Five Lamps Chats is a new series of conversations between the Five Lamps team and local artists that we carried out over lockdown. We chat about various topics from their current work, inspirations, and how people can get involved in the arts in Dublin. For the first in our series, we had a natter with Tara Kearns, the Sheriff Street based artist, whose planned exhibition with us at the Five Lamps Arts Festival was delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. As we attempt to make arrangements for a rescheduling of the exhibit in which we can showcase her work in a safe manner, we talked to her about her work to date.
Education
Tara’s art journey began at the age of three, but it was her experience at Mount Carmel Secondary School with her art teacher John Burke that inspired her to pursue the subject in IADT. She further developed her skills here and has recently graduated with a First degree. In the wake of this, Tara won a grant with the NEIC to host an exhibition with the Five Lamps Arts Festival.
The Champions
The exhibit named “The Champions” features various portraits of living local heroes from the North Wall. This video displays multiple works from this exhibit including her portrait of Pierce “Big Bang” O’Leary a professional boxer from the North Wall. Her fantastic and detailed work gives a very interesting view of North East Inner City Dublin and the people who live there. The goal of her work is to celebrate the current community that exists in the North Wall area.
“I picked twelve people that I thought are doing really amazing stuff and just celebrate that they are from Sheriff Street and that it is a good place and that there is good people that come from Sheriff street, instead of all the negative stuff that is usually in the media.”
Inspiration
When asked by our Artistic Director Róisín Lonergan on her greatest inspiration, Tara was quick to mention her collaborator and friend Michelle Byrne, also from Sheriff Street. Michelle was due to release a book as a companion piece to Tara’s art at the Five Lamps Festival exhibition. Tara shows us a a highly symbolic painting of her and Michelle in which the growing difference between the community of Sheriff Street and the growing financial sector of Dublin is highlighted.
Support Tara
You can follow Tara on Facebook @tarakearnsart and on Instagram @tarakearnsart_, on which she sells a selection of her paintings and you can even contact her for personal portraits. You can also purchase a poster of Tara’s beautiful Five Lamps painting for €10 (+P&P) by emailing us at: fivelampsartsfestival@gmail.com We hope to have information on a revamped exhibit of Tara’s work over the next few weeks so stay tuned for upcoming announcements!
