Artists

Emma Fisher

Emma Fisher is a puppeteer, theatre designer and installation artist from Limerick. She has a degree in Fine Art (University of Wales College 2003), a postgraduate degree in Theatre Design (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama 2005) and a diploma in Puppetry (London School of Puppetry 2008). Her work is largely based on personal and cultural memory through the use of shadows, mechanical art and puppetry. Emma set up Beyond the Bark, an inclusive puppet and installation theatre company, in 2007. In 2009, she was nominated for The Irish Times Set Designer of the year. Recent shows include Three Sisters, Benjamin’s Brolly, and What Happened to Bridgie Cleary.

Eszter Némethi

Eszter Némethi is a theatre maker and holds a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies from UCC. She has a special interest in collaborative performance making in various contexts. Her work centres on “real” non-actor performers and collaborators, strongly defined spaces and a special attention to the audience’s experience and engagement. Over the past year, Eszter has been exploring the use of game-mechanics and interactivity in her work. Eszter is the artistic director of Makeshift Ensemble and director of the company’s productions to date, Exit Strategy (2013), No One Can Hear You In There (2012) and Osteoporosis (2011). She is also curator of the multi-disciplinary arts event Quarter and member of the Theatre Development Centre’s steering committee.

Rachel Tynan

Rachel Tynan graduated from the National College of Art and Design (BA Art and Design Education) in 2009. She recently completed her Masters in Design, examining the effects illness has on the human body through textile, sculpture and body art. She exhibited Soar Saor as part of The Ark’s Awakening Curiosity exhibition (2012) and her solo exhibition Cut Throat at The Lab (2012) pushed her work beyond the fixed manifestations of installation with an explorative dance performance which further explored the experience of living with an illness.

Katy Fitzpatrick: Freelance Education Curator, Consultant, Facilitator and Lecturer

Katy Fitzpatrick has worked for ten years in the field of arts education, working primarily within the visual arts. Her main areas of interest are interdisciplinary, collaborative and participatory art practices, with a breadth of experience in gallery outreach and community based programming. She has curated multiple programmes, events and exhibitions with a focus in the past three years on family and children’s engagement with contemporary art, these include the large-scale project BP Saturdays at Tate Britain and Light Rhythms a family exhibition responding to Patrick Scott’s work at IMMA. As a freelance curator she has: facilitated (along with philosopher Dr Aislinn O’Donnell) three projects in primary schools which are based on philosophical discussions about contemporary art practice (including for the LAB, Dublin City Council, EVA International, Limerick and the Mobile Art School); worked as project manager, curator and mentor on an arts and health project with teens for Helium Arts; delivered lectures in the fields of art history and arts and education including more recently for Marino Institute of Education; sat on a number of selection panels (including for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council’s Arts Office, the Performance Coporation and Studio 468); devised and written content for the Irish Times, Art in the Classroom supplements; and currently she sits on the Studio Management Team for Studio 468 a community based artist studio in Rialto, Dublin 8. Previous full time roles include Children’s Programme Coordinator, Irish Museum of Modern Art (2013 – 2014), Curator, Early Years and Families, Tate London (2012 – 2013), Education Curator, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane (2007 – 2011) and Outreach and Centre Manager, Dance Theatre of Ireland (2005 – 2007). Katy has an MA in Visual Arts Education from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and a BA in Art History and Italian from University College Dublin. Her MA thesis, titled The Drama of Art, an Interdisciplinary Approach to Gallery Education, examined an interdisciplinary project for secondary school students at The Hugh Lane.