Event
Artist Deirdre Dunne has been selected via a public vote to be this year’s A Better Place artist at University Hospital Waterford (UHW). Deirdre’s solo exhibition at UHW opens on 28 June 2019 and continues until September, with the aim of making the hospital a better place for all. The A Better Place exhibition is an annual exhibition, open to all artists, and managed by Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT).
Now in its fourth year, A Better Place has been a consistently popular exhibition among staff, patients and visitors to UHW. Recognising that art can soften the clinical environment of the hospital and help to alleviate stress and worry, WHAT began the A Better Place exhibition strand in 2016 to offer an opportunity to any artist to submit a sample of their work for consideration. Previous winners include artists Sinead Hehir (2018), Barry Edwards (2017) and Gemma Hodge (2016). This year, submissions were received from 49 artists and were voted on by the staff, patients and visitors to UHW earlier this year, with Deirdre Dunne receiving the highest number of votes.
Deirdre lives and works as an art teacher in Mitchelstown, County Cork, surrounded by the Galtee Mountains. Having graduated from CIT Crawford College of Art and Design Cork with an Honours Degree in Fine Art Painting in 1993, she spent time cycling through Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Central America and Ireland, as well as working as a tour guide in Australia and East Africa. Throughout her travels, Deirdre continuously sketched and painted images from each of the countries she visited, as well as her native Ireland. With each continent she encountered, her work changed to portray the wildlife, the people, their land and their cultures, creating a kaleidoscope of images spanning the world. Her subject matter varies, from everyday kitchen scenes to camels in the Gobi desert. Her aim in art is to bring images from around the world to viewers who may have never gotten the chance to experience these places, or to rekindle memories for people who have.
Exhibition launch
University Hospital Waterford
Friday 28 June at 6pm
All welcome
Further details are available from www.waterfordhealingarts.com
