Teresa Ward artist
About
I am a visual artist living in Galway in the west of Ireland. I grew up as a young child in Tottenham, London to Irish parents in a close knit Irish community. I feel this gave me my keen interest in society and identity. I studied Visual Arts as a mature student and completed my masters in the Galway and Mayo Institute of Technology in 2017.
My painting practice encompasses pattern and collage using paper, material and paint. I work loosely from photography, found imagery and imagination. My work explores the built environment and lived experience in these spaces. The work is an emotive response to places I inhabit or frequent or pass by, spaces I find interesting or dull, that provoke an emotion, memory or atmosphere. The exploration of space, both indoor and outdoor is also an exploration of the recesses of the psyche, integrating thoughts and daydreams to the physical.
I am influenced by patterns, William Morris in particular and the idea of draftsmanship because it evokes feelings of the domestic and nature. I use patterns influenced by Morris to reconstruct the aesthetic of the paintings and to create a tension in the work between nature and the built environment.
I am interested in the theories around utopias and dystopias and their connection to modernist architecture and spaces. My work explores memories of places I have lived in, visited and imagined while exploring my own identity as autonomous artist.
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Selected solo shows
2013 Galway Arts Centre solo show. Dominick St Galway.
2015 Clifden arts week, solo show, The Exhibition Center
2012 Clifden arts week solo show Co Galway
Selected group shows
2022 Cairde Visual Arts Sligo
2021 Envision Arts online gallery. 'Architecture Through Paint'.
2019 'Data' Artspace members group show
2015 Rua Red Open Show. Tallaght Dublin. Curated by Jennie Guy, Matthew Nevin
2013 festival interceltique de Lorient. France curated by Maeve Mulrennen
COE Claremorris Open arts festival. Mayo curated by Andrew Wilson (Tate London)
2013 Honours degree show, Centre of Creative Arts and Media, Galway
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Projects
2020-present I have been facilitating art classes with women who have experienced domestic violence at Modh Eile, Cope Galway domestic violence refuge.
2021 Collaboration with Creative Ireland and Galway Tidy Towns, The project involved the painting of electricity boxes in shop street.
2021 'Spring into Story Time) A collaboration with Galway City Library and Galway People's Park.
2019 NUIG worked on a creative project with engineering students to engage both creative and conceptual thinking through art.
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Education and training
2018 Level 9 Postgraduate Certificate in Innovation, Entrepreneurialism and Enterprise University
College Dublin.
2017 MA in Creative Practice (paint) Galway and Mayo Institute of Technology
2013 Honours Degree Fine Art, Galway and Mayo Institute of Technology
2007 Desktop publishing and digital imagery software, including Photoshop, Quark and
Dreamweaver
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Achievements
2021 Recipient of of the arts council agility award funding
2019 Shortlisted for the Jackson Open Painting Prize (JOPP), UK
2018 Shortlisted for the Jackson Open Painting Prize (JOPP), UK
2013 Graduate residency and bursary award sponsored by the Galway City and Council Arts Office
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