Áine Sreenan
Jewellery BA (Hons)
National College of Art and Design
Specialisms: Installation/Sculpture / Jewelry / Sculpture
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Áine Sreenan
First Name: Áine
Last Name: Sreenan
Specialisms: Installation/Sculpture / Jewelry / Sculpture
Sectors: / Fine Art/Photography/Craft / Fashion/Textiles/Accessories
My Location: Dublin, Ireland
University / College: National College of Art and Design
Course / Program Title: Jewellery BA (Hons)
About
I am a maker; of forms, of spaces, of sensations.
My practice predominantly occupies 3D space in the realms of sculpture, installation or wearable art. Form, space and texture resonate deeply with me and I feel challenged to create immersive experiences through these elements. With training in Millinery and Jewellery, my practice often involves the physical manipulation of 2D materials into 3D forms and structures to evoke an emotional response in the viewer, in a subtle yet dramatic style.
Neart explores the concept of strength; delicate, subtle strength. The strength that enables us to continuously put one foot in front of the other when we think we can’t. I am curious about what it is that gives us the strength to carry on in the midst of grief and pain. What finds its way into our weak spots and secretly holds us together, the way solder does in metal binding. Solder lines and joins are traditionally hidden and camouflaged, but what if they were exposed; celebrated even?
Competitions
Global Design Graduate Show 2023
Flexibility, both physical and metaphysical, permeates my work. Adversity accosts us all at some point, and when it does, we bow and often fall. We can, and do, pull ourselves through but we are never the same again. We never simply recover. Our shape is always altered; sometimes obvious, sometimes not. In a world of incessant change and increasing complexity, vicissitude and flexibility are key. The quality of bending without breaking is not a luxury but a necessity. Climate change, political unrest and global pandemic have compelled us to alter. We have individually and collectively changed and bent our ways of being in this world, on a practical level and a spiritual one in order not to break, enabling us to evolve with grace. Solving complex matters requires distillation, a return to roots, heart, essence. I have returned to paper, a simple, humble, familiar material. Raw paper is manipulated and bent here in an unfamiliar and innovative manner to demonstrate that new ways of being are possible for this material and for us. The body of work takes the form of sculptural installation to provide the viewer with an immersive experience of embossed statements, wall-mounted sculptures, floor sculptures and a slow-motion, kinetic, walk-through installation. The natural, muted colour palette, curved shapes and physical envelopment of the viewer in this installation aims to calm, soothe and slow us down; an echo chamber of Eli Siegel’s words: “I change, but I am”.