BIOGRAPHY

Bernadette Doolan’s in Dublin is a self-taught artist who works in both painting and sculpture. She now lives and works in Wexford. Herwork explores the fragility of the human condition primarily through depicting aspects of childhood.  This interest relates to the resilience and strength children own, even through their vulnerabilities. It is perspective explored through reflection of childhood, and an awareness of how socialisation modifies our behaviour’s. The sense of vulnerability, which a child can experience, is more often than not where our strengths reside. Her work has been described as having ‘an emotional weight with psychological intensity that is not necessarily representing the physical, but one’s internal voice’.

In June 2023, Doolan had a solo exhibition at Source Arts Centre, Tipperary, and she was an invited artist to Philadelphia (2022), Youyi, Art Beijing, China (2021), Youyi, Hangzhou, China (2019), Irish artists in Nepal, Katmandu, India (2018), Seen and not heard, Crawford Gallery, Cork (2019), Cairde Visual, Model Arts Centre, Sligo (2019) and Watts Up, Bernardaud Foundation, Limoges, France (2014)

Doolan exhibits regularly in the annual group shows at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Royal Ulster Academy, Society Women Artists London, Bath Society Artists, Southwest Academy U.K., and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. Awarded the Perpetual Silver Prize by the Royal Ulster Academy (2015), Irish News Award by the Royal Ulster Academy (2018), and the Rosemary & Co. Award by the Society Women Artists London (2019), Doolan was shortlisted for the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Exhibition (2019), and the John Richardson Residency, France (2021). Her work is held in the Wexford County Collection and in private collections nationally and internationally.