Wexford County Council Arts Department and Wexford Arts Centre, in partnership with South East Technological University, are pleased to announce Blaine O’Donnell as the recipient of the EMERGENCE Visual Art Award 2024.  As a joint initiative between the organizations, the award’s aim is to support visual artists with the development and promotion of their practice. Presented biannually, the award has a monetary value of €15,000 and includes mentorship support over the award cycle to the value of €2,000 and a solo exhibition at Wexford Arts Centre. In addition, the artist has the opportunity to engage with South East Technological University and avail of practical resources for a period of time.
 
Blaine O’Donnell is an artist working primarily in sculpture. Taking an experimental approach to the materials and processes of photography, architecture and geology, he investigates the art object as a starting point for tracing networks of relationships between objects, humans, and places. Contrasting materials are used in new ways, making space for material agency and chance. In a time of increasing dematerialization and alienation from natural rhythms and shared ecosystems, O’Donnell’s artistic practice seeks moments of connection and affinity, revelation and wonder.
 
For the EMERGENCE Award, O’Donnell will produce a new body of work between sculpture and expanded photography. O’Donnell will use this unique opportunity to respond to Wexford Arts Centre's location and its rich architectural history.  Approaching the gallery building as ‘site’, he will explore its context within the Wexford landscape, looking to the land and the environment to ask questions about our contemporary relationships with photographic image making and technology.
 
The artist will also work collaboratively with students of the Arts Campus of South East Technological University on a series of workshops exploring the sculptural and photographic potential of local geological and botanical processes. These experimental workshops will foster discussions around sustainability, site-specificity and non-human agency.
 
O'Donnell is currently in residence at Fire Station Artists' Studios, Dublin. He received the 2019 Emerging Irish Artist Residency Award, followed by exhibitions at the Burren College of Art, Clare (2019), and 126 Gallery, Galway (2020). In 2021, he created a permanent sculptural installation at Void, Derry, for Office of the Rest, a Forerunner Project commissioned by Mary Cremin. Recent exhibitions include hinder/further, The Complex, Dublin (2022), and Things To Do With Photographs, Gallery Augusta, Helsinki (2023). Recent residencies include the Temple Bar Gallery + Studios/Helsinki International Artist Programme Residency Exchange, Finland (2023), and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, USA (2024).

For further information on Blaine O'Donnell's practice, please log on to www.blaineodonnell.com.

The members of the 2024 selection panel were:
Liz Burns, County Arts Officer, Wexford County Council
Anna O'Sullivan, Director/Curator, Butler Gallery
Matt Packer, Director, EVA International

The EMERGENCE Visual Art Award is supported by the Arts Council.
For further information on the award please email [email protected]e