Cathy Carman

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Cathy Carman
Born
Catherine Byrne

1952 (age 71–72)
Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland
NationalityIrish
OccupationSculptor
Spouse
​
(m. 1993)​
Children2

Catherine Carman (born 1952) is an Irish sculptor, noted for large figurative works, often based on the human figure, in multiple materials.[1] She is also a painter, and latterly additionally works with "found objects", digital imaging and sound.[1] She is a member of Aosdána, Ireland's national academy of artists, and examples of her works are held in multiple major collections.

Early life and education[edit]

Catherine Byrne was born in Portlaoise, County Laois, in 1952, and grew up on Dublin Road there.[2] Her parents ran a shop. She attended secondary school at Presentation Convent, Portlaoise and took art classes at a local VEC school.[3] She won a substantial prize in a Clarks shoe design prize competition which enabled her to pursue third level studies at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin.[4] She later studied at Dun Laoghaire School of Art and the Chiswick Art School in London.

Artistic career[edit]

Carman has worked as a sculptor since college, and is best known for her large figurative works, most often in wood, stone or metal, and ceramics.[1] She has stated that the human figure is central to her work, and her style has been described as expressionistic.[5]

In her twenties, she primarily worked from a studio in Dublin's Henrietta Street, and from 1984 she was a founding member of what became Temple Bar Studios, before moving to a site overlooking Lough Allen with her second husband.[6]

Carman has participated in many group exhibitions, as well as presenting solo shows, in both Ireland and abroad, including:[7]

  • 1984, Dublin: Project Arts Centre (solo)
  • 1987, Dublin: Grafton Gallery (solo)
  • 1987: Portlaoise: County Hall (solo)
  • 1989, Glasgow: Barbizon Gallery
  • 1990, Dublin: Project Arts Centre
  • 1991, County Galway: Clifden Arts Festival
  • 1999, Dublin: Temple Bar Galleries & Studio
  • 2008, Tulsk, County Roscommon: Cruachan Aí Centre (The Nine Icons of Oweynagat, solo)[8]
  • 2011, Greenacres, Wexford: Wexford Opera Festival Art Exhibition (group)[9]
  • 2016, Castlebar, County Mayo: Linenhall Arts Centre (Diary, solo)[10]
  • 2019, Sligo: The Hamilton Gallery (Trans-formation, solo)[11]
  • 2023, Sligo: The Hamilton Gallery (Rapture, solo)[12]

Holdings and recognition[edit]

Works by Carman are held in many collections, including those of Ireland's Arts Council[7] and National Self-Portrait Collection, major Irish financial institutions, Dublin, Laois and Sligo local authorities, the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, and the European Parliament.

Carman sculptures can also be seen at a number of public locations, including at schools in Dublin and Laois, the Blasket Islands visitor centre, Parnell Street in Dublin and Tullamore Garda station.

She received major awards from the Arts Council in 1986, 1987 and 1989.[13] In 1992, she won the annual commission to produce seven sculptures as prizes for the Aer Rianta annual Business to Arts awards.[14]

Carman is a member of Aosdana, Ireland's selective artists' academy, and as of 2023, of that body's co-ordinating committee, the Toscaireacht.[5]

Personal life[edit]

Carman has a son, sculptor Simon Carman, from her first marriage.[15] She met writer and priest Michael Harding at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre artists' retreat in 1984, and after a year of so they established a steady relationship, and Harding has noted that Carman introduced him to the Dublin arts world.[16] Though Harding was never formally laicised, they married in 1993 and moved to a holding in County Leitrim, by Lough Allen near the County Roscommon border.[17] Carman and Harding have one daughter.[16]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Cathy Carman". Sligo Arts Service. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  2. ^ Miriam O'Callaghan (interviewer), Michael Harding and Cathy Carman (interviewees) (2014). Miriam meets ...Michael Harding and Cathy Carman (Audio) (Podcast). RTÉ. Event occurs at 15:39. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  3. ^ Miriam O'Callaghan (interviewer), Michael Harding and Cathy Carman (interviewees) (2014). Miriam meets ...Michael Harding and Cathy Carman (Audio) (Podcast). RTÉ. Event occurs at 16:35. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  4. ^ Miriam O'Callaghan (interviewer), Michael Harding and Cathy Carman (interviewees) (2014). Miriam meets ...Michael Harding and Cathy Carman (Audio) (Podcast). RTÉ. Event occurs at 18:29. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Exhibitions - Diary (Cathy Carman)". The Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Rapture | Cathy Carman at Hamilton Gallery". Visual Artists Ireland. 31 March 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  7. ^ a b "Arts Council Collection - Carman, Catherine (Cathy)". The Arts Council (of Ireland). Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Arts Evening - featuring Cathy Carman & Kieran Furey". Rathcroghan Visitor Centre, Cruachan Aí. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  9. ^ "Over 80 artists to feature at Greenacres exhibition". The Irish Independent. 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  10. ^ "Through the eyes of babes". The Mayo News. 9 February 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  11. ^ "Trans-formation | Cathy Carman at Hamilton Gallery, Sligo". Visual Artists Ireland. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  12. ^ "What's on in Connaught". The Irish Arts Review. 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  13. ^ "Carman, Cathy". National Irish Visual Arts Library. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  14. ^ "DAA (fmr Aer Rianta) "Business to Arts"". www.businesstoarts.ie. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  15. ^ Miriam O'Callaghan (interviewer), Michael Harding and Cathy Carman (interviewees) (2014). Miriam meets ...Michael Harding and Cathy Carman (Audio) (Podcast). RTÉ. Event occurs at 11:57. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  16. ^ a b Jackson, Joe (14 March 2004). "Heaven is other people". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  17. ^ Kelly, Aoife (25 August 2018). "I am still a priest - I don't see my marriage as the business of the Church, says actor Michael Harding". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
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