ABOUT ME
We are Philosophers,
Teachers, Visual Storytellers.
We are Artists.
I was born in Dublin, Ireland and one of my earliest memories as a young boy were those summers spent outdoors crossing verdant fields under azure skies with a sketchbook under my arm. My student days at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin seem like a long time ago but my passion to create a beautiful drawing or piece of sculpture is as strong today as it was back then. A career as an artist was very much part of my plan but life and the need to make a living got in the way. I worked in the composites industry for several years before arriving in Dubai in 1996. Ten years later I set up my own company in Dubai called Spatial who made simulators for aviation.
I painted with watercolours in the evenings at the Dubai International Art Centre but my first love was working with clay and this is where the ‘Johanne’ (Joan of Arc) sculpture was conceived. Eventually my work came to the attention of Sheikh Mohammed’s Meydan Company and I was commissioned to create 20 life size racehorse sculptures. An invitation to create a bronze crucifix for the church followed and when a delegation of Bishops came from Rome to inaugurate the church they seemed to like the crucifix and I was sent for. Soon I was creating crucifixes for several churches in the UAE including a replica of the one in St. Martha’s in the Vatican for the Apostolic Nuncio in Kuwait.
During my time in the Middle East I was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel and I soon developed a passion for the architecture of the ancient Islamic civilizations in places like Iran, Iraq and Syria. I attended workshops organized by the Prince’s Foundation in London to study the art of the Mamluks in Cairo, the Moroccan zelige patterns in Fez and the beautiful architecture of the Umayyad Caliphate in Cordoba & Seville. I recently set up my own studio here in Dubai and installed a pottery kiln to indulge my passion for hand carved ceramics which I bisque fire and glaze using the ancient Ilkhanid luster technique. My intention going forward is to supply unique, tactile, hand made tiles and works of art in the ceramic medium. My goal is to harness my creative instinct, to share what I have learned with others and to inspire and be inspired along the way!
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A WALK
THROUGH MY STUDIO