Author: Irene Fitzgerald
Week 7: “Fresh Repose” – QSS collaboration with artist and curator Moran Been-noon
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“This week’s collection was co-curated with Aoife Donnellan @aoifedonnellan. We started this collection by looking at work that highlights the sensation of individual isolation alongside regimented togetherness. We selected pieces that engage with this conflict, born out of the human condition. We referenced Duchamp’s Fresh Widow (1920) in the title as a note on the…
Week 6: “Phi Phenomenon” – QSS collaboration with artist and curator Moran Been-noon
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“The Phi Phenomenon describes the sense of motion perceived by us when visuals appear in an alternation at high frequency. It’s important in animation, for example, when a frequent enough sequence is essentially viewed as movement. This is one of the ideas that inspired the theory of Gestalt, which considers the whole as different from…
Week 5: ““Liddard with a lazzer” – QSS collaboration with artist and curator Moran Been-noon
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“I worked on this week’s collection as if I was reading a graphic novel. I followed a shape, a colour, a feeling from one frame to the next, not knowing what would be the next step of the narrative.” Moran Been-noon List of work: 01. Dan Ferguson: Soaked (above image), oil on panel, 30 x…
Week 4: “Consideration” – QSS collaboration with artist and curator Moran Been-noon
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“I treated this week as a proposal for paying attention. The work selected has an almost fantastical aesthetics on a first look, but a double take shows the details that make up the composition. Each piece has two stories, and our consideration is required.” Moran Been-noon List of work: 01. Hannah Clegg – ‘Three Hundred…
Sharon Kelly
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Was there a definitive point in your life that you decided to become a professional artist? I didn’t go to art school until I was 23; somehow, I found art through much time spent alone with a small child, questioning, pondering, wondering. There wasn’t a definitive moment, to decide to be an artist, but the…
Week 3: “Mirror Neurones” – QSS collaboration with artist and curator Moran Been-noon
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“The idea for this week’s collection came from a photo of a curator posing in the gallery space among the installed work, posing in different ways that mirror or copy the shapes and gestures in the art. This made me think of “mirror neurones”, which fire in our brain when we see a certain action…
Week 2: “The Weight Of Being Human” – QSS collaboration with artist and curator Moran Been-noon
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“I started this week with looking at images of heads and thinking of the phrase “heavy is the head that wears the crown”. While this reference stayed behind in the actual work selection, the work I selected has a certain weight, or gravity, to it. In the process the shape of the body became relevant…
QSS collaboration with artist and curator Moran Been-noon
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Today QSS is launching a collaboration with Moran Been-noon (@batinzedesert) showcasing collections of the members’ work on our various channels. Moran approached us with the idea of curating these little collections earlier this month and we are delighted to be able to work together to showcase the great work done at QSS even though our…
Susan Connolly
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What is your typical studio routine? My studio routine, if I’m honest, is quite sporadic and in recent years my studio activities have tended to be deadline and production driven for exhibitions. I think part of the reason for this is that as well as having my studio at QSS I also have an at…
‘The Fews’ by QSS artist Éanna Mac Cana
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‘The Fews’ is an experimental short film by QSS artist Éanna Mac Cana. The piece focuses on painter (and the artist’s father), Paddy McCann, who is in the midst of creating a new body of work. Owing to the spectrum of colour his father uses in his painted works, Éanna chose to record in…
Interview with QSS artist Sinead McKeever in The Irish Arts Review
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Sinead McKeever was recently interviewed by Brian McAvera for the Spring issue of the Irish Arts Review (IAR) Her practice engages with different modes of perception – the questioning of hierarchical systems of measuring, knowledge and history are interpreted through drawing, painting and site-oriented installation works. In the IAR interview, entitled ‘Reflected Distortions’, McKeever notes…
QSS Artist Studios & Gallery – Notice of Temporary Closure
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QSS temporarily closed its doors on Friday 20th March 2020 owing to the COVID-19 virus. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our exhibitors, visitors and especially our studio community of over forty artists. Thank you for your understanding and support at this time. Stay safe and we hope to welcome you back to QSS…
Charlie Scott
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What is your typical studio routine? I tend to follow routine in terms of my working day/hours and general commitment to the studio, that said there are very few constants within a normal working day. I tend to trust my instincts and make use of ‘fresh eyes’ upon entering the studio. I try to dedicate…
‘Four Female Painters’ at QSS
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Opening reception: Thursday 5th March 2020, 18:00 – 20:30Exhibition dates: 6th – 27th March 2020Opening times: Tuesday-Thursday, 10:00 – 17:00 ‘Four Female Painters’ is an ambitious exhibition showcasing a group of emerging female artists based in Belfast and London. Their various styles and interpretations of figurative and portraiture works combine to promote dialogue around the…
Studio sublet opportunity at QSS
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QSS invite applications for a three-month studio sublet (9th March – 7th June 2020) at The Arches Centre, 11-13 Bloomfield Avenue, Belfast, BT5 5AA. QSS studios are accessible from 8.00 to 22.00 Monday to Saturday and 10.00 to 21.00 on Sundays. The available studio is on the 2nd floor with a high ceiling, wifi and…
QSS Exhibition Open Call
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QSS are inviting exhibition applications from non-member artists for shows in June and September 2020. Interested artists should submit (i) an exhibition proposal (250 words), (ii) an artistic CV and (iii) between six and eight images of their work to [email protected] for consideration. To support the living and working condition of artists, QSS will pay…
David Haughey
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Socially, historically and perhaps geographically, Belfast has many ‘unique’ attributes that define it as a city. Can you describe one positive and one negative aspect of working in this ‘unique’ place? I’ve been a resident in Belfast since 1997, and over the past twenty years, I’ve watched the city contort into the odd shape it…
Emergence III at QSS
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Opening: Thursday 6th February 2020, 6pm – 9pmExhibition dates: 7th – 28th February 2020Times: Tuesday-Thursday, 10am – 5pm QSS is delighted to present ‘Emergence III’ – the third showcase of selected work by recent graduates from the Belfast School of Art. Seventeen artists were chosen to exhibit, by a QSS selection panel comprising three professional…
QSS win Inspirational Trustee Award at the Allianz Arts & Business NI Awards 2020
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The Lyric, Belfast played host to over 250 guests recently for the Allianz Arts & Business NI Awards 2020. The awards sponsored for the fourteenth year in a row by Allianz, celebrated the rich creativity and pioneering partnerships between the worlds of business and the Arts in Northern Ireland. Dr Wendy Austin, MBE compered the…
The Salt House | Sharon Kelly Short Doc by Éanna Mac Cana
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGeTVARs928 Beautiful and insightful introduction to a new body of work (of the same name) by QSS artist (and Éanna’s mother) Sharon Kelly. Work featured in the film is currently on show in the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast and continues until 22nd February, 2020. Small square black & white photographs taken by the artist’s mother…
Sharon Kelly awarded the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Rome Fellowship
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Congratulations to QSS artist Sharon Kelly on being awarded the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Rome Fellowship! The fellowship runs for six months every two years and is open to artists of all disciplines who have made a contribution to artistic activities in Northern Ireland. Sharon’s practice focuses and gravitates around drawing, incorporating moving image,…