Emer O’Connor | Artists’ Studios | Athlone Arts and Tourism

Emer O’Connor is an artist and native of Athlone. She has studied English and Classical Civilisation at the National University of Ireland, Galway and Visual Arts Practice at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology Dun Laoghaire. Emer’s artistic interests include the cinematic, literary, mythological and narrative. She currently works primarily in the medium of drawing but also in animated drawings and film.

Most recently she staged an exhibition entitled “The Loveliest of the Lawn”, examining the place of the garden in Literature, specifically in the works of Margaret Atwood, Elisabeth Bowen and Richard Hughes, at Athlone Library and Civic Buildings. She has previously explored the idea of the psychology of place and the idea of the emotional landscape; in particular the artist’s relationship to their own native place.

Emer is interested in the techniques of Film and how these techniques can be transferred to the medium of drawing. She looks to what can be lost or gained in transferring a “high-tech”, four dimensional medium to a traditional, and two dimensional one. The artwork demonstrates the idea that information dissolves and resolves on screen in time based imagery and visually embodies the way that plot acts obscure and reveal visual information.

Emer is also interested in exploring the historical through Art. At the new studio facility, Emer hopes to start exploring the genres of art documentary, sound art and the place of the archive in art. She wishes to use the opportunity to engage with projects that relate to the locality during her time in the studio.