Odyssey of Self
Live Sculpting & Exhibition
Artist Statement
Odyssey of Self
My practice is rooted in the Burren, a limestone landscape that has shaped my body, memory, and imagination since childhood. It is both playground and archive—holding personal and generational histories that inform my sculptural language.
Working primarily in wood, I create figurative, narrative sculptures that explore motherhood, identity, and care. Raised in a family of makers, I carry a tactile inheritance; storytelling is embedded in the grain, and making becomes a way of thinking through memory. My process is intuitive, often revealing subconscious connections between past and present.
Through humour and close attention to everyday life, I reflect on the emotional complexities of motherhood—devotion, guilt, exhaustion, and love. Informed by feminist and psychoanalytic perspectives, my work gives form to internal dialogue and repetition, inviting audiences to recognise something of themselves within these shared, intimate experiences.
I am currently expanding my practice to explore movement, sound, and time-based processes, developing kinetic and multi-sensory sculptural installations that more fully express the cyclical and psychological dimensions of motherhood.
Live Sculpting & Exhibition
31 July – 2 August, 11:00–16:00
The Old Penal Church (opposite of The Old Abbey of The Holy Cross)
Artist talk
1 & 2 August, 13:00–13:40
The Old Penal Church (opposite of The Old Abbey of The Holy Cross)
Artist talks are wristbands/tickted events – booking info will follow soon
About the artist
Tina O’Connell is a visual artist based in North Clare, working primarily through sculpture as a form of visual storytelling.
As a mature student, she completed a degree in Fine Art at LSAD and is currently pursuing an MA in Fine Art. Her practice explores themes of motherhood, memory, and identity through storytelling, humour, and material experimentation. Working primarily with wood, alongside concrete and mixed media, she creates narrative-driven sculptural works that reflect domestic life and familial relationships. Tina was awarded a solo exhibition at Custom House Studios in 2026 through a competitive open call. She has exhibited in both group and solo contexts, including at Limerick City Gallery of Art, where her work is part of the permanent collection. Her work is also included in the Limerick Mayor’s Collection and in private collections. In 2024, she received the prestigious Global Travel Award, with curator Aoife Ruane describing her as “a genuine artistic explorer”. She is a recipient of the Clare Arts Office Artist Award (2025 and 2026). She has undertaken a residency at Tyrone Guthrie Centre (2026), and RHA Aras Eanna (2024). Her work has been featured in Irish Arts Review and in Visual Artists Ireland MiniVAN (August 2024).
