really made the subject interesting and helped show me to develop and further my skills. I chose art college as it is what I thought and think is the best route for me and I did not care about others' opinions. One thought that I think of quite frequently is something that confirmed my choice on being set for art and that was my economics teacher in secondary tell us that the profession that suits us most is what would be based off the toys and things we played with as kids and I do like to believe that has helped me with deciding art college.’
'In 6th class in primary during art my teacher put on a recording of the poem called "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by William B. Yeats and while that was playing, she wanted us to paint what came into our minds when we heard it. And I ended up painting a landscape of a forest, with mountains and a lake with a bright blue sky. And added some birds and flowers through out the painting. The poem also had sound in the background to add to it of birds chirping and the lake flowing, the sounds helped me to get a sense of imagery along with the poem. This event Inspired my interest of using nature references throughout my creative practice.'
Murphy Shannon "Radiant Reflection" 2024
‘I did few courses in GTI level 5 and 6, and It was challenging process, and I decided to go to college, to continue the process of improvement and the teacher from GTI encouraged me to apply to college and I did it.'
'I took art in secondary school and I remember asking my friends to do their art homework as they did not like art as a subject whereas I did, I really enjoyed the art in secondary school. Later on, when I went to Dublin to visit someone I bought a sketchpad and coloured pencils at the train station and I didn't really use them at the start, just a page or two here and there for small doodles, and then I remembered one of my sibling's birthdays while watching a movie and I had taken out that sketchpad and oil pastels that I had got from school and started drawing. I quickly got into the routine of drawing more for myself than drawing for school and I really enjoyed it I kept exploring with what I had and built up those skills.'
Wiazowska Mariola "Embedded" 2024
‘I chose to go to art college as an individual who experienced art in a therapeutic setting, and I understood the necessity for myself to become acquainted with art therapy in formal education. I thus began college to explore the possibilities for art in different ways, develop my skills, and research interdisciplinary approaches to art and psychology.’
'My source of inspiration comes from an event that took place while I was waitressing one day at work. An elderly woman walked in and seated herself at a window table looking out onto the busy open view. She then proceeded to start painting cautiously in her own little world and continued to for hours while we all carried on working. Before she left, she sparked a conversation about studying art and advised me to just make and never overthink when it came to producing pieces, as the best pieces are the ones that you love and enjoyed making. These words now come to mind each time I am searching for inspiration and starting a new piece.'
Bullock Lydia Untitled 2023
Bligh Shauna "S.O.S Spine of Steel" 2023
‘I chose to go to art college because it seemed like the obvious choice. I have loved art and love to create. It was my favorite subject in school. I hated school and I hated athletics, and art was the one constant in my life growing up. My illness attributed to this as I was in hospital a lot of the time and the medication made me weak, tired and hard to focus. I remember painting in the kids' playroom when I was in hospital. I connected with younger kids through my art by drawing Disney and Pokémon characters. I loved cartoons and animated movies; I want to make something that kids love and be inspired to create their own art.'
'I had been inspired by Vincent van Gogh form a young age as I remember watching a children's program called "The Little Einsteins" and in an episode they had based it on Vincent Van Gogh and his painting of the starry night. I remember loving that episode so much that I would rewatch it a lot and then I continued on liking his work as he always ended up being mentioned in schools for art activities in primary.'
‘I decided to enrol in art school when I was little. I had had a special attraction for art in general. Any creative activity inspired me, made me feel good. I saw the opportunity to take the plunge. I did not study art when I was young, because neither I nor my family thought about it as an option. I studied another career that was supposed to give me a better economic position in my life, but after studying this other career and working for a couple of years in this field I realized that it was not for me and since then I have been trying different things until I finally decided to study art.’
“I got inspired to do art from my mother as she had loads of drawing from when she was younger and I always used to redraw them myself, which I think really made me focus more on art more than I had and not see it as just a hobby to do and from looking up to my mother then to wanting to be just as artistly as she was.'
villacastin Sanchez Miriam Untitled 2023
Mannion Lily "Installation Detail" 2023
'It was pretty much just always what I wanted to do, I think. Growing up and going to school in the countryside I knew that I was not really interested in what most of the people in my class wanted to do, and luckily, I was encouraged to do whatever I wanted.'
'My love for art first developed when I was 8 years old, I was gifted a large, framed print by an unknown artist that I hung up in my bedroom. I was so exhilarated to receive this as a gift that for the first few weeks, I tried to recreate the image myself by using my mom's camera on her old Nokia phone. This then influenced me to delve into the world of photography. The image then encouraged me to use my communion money to purchase my first camera, which then inspired me to practice photography and apply to art college to help me Develop my creative practice.'
‘I needed a change of scenery after Covid and decided to move out west and continue studying art. I have always been creative and am always trying to find my niche and learn new skills’
'For me, inspiration struck when I was challenged with creating an outcome for a module brief. For weeks I experimented and explored all the possible outcomes to help exhibit my final piece. But I was not satisfied. After asking a handful of students for suggestions, I finally got inspired by a suggestion and I knew exactly the direction I wanted to take to exhibit my final piece.'
Dennehy Claire "Emotional Baggage" 2023