Northern Ireland Archive

Dan Dowling was born and educated in Belfast. He is a self-taught artist, using painting and drawing from an early age as a cathartic form of self-expression and as a way of communicating with the rest of the world. Using his own life and his native North Belfast as an inspiration, he developed a personal, enigmatic an immediately recognisable style.

Chris Wilson is originally from Glengormley. He gained a B.A. (Hons) Fine Art from Brighton Polytechnic in 1982 and an M.A. Fine Art from the University of Ulster in 1985. For the last 30 years he has exhibited regularly having over 20 one person shows and participated in numerous group exhibitions in Ireland, the UK, Canada, Croatia, Germany, France, Bulgaria and USA. In 2016 Chris was awarded the RUA Gold Medal and the Paul Henry Landscape Prize at the 134th Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition.

Dermot Seymour studied at the University of Ulster, where he received a BA in Art & Design in 1978 and an Advanced Diploma in Art and Design in 1981. Dermot’s work has been included in many internationally recognised and award winning exhibitions, and he has held solo shows in Belfast, Dublin, New York, Berlin and Paris.

John McKeag graduated in 1988 with a BA Hons Degree in Fine Art (Painting) from Medlock Fine Art Centre in Manchester, and then completed a Diploma in Ceramics at Wandsworth College in London in 1995. Following a brief period assisting the potter Lisa Hammond at her studio in Greenwich, John returned to Belfast in 1999 and went on to complete the “Craftworks” pottery skills course in Derry.

Dougal McKenzie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and studied painting and drawing at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, before moving to Belfast in 1990 to undertake an M.A. Fine Art Course at the University of Ulster. Dougal continues to live and work in Belfast to this day.

Gareth Reid was born in Belfast, and studied at the University of Ulster, the Glasgow School of Art, and the Florence Academy of Art. He currently lives and works in Glasgow. In addition to teaching portraiture and life drawing at the Centre for Lifelong Learning at Strathclyde University, Gareth runs his own drawing classes in Glasgow and abroad.

Anne Butler is a ceramic artist based in Belfast. Anne received a BA Ceramics from Ulster University, and an MA Ceramics from the University of Wales in 2000. Anne is a member of both the Royal British Society of Sculptors (RBSS), and Contemporary Applied Arts, London (CAA).

Victoria J. Dean is a photographic artist based in Northern Ireland. She graduated from the Belfast School of Art at Ulster University in 2017 with an MFA in Photography, receiving the Royal Ulster Academy Award for Outstanding Students. In the same year she was a winner in the LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards.

Ursula Burke is an Irish artist who works in a variety of media including porcelain sculpture, embroidery and drawing. Educated at the University of Ulster, Ursula has completed a practice based PhD exploring issues of representation and identity within contemporary Ireland, themes that strongly pervade her work.

David Smith is an Irish artist, who has recently returned to live in Ireland having lived and worked in Hong Kong for 11 years. He works primarily in painting, and occasionally in music and photographic projects.