Wexford-based Artist presents a solo show of paintings and ceramics.

Bernadette Doolan makes art about resilience. The young girls in her paintings are conduits for potentially conflicting emotions, including vulnerability and strength. For her show at Source, they have come down off the wall as ceramic pieces. The girls from her paintings now also occupy the gallery with three-dimensional presence.

Doolan works intuitively, making the first mark or gesture with the instincts of childhood, without over-planning. “I want to honour the spirit of childhood – of getting back up,” she says. “When we fall over, we fall out of our heart and into our head and then everything is decided by our head not our heart.”

“Less is more,” says Doolan, “less distraction, more connection. It’s just like humming a song. You have to work harder at listening, remembering, guessing the song. That’s what I want to do in my art practice. I hum the tune; you fill in the rest.”

bernadettedoolan.com