Bealtaine Artist in Residence
Bernie Masterson
DATES
1 to 31 May 2025
TIMES
SHARE
Bernie Masterson
Can You See Me Now
1 to 31 May 2025
Bealtaine Artist in Residence at Uillinn
Each year Cork County Council in partnership with Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre invite an open call for artists over 50 years old to take part in a month-long residency at Uillinn, to celebrate Bealtaine. This year the Award went to Bernie Masterson.
Can You See Me Now is a multimedia art project that explores the notion of identity as we progress into older years in life, and what that means in contemporary Ireland today. Bernie Masterson’s research will examine cultural attitudes, language, and behaviour in relation to aging, with a multidisciplinary approach using film / drawing and painting as investigative tools. These inquiries will take the form of portraits involving both individual and group work as a means of self-reflection and encounter. The material gathered from this research through collaborative studio sessions will inform the development of a new creative lens-based work.
With my Bealtaine residency at Uillinn I hope to continue and advance with my artistic objectives exploring the theme of ‘identity’ and ‘displacement’. This subject matter has been one of the main focuses of my work to date, with projects like Incarceration Altars a public art project at Grangegorman in collaboration with residents of Mountjoy Prison Campus; Flight which addresses social anxiety and isolation and Who Owns My Body, the story of a young Irish trans. As individuals we are perpetually in a state of ‘becoming’ and the philosopher Michel Foucault describes this process as the ethics of the self. This opportunity facilitates a new point of reference dealing with our concerns as we age in a social, political and cultural context, in order to raise questions and promote critical dialogue. Creativity is ageless and provides many possibilities for engagement.
With my work I seek to find alternative points of view to create new conversations around issues that matter to me.
Public engagement for this programme of work will be facilitated by linking in with individuals and communities through the Uillinn open invitation to participate.
Georgia O Keeffe once said “…in a way––nobody sees a flower––really––it is so small––we haven’t time––and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”
Bernie Masterson is a visual artist and filmmaker working and living in Dublin. She studied at Limerick School of Art and Design in her early years, and returned to college from 2014 to 2016 graduating with an MFA from NCAD. She comes from a background in prison education as teacher / artist and over time this aspect of her teaching practice increasingly informed her visual art practice, with a shift towards a more socially engaged methodology that explores our human concerns. Key components of her practice include painting, drawing, research, film, editing, and sound design.
Can You See Me Now – A Multimedia Project
Public engagement will take place over two days per week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10.30 to 4.30. The studio sessions will introduce participants to a range of materials and drawing / painting techniques. Source material for these studies will be a combination of memory and photographic references and will comprise three stages. The first being individual self-portraits in pencil / charcoal, the second will be a group project, a painting study of one member of the group, and the third stage will investigate the theme of identity through a lens-based process. These sessions will meld the more traditional methods of artistic expression to newer forms driven by technological advancement.
The artist will engage with the public through screenings and talks relating to her work. Dates to be confirmed…
Facebook –https://www.facebook.com/bernie.masterson.54
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/bernie_masterson/
WCAC acknowledges the financial support of Cork County Council and The Arts Council in making these residencies possible.