Isobel Egan Irish
Isobel Egan, a ceramic artist based in county Kildare, Ireland, explores the relationships between internal, external and physical spaces around us through her delicate porcelain sculptures. Egan is drawn to the extraordinary potential of porcelain to be fine, intricate and delicate. Utilizing wafer thin sheets of porcelain, with their translucent paper - like quality, Egan constructs miniature worlds that challenge and question the perceived permanence of manmade structures. The concentric quadrilateral shapes that form her work recall abstracted rooms or cities. Each sculpture suggests and makes you wonder the actual transience of these constructs: their tininess and delicacy poignantly communicating the fragility of physical and internal spaces alike.
Introducing torn, uneven edges, she occasionally evokes disruption to the consistency of the repeated regular forms. Egan’s sculptures prompt various narrative, sharp contrasts between regular consistency and free irregularities to reflect on the transient nature of physical and emotional spaces, simultaneously being steady and predictable, while also being inconsistent and random.
Egan’s intimate sculptures invite her viewers to perceive our own relationship with space and how it shapes us, physically and emotionally.
Education
2005 Masters in Art, Design, Ceramics, National
College of Art and Design, Dublin
1999 Bachelor in Craft Design, Ceramics
National
College of Art & Design, Dublin
Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions
2023 Irish Wings Festival, Christophe Boico
Gallery, Paxos, Greece
2023 Edges, Ceramic House, Brighton UK
2023 O’Connell Gallery, Clonakilty, Cork
2023 Land Marks, Ceramics Ireland,
National
Craft Gallery Kilkenny.
2023 Made in Ireland, National Craft
Gallery
Kilkenny & FE Mc William Gallery
2022 Irish Craft Heroes, a travelling
exhibition throughout Ireland
2020 Curious Treasures, The National Craft
Gallery, Kilkenny
2020 Ceramics Ireland Triennial Exhibition,
Land/Marks, Farmleigh Gallery
2018 Ceramics Ireland International Festival,
Kilkenny, Exhibition & Demonstrator
2017 Whiter Shade of Pale, Hexagon Design
Classics, North Road, London
2017 Touchstone, Ceramics Ireland, Farmleigh
Gallery & The National Craft Gallery
2017 The Shadow of Sodeisha, National
Museum of Ireland,
Collins Barracks
2017 SO Fine Art Gallery, Dublin
2016 The Story in Art, Candida Stevens Fine
Art, West Sussex, UK
2016 Bils & Rye Gallery, York, UK
2016 Contemporary Collection of Design &
Craft, National Museum of Ireland &
Design and Crafts Council of Ireland,
Dublin
2015 Duality of Function, Contemporary
Clay, Galway Arts Centre, Galway
2016 Inside Outside, Solo Exhibition Gallery
Zozimus, Dublin
2015 Portfolio at Solomon Fine Arts & Design
& Crafts Council of Ireland, Dublin
2015 Riverbank Arts Centre, Visual Arts
Bursary Award Solo Exhibition, Kildare
2014 Centred, Ceramics Ireland, Farmleigh
Gallery, Dublin
2014 Generation Exhibition, NCAD, Dublin
2014 Moving Objects, International Academy
of Ceramics, Dublin Castle, Dublin
2012 Irish Craft Portfolio, Design & Crafts
Council of Ireland, RHA Gallery, Dublin
2012 Eigse, VISUAL Centre of Contemporary Art Carlow, Ireland.
2011 Dearc, Celebrating 150 Years of
the RDS Taylor Art Award, RDS, Dublin,
Ireland
2010 Korero, Ceramics in Conversation,
Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, Taipei County
Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan
International Fairs and Exhibitions
2024 Ceramic Art London, April
2023 Salon Art & Design, New York, Liz O’ Brien
Gallery, curated by Stephen O’Connell
2022 Land Marks, Ceramics Ireland,
International Ceramics Festival, Argilla, Italy
2020 Ceramic Art London (online)
2020 Maison et Objet, Paris, Design Ireland,
Design & Crafts Council of Ireland
2019 European Ceramic Context, Bornholm
Denmark, Represented Ireland
2019 Aqua Art Miami, Alessandro Berni
Gallery, New York
2015 Ceramic Art London, London, UK
2016 Ceramic Art London, London, UK
2017 Ceramic Art London, London, UK
2018 Ceramic Art London, London, UK
2010 European Ceramic Context, Bornholm
Denmark, Represented Ireland
2010 Korero, Ceramics in Conversation,
Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, Taipei
County Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan
Awards
2023 Visual Arts Grant, Kildare County
Council and Arts Services
2022 Nominated as an ‘Irish Craft Hero’
Design and Crafts Council of Ireland
2019 Ceramics Ireland Award for Craftsmanship & Creativity,
Gallery Zozimus Purchase Award
2018 European Ceramic Context, Denmark,
Represented Ireland
2014 Arts Bursary and Solo Exhibition,
Kildare County Council and Arts Services
2013 Visual Arts Bursary, Kildare County
Council and Arts Services
2010 Korero, Ceramics in Conversation,
Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, Taipei
County Yingge Ceramics Museum,
Taiwan
2006 The European Ceramic Context
Exhibition, Denmark, Represented Ireland
2006 The Golden Fleece Award, Merit
1999 The Taylor Art Award, Royal Dublin
Society
Publications
2023 Galerie Magazine.com /Liz O’Brien &
Brian-McCarthy at Salon Design, New York
2023 Irish Arts Review, Portfolio Section
2022 CBC Radio Podcast, Room with a view:
60 years on, Gaston Bachelard’s Ideas
still ignite our imagination
2022 ‘Irish Craft Heroes’ Published by Design & Crafts Council
of Ireland
2019 Pod Cast Isobel Egan, Building with
paper-thin slabs
2019 Ceramics Ireland, 40th Anniversary Book
2017 Irish Arts Review
2017 Ceramic Review, Memories & Materials,
Frances Mc Donald
2016 Ceramics Art and Perception, Inside
Outside, by Dr. Audrey Whitty
2016 The Gloss Interiors, Irish Times, by Susan
Zelouf
2015 Cfile, Market Place Selections from Ceramic
Art London, Aesthetica Magazine
2014 Ceramics Ireland, An Interior Perspective a
Window into Light, Muireann Charleton
2011 The Irish Times Magazine, Artists at Clay,
28th May
2010 Korero: Ceramics in Conversation, 2010
Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, Ceramics
Monthly
2010 New Ceramics, The European
Ceramics Magazine
2010 Korero Ceramics in Conversation, 2010
Taiwan Ceramics Biennale
2009 Contemporary Ceramics: An
International Perspective by Emmanuel
Cooper Published by Thames and
Hudson, London
2007 Breaking the Mould, Published by Black
Dog Publishing, London
Ceramics Ireland, Issue
2006 The Irish Art Review, Autumn Volume
23. No.3 pages 122-124
2012 In Good Hands, RTE, six-part
Contemporary Documentary, Episode 6, Ceramics
Public and Private Collections
2019 The Morrison Hotel, Dublin, Ireland
2018 O’ Dwyer Real Estate, Dublin, Ireland
2016 Private Collections 2016 to Present
2016 The National Museum of Ireland, Collins
Barracks, Dublin, Ireland
2010 Taipei County Yingge Ceramics
Museum, Taiwan
2005 The National Museum of Ireland, Collins
Barracks, Dublin, Ireland
2001 The National Museum of Ireland, Collins
Barracks, Dublin, Ireland
