July Art Auction Lot 90 - Carolyn Mulholland, Self Study of the Artist
Born in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1944, Carolyn Mulholland is an Irish sculptor whose style moves between traditional portraiture and abstract studies. She attended the Belfast College of Art between 1962 to 1966 and was awarded the Ulster Arts Club prize for sculpture. Whilst still a student, Mulholland created a portrait bust of friend, Seamus Heaney. In 1966, she received a commission for St MacNissi Church, followed by several portrait commissions including Mercy Hunter and Betty Lowry. She was awarded the RUA silver medal award and received the Arts Council travel award to visit Paris. Her work continually expanded, incorporating abstract elements to consider shape and movement.
Mulholland continued experimenting with form and tension to produce new visual effects. Working between modern and traditional materials and themes, she often used bronze or moulded fibreglass. By creating traditional subjects from modern materials, Mulholland was able to achieve a lighter, more painterly quality from her medium, as seen in her self-portrait (Lot 90).
Mulholland was elected a member of the Aosdana. She later exhibited with Basil Blackshaw at the Pepper Canister Gallery in Dublin and completed several important commissions, including a life-size bronze sculpture for the famine memorial graveyard in Clones, County Monaghan (1998) and a large bronze panel for the Customs House in Dublin (2003). Her solo exhibitions have included the Ulster Arts Club, Tom Caldwell Gallery, and Oireachtas. Mulholland's work can be found in many private collections, along with public institutions including the Ulster Museum, Royal Ulster Academy of Arts Diploma Collection, and Queen's University, Belfast.
Born in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1944, Carolyn Mulholland is an Irish sculptor whose style moves between traditional portraiture and abstract studies. She attended the Belfast College of Art between 1962 to 1966 and was awarded the Ulster Arts Club prize for sculpture. Whilst still a student, Mulholland created a portrait bust of friend, Seamus Heaney. In 1966, she received a commission for St MacNissi Church, followed by several portrait commissions including Mercy Hunter and Betty Lowry. She was awarded the RUA silver medal award and received the Arts Council travel award to visit Paris. Her work continually expanded, incorporating abstract elements to consider shape and movement.
Mulholland continued experimenting with form and tension to produce new visual effects. Working between modern and traditional materials and themes, she often used bronze or moulded fibreglass. By creating traditional subjects from modern materials, Mulholland was able to achieve a lighter, more painterly quality from her medium, as seen in her self-portrait (Lot 90).
Mulholland was elected a member of the Aosdana. She later exhibited with Basil Blackshaw at the Pepper Canister Gallery in Dublin and completed several important commissions, including a life-size bronze sculpture for the famine memorial graveyard in Clones, County Monaghan (1998) and a large bronze panel for the Customs House in Dublin (2003). Her solo exhibitions have included the Ulster Arts Club, Tom Caldwell Gallery, and Oireachtas. Mulholland's work can be found in many private collections, along with public institutions including the Ulster Museum, Royal Ulster Academy of Arts Diploma Collection, and Queen's University, Belfast.
