Denise M. Ryan

Denise M. Ryan studied at the Limerick School Of Art and had her first solo exhibition in 1973 at the Thomond Gallery Limerick, shortly after graduating.

Up to 2014 she worked from her Studio in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare where the landscape and the Burren shoreline were the focus of her work for many years.

From 2014 to 2018 she moved to the Axarquia region of Andalucia, Spain, painting full-time at her studio in Pulgarin Alto, near Alfarnatejo until 2018.

In 2018 she returned to Clare and currently works from her studio in the East Clare village of Feakle.

Her paintings are focused on light, and how weather events impact visually on the landscape. Moments of alteration where physical landscape interacts with the elements, and the tangible appears to merge with the intangible.

Denise has had several solo shows, as well as participating in group exhibitions, and many two/ three person shows. Her work is in private collections in Ireland, UK, mainland Europe and Saudi Arabia. Public Collections include, Failte Ireland, Permanent TSB, Clare County Council. and the Health Service Executive

Artist Statement

“My paintings are my response to how I experience the landscape. I am challenged to paint transient moments when a familiar place is visually transformed through changing light and atmospheric conditions. A moment when earth, sky, rock and water seem to merge as unified elements creating a sense of ‘oneness’ which is also self inclusive.

The Burren, where I lived for twelve years, continues to be an inspiration and a recurring theme in my work, as are the Aran Islands and Connemara landscapes. My recent work endeavours to express light and air through prismatic colour – the air is full of colour which may occasionally be faintly perceived through the refraction of light and atmospheric conditions.”

CV