‘Inklings’

From the inky depths of the creative minds of artists Sally O’Dowd and Jonny McEwen comes a show that is all about ink, inklings, and collaboration!

Both artists have been exploring ink in their recent work and are keen to develop, collaborate and showcase their work together. We are keen to reach out and invite in people to experiment in a playful and creative ink-based workshop. 

Both artists have worked with experimental drawing for many years and have a practice of community outreach through experimental drawing workshops, using drawing as a tool for social change. The idea of working together has been in discussion since they were studio neighbours, at the birth of Vault in Holywood Arches. The artists see this exhibition as the perfect opportunity to bring together their distinct and overlapping practices in an exciting way.

Workshop:

Jonny and Sally will host an experimental mark making workshop on Sunday 7 July (3–4pm) at Vault Artist Studios Gallery & Project Space
28 - 32 Victoria Street, Belfast BT1 3GGEveryone welcome. Booking required. Please sign up in the gallery or email bookings@vaultartiststudios.com

About the artists:

Jonny McEwen is an artist who is captivated by landscape. His work is rooted in a tradition of Irish Landscape painters going back to artists such as TP Flanagan, John Shinnors and Sean Scully. He is inspired by landscape and intrigued by the act of painting itself. This new body of work comes from a time of experimenting with ink as a medium. Creating multilayered abstractions that still feel rooted in the landscape around us.

“I have been considering what landscape has to say to us. I am interested in its permanence and fragility, its transcendence and immediacy. Ink has opened up new ways of engaging with the process of painting”

Recent solo shows inlcude Grounded, ObjectA, Phoenix AZ (2023), Coast, Arcadia Portrush (2023), Gather, Portview as part of NIMHAF (2022), and Presence, Battletown Gallery (2021).

Sally O’Dowd (b.1980) is a visual artist and curator with a socially engaged practice exploring the enormity of time through psychogeography and feminism. She draws and creates performances about motherhood, nature, and identity. She delivers participatory drawing sessions online and in real life. Her drawings are held in the Historic Royal Palaces, Northern Ireland Civil Service and Arts Council of Northern Ireland Collections. She is a recent recipient of the prestigious Arts Council of Northern Ireland Artist Career Enhancement Scheme, supported by the National Lottery.

Sally is co-founder of Townhall Cavan Arts Centre, and a founding member, gallery team member, and studio holder at Vault Artist Studios, Belfast. 

Selected Exhibitions inlcude upcoming Joseph Beuys 50 Years anniversary at the Ulster Museum, 193rd RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin (2023), The Lay of the Land with Array Collective at Townhall Cavan (2023), Remotely Radical: A Contemporary Drawing Exhibition, Vault Artist Studios Belfast (2022), The Mayor’s Parlour, Belfast City Hall, Curated by Jane Morrow and Array Collective (2023), Daydream outdoor billboard exhibition, Faoin Speir Arts Council Ireland, Cavan town, and BIFPA21 Belfast International Festival of Performance Art at the University of Ulster Belfast and online.
www.sallyodowdstudio.com | @sallyspectre

This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Vault Artist Studios, Belfast City Council, and Esme Mitchel Trust.