Crawford Supported Studios: Cork exhibition shows work of artists with disabilities
Tom O'Sullivan at work in the Crawford Supported Studio. Picture: Roísín O'Sullivan
Identity, culture and storytelling are the themes of , the new exhibition at Cork County Council’s LHQ Gallery on the Carrigrohane Road. It features the work of 16 artists with disabilities, all of whom are involved with Crawford Supported Studio, a partnership between Crawford Art Gallery and MTU Crawford College of Art and Design, with support from Cork City Council.
The Supported Studio group convenes twice a week at the MTU building on the Grand Parade. “Our aim is to meet the artists where they’re at,” says Emma Klemencic, who leads the project, “and lend them encouragement in making their artwork.”
The Crawford’s supported studio initiative was inspired by the late Hermann Marbe, who worked as a nurse at the Cope Foundation at the John Birmingham Day Care Centre in Glasheen, where he established the Glasheen Art Studio Programme (GASP) in 2009.
“Hermann worked with people he saw had a creative drive or an interest,” says Klemencic. “He would bring groups into the Crawford Art Gallery, and he was such a persistent personality that we ended up offering a residency at the gallery to some of those who were making art. We found their work really exciting.”
Marbe worked tirelessly to ensure that the GASP artists had access to training, and could exhibit their work and be taken seriously as artists. Sadly, he became unwell, dying in May 2018. His passing coincided with the closure of Cúig (Creativity Unlimited Integrated Group), another initiative that had provided studio space and training to artists with disabilities at Mayfield Arts Centre.
That was when the Crawford Art Gallery stepped in. “We felt that there were all these artists who'd been making art for over a decade, exhibiting their work and doing exciting stuff, and that should be supported and continued. So we established the Crawford Support Studio. The whole thing is based in the heart of the city, so we’re very much a legacy project.”
The artists involved have since participated in any number of group exhibitions, open studio events and collaborative projects with other organisations, including Observations in Print, an exhibition with Cork Printmakers at the MTU Gallery in 2021, and Reconnection, an exhibition curated by KCAT Studio Artists and the Powerhouse Gallery in Kilkenny in 2024.
Anne Boddaert, a senior curator at the Crawford Art Gallery, was invited to curate the new exhibition at LHQ. “It was Anne who suggested the title,” says Klemencic.
“After visiting the studio and seeing the work, she said, there’s a lot of Irish themes coming out here. Íde Ní Shúilleabháin was drawing the members of Kneecap having pints in the pub, for instance. She was also looking at Irish traditions, like the mummers with their straw hats. And Katie Whelan is interested in fairy stories and myths and happy endings, so she made a painting of the Children of Lir.
“The title is also a little nudge to the fact that the artists are all Irish citizens. We’ve had two major exhibitions at the Crawford – Perceptions and Outside In – that featured disabled artists, selected here and internationally. But all the work in this new show is by Irish artists.”
The group are nothing if not diverse, both in terms of their disabilities and their art making. “Yvonne Condon, for instance, has experienced significant barriers because she has a vision impairment, is hearing impaired and has learning differences. But she makes these incredible portraits, painting on card, and often completes them in ten minutes.”
Some of the group have various awards and other accolades to their credit. “Tom O’Sullivan is a gentle giant of a man who has been working in support studio settings for 17 years by now.
He was awarded the Visibility Bursary last year from Cork City Council, which is for an artist facing significant barriers and progressing in their career. And he's been awarded a Visual Artist Bursary again this year.”
MTU Crawford College of Art is now running a pilot programme that allows the studio support artists to become students at MTU for a year and receive a third level qualification.
“Our artists are a diverse crew, and not everyone is interested,” says Klemencic, “but at present there are five working towards that. They’re really excited about being students at MTU, being on the campus and being part of college life, rather than being in a separate educational setting. They can visit the library, and they have access to facilities like the ceramics studio.”
- This Is Ireland runs at the LHQ Gallery at Cork County Hall until April 24
- One of the Supported Studio artists, Rosaleen Moore, will be on hand at the LHQ Gallery for a Meet the Artist session from 11am – 12.30pm on Wednesday April 22 as part of the Lifelong Learning Festival. More of the artists will provide a guided tour of the Crawford Supported Studios space at the MTU building on the Grand Parade from 11am – 1pm on Thursday April 23. Further information: crawfordartgallery.ie
