Northern Ireland Archive

John Piekaar is a Designer and Craftsman based in Ballynahinch, County Down. He specialises in fine bespoke furniture designs and makes unique one-off items of furniture and wooden accessories.

Elin Johnston is an award winning contemporary Artist/Maker/Jeweller, based in Belfast. She holds a BA (Hons) Degree in 3D Design, and an MA Masters Degree in Industrial Design. In addition to being a maker, Elin has also worked as an independent Design/Creative Director, and as a Lecturer in Design at a wide range of Art & Design Faculties in England and Wales.

Mairead McCormack is a textile artist from Randalstown. She was drawn to textiles from an early age, having grown up in an area with a rich textile heritage, and with many of her family members having worked in the Old Bleach Linen Factory. She graduated from Ulster University in 2016 with a First Class Honours Degree in Textile Art, Design and Fashion, and went on to become the Artist in Residence at Ulster University in 2016-17.

Leo Boyd was born in Hastings and studied his BA in Fine Art in Context in Bristol before moving to Ireland in the year 2000. Having studied and lived in the South of Ireland for 12 years Leo moved to Belfast in 2011 where he took up screen printing full time

Diane Lyness graduated from the University of Ulster obtaining a BA Hons in Fine and Applied Art: Jewellery and Silversmithing. For a number of years, Diane was an apprentice jeweller, working alongside Goldsmith Graham Harron in Killyleagh. In 2011, she was awarded a place on the Craft NI Making It programme, based at Down Arts Centre, Downpatrick.

Tracey Quinn is from Lisburn, and currently lives and works in Dublin. She has studied fine art both in Leicester, and at the L’Institute D’Art Visuel, Orleans, France.

Malcolm Murchison studied art and design and obtained a BA Hons degree in 3D design and ceramics, but has spent the majority of his career working in arts administration, mostly notably as an Arts Officer and then Centre Manager at the Flowerfield Arts Centre in Portstewart.

Robin Price’s artistic practice spans the areas of electronic music, visuals, audience interactivity and creative technology. His creative practice began in nightclubs and electronic music while studying theoretical physics, but he went on to complete a PhD in Composition and Creative Practice at Queens University.

Catherine Minford lives in Belfast and studied life drawing in both Belfast and Boston. She works as a creative writer in a design agency and in describing her sculptural practice she states that “In that world I use words to tell stories, and in this one, I use clay.”

Aimee Melaugh studied at the University of Ulster’s Belfast School of Art, graduating in 2018 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Painting. At the Belfast School of Art Degree show, Aimee was selected to exhibit at the Royal Ulster Academy and was longlisted for the RDS Visual Arts Award.