This project - Art, Climate, Community, funded by Creative Ireland sees five outdoor artworks installed on the Kickham Barracks walls, all of which respond to climate change. The issue of climate change impacts everyone and we value the creative response of ALL our citizens.

To reflect this, three of the artworks are by professional Tipperary artists, selected through an Open Call, with the remaining two created through artist engagement
with local community groups CTC Clonmel and Cluain Training & Enterprise Centre, Clonmel.

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Aishling Martin - 'As if it Were Fated', 2023. This piece explores drawing and collage as a means to create a narrative using found text and images.
The text in the piece refers to the ability of nature to adapt and reclaim spaces in urban areas. The image refers to plant life growing, birds nesting in abandoned spaces. The piece includes found text, images, thrifted fabric, pressed flowers and plants.  The found elements become a starting point for transformation and explore the possibility of the discarded or unused to become something new.

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Artist bio: Aishling lives and works in Tipperary. She graduated from Limerick School of Art and Design in 2003 with a BA Hons degree in Sculpture and Combined Media. Large scale drawing and collage were central to her work during this time and have been her primary way of transcribing thoughts feelings and the world in general. Having moved to Cork in 2007 she was part of the Basement Project Space an artist led studio space and gallery in Cork City. She completed an MA in Comparative Aesthetics and the Arts  from UCC in 2014, exploring our relationship and engagements with art objects and objects encountered in the everyday.

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Bernadette Kiely - 'Dandelions - [the answer is] blowing in the wind', oil on canvas, 2023 In an effort towards the restoration of biodiversity I allowed my small garden to return to nature over the past number of years, with the idea in mind of making artworks from the plants which survive and thrive. The painting is based on the dandelions in my garden, their seeds blowing in the wind. I took a low, ground viewpoint as I wanted to feel, in effect, as if I were part of the dandelion world myself while I was making the painting.  The plants have been used by humans for food and as an herb for much of recorded history. As the present year has recently been described as 'a season of simmering' I see the dandelions as a symbol of resilience and hope in our present time of climate breakdown. Bernadette Kiely, September 2023.

Artist Bio: Bernadette Kiely was born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary and grew up in Carrick on Suir. She lives and works on the Quayside of the River Nore in Thomastown. Her work is based on the effects of weather on land, the natural world and human lives with a particular focus on flooding in her local area. This has been an enduring theme in her practice for over 25 years. Recent exhibitions include: 'Survival of the fittest [the answer is] blowing in the wind', Taylor Galleries (2023); 'A New Landscape - Cork or Venice, who cares, who can tell', Lavit Gallery, Cork (2023); 'RHA Annual Exhibition 2023', RHA Gallery, Dublin (2023); 'National Gallery of Ireland Zurich Portrait Award's 2022/23; Contemporary British Painting Prize (2022), Huddersfield Art Gallery and Thames Side Gallery and Studios, London, UK; 'Imagine Life without Art', Custom House Gallery and Studios, Westport, (2022). Bernadette's work is held in public and private collections in Ireland, UK and the USA.  She was elected a member of Aosdána in 2007 (founded 1983), the artist body deemed by their peers to a make an ongoing significant contribution to Irish Art. Represented by Taylor Galleries, Dublin, Ireland.

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Emma Maher - 'A Love Song To Our World', Digital collage, Photoshop manipulation, drawing, 2023. This Piece is a poetic response to the theme of this project. This evoking piece is a celebration of the senses, the world's natural elements and devastating destruction. Hands are seen within each image, tying the piece together in a soft embrace. The delicacy of these hands contrasts with their strength, how the actions of people on the world we call home can so quickly destruct. Through the actions of people alone, we can decide to embrace the world around us celebrating its beauty and nurturing its fragility and how we must act now to preserve its intricacies. 

Artist Bio: Emma Maher is an Irish illustration artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland.Originally from Thurles, Tipperary, she studied Printmaking & Contemporary Practice at Limerick School of Art & Design graduating in 2014. Emma's work explores the worldly concept of the divine feminine and beauty of the natural world utilising bold, vibrant colour and collage. Botanical and natural elements are seen in many of her designs as well as the female body. Emma setup her art business in 2021 where she creates hand painted floral designs and prints. She's secured stockists of her work in UK and Ireland, and has had her work featured in a number of art publications. 

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'Destruction' - pen & ink & paint on board, 2023. A collaborative art work by Pathways students from Clonmel CTC facilitated by artist Paulette O’Donovan.  In this piece, the group are depicting the obvious signs of the damage that man and machinery have done to the environment, causing the current climate change crisis.  All natural things are being destroyed.  Participating artists: Eoin Shine, Briannah Arrigan, Orlaith O’Connor, Barney Stokes, Ebony Ryan, Chloe O’Donnell, Isaac Howley, Dylan Lee.

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Artist bio: Paulette O'Donovan is a visual artist from Clonmel. She returned to study Art as a mature student and graduated from WIT (now SETU) with a BA(Hons) in Fine Art in 2018. She then went on to gain a post grad diploma in teaching in further education in 2019, and is currently working as an Art tutor with Tipperary ETB, which keeps her very busy. Paulette has a love for community art and working with groups, especially young people. Recent exhibitions include Clonmel Library, February 2023, and she is a member of the Random Artists of Tipperary South (RATS) collective.

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'Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow' - collage, mixed media & paint on board, 2023. The piece draws together this diverse group’s unique responses to the brief.  Each member contributed a number of pieces expressing their individual concerns and care for the Earth.  We drew the individual pieces together using the motif of the oak leaf and the acorn, the symbol of the Cluain along with the motto of the centre to create our finished piece. It expresses our combined hope that, in the words of John Moriarty, we can, “....walk beautifully on the Earth.”  Participating artists: Agnes O’Brien, Ann Marie Gottwald, Bridget O’Donnell, Caroline Griffin, Catherine Whelan, Geraldine Bergin & Josie Hennessy.

Artist Bio: Alan studied fine art painting in LSAD from 1995 -'99 graduating with a BA (Hons) and he has combined working as an artist with facilitating one-to-one and group spiritual and personal development since then. He is an Interfaith minister and recently completed an MA in Applied Spirituality. His personal art work is very much spirituality based but he also works on commissions and murals in a variety of styles and subjects. He is based in South Tipperary where he lives with his wife and daughter.

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