Catherine Ryan

I am an urban folk artist from Dublin, Ireland. Urban = because cities are the main focus of my work. Folk = because I am drawn to the unofficial, the underground, the homemade, the readymade. And I have a degree in folklore!

I have shown my work in many venues in Ireland and abroad in the USA, the UK and France.

I make detailed vibrant cityscapes using objects collected from daily life. Some items are kindly donated. My work evolved from a fusion of influences including painting, sculpture, street art and collage. Using 3D items and “readymade text" helps to convey an idea quickly. Found objects can also contain the psychic energy of the places they were found, if you're into that kind of thing (I am).

The collages act as a record of the material culture of the 21st century. For example, mobile phone parts are meshed into the aerial cityscapes, swamped in the primal medium of paint. Gelling different materials together expresses contemporary urban life in a state of flux.

Bachelor of Arts Joint Honours Degree,
First Class Honours in Irish Studies and Irish Folklore, University College Dublin, 2017-2020.

National College of Art and Design, Craft Design: Glass, 1997-2001.

Ranelagh Arts Festival exhibition, Ranelagh, Dublin 6. (2023)

SCOOP Outside the Box, Royal Hibernian Academy, Ely Place, D2.

Through the Clouds by Better Together Artists. (2022)

K-FEST arts festival, Killorglin, county Kerry. (2021)

Pluid Project 2021. The National Comfort Blanket, The Cowshed, Farmleigh, Dublin 8.

Open Fragment Exhibition. The Pragmata Collective.co.uk.

​FAC3. Online exhibition curated by the Spongelheim Gallery, specialising in outsider and folk art, UK.

Winter Open Exhibition. The Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon, County Clare. (2020)

Birr Vintage Week, curated group exhibition, Offaly. (2019)

No Fixed Abode, The Copperhouse Gallery, Dublin 2. (2018)

Antennae, curated group show, Lubomirov/Angus-Hughes, London. (2017)

Galway 1916, official centenary exhibition, Connacht Tribune Printworks, Galway. (2016)

Don't Step On The Cracks, curated group exhibition, Solas Art Gallery, Ballinamore, co. Leitrim. (2015)

Little Slices, RUA RED Arts Centre Café, solo exhibition, Dublin 24. (2015)

5 Cavendish Row, invited artist, Olivier Cornet Gallery, Dublin 1. (2015)

More is More, solo exhibition, The Upstairs Gallery, The Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny. (2014)

Multicultural Winter Exhibition, Centre For Creati...