You can email me if you would like to collaborate, have an idea, would like to know more about my work or simply want to say hello.

karcahill@gmail.com

I love creating bespoke pieces, especially in response to a specific location or colour or season. If you have any ideas, and would like a consultation for your home, office or special space.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am a visual artist, curator, and producer working in the field of expanded painting. My concepts arise from an expansive dialogue with the living landscapes I find myself in. My studio practice includes painting, printmaking, installation and pigment-making as a means of expression, and I am drawn to sustainable, experimental processes that involve labour and community. I collaborate with land, materials, and elemental forces to create work. I seek to map the energies of landscape through sustainable and embodied methods that centre transformation, reverence, and the ongoing dialogue between self and place.

My studio is an evolving space of material alchemy, where I transform organic matter into pigments, paints, and inks. I gather botanics, minerals, and soils to render vibrant colours, unlocking the chromas held within wild places. My innovative methods of interaction with ecological and elemental processes include harnessing elemental energy such as sunlight, fire, and deep geological time, exploring underground landscapes through buried textile works, and documenting the abundance of colour present in the landscape through extensive pigment-making practices. I present these works as paintings, site-responsive books, and colour archives of place. My processes draw on the slow, cyclical intelligence of natural systems. My installations often involve suspended or buried works that extend the act of painting into the landscape itself.

Furthering this exploration of the intersections between art, nature and sustainable processes, I also create cyanotype paintings using sunlight as my brushstroke. My solar paintings harness the sun’s energy to activate mineral reactions, creating ecological ‘blueprints’ of landscape. I expose the works in-situ, manipulating the canvas to allow silhouetted forms of the natural environment to expose onto surfaces coated in light-sensitive solutions. The emerging Prussian blue impressions capture the transient yet enduring gestures of the living world through explorative and captivating artworks that express light as both subject and medium.

As my practice evolves, it is moving increasingly toward ritual and performance as a means to exploring the elemental force of fire and its destructive, generative, and symbolic dimensions. Under the banner of IN RITUAL, I am developing a new body of work that explores the transformative potential of fire through embodied painting, votive object-making, and ceremonial performance.

BIOGRAPHY

Kari Cahill is an Irish artist currently living and working in Ireland. Kari's artistic practice contributes to the development of new perspectives on our natural, chromatic and solar landscapes. She uses the processes of transforming the landscape into pigment, paint, and ink, as a means of expression in her work. Kari is the Co-Creative Director of projects Lay of the Land (2016 - present) and The Earth Spun Light (2022- present).

Cahill was awarded Then Arts Council of Ireland’s Project Award 2021, with which she developed a large ambitious outdoor artwork (Outcrop 2022) painted directly onto the coastal landscape of the Northwest of Ireland. She was awarded the 2020 Visual Arts Bursary from the Arts Council to develop a collaborative, site-responsive book (Time Torn Shore), a glossary of colour and landscape. Recent exhibitions include Tallamh ages Teanga: Land and Language in Contemporary Irish Art, curated by Kristin Dowell for the Museum of Fine Art at Florida State University (2024), Hallowed Stone, a three-person show curated by Lindsay Merlihan at Gallery 126 in Galway (2023), and was invited to collaborate on a large-scale land art piece with composer Ann Clear and Ireland's leading contemporary music group, Crash Ensemble, which led to a live show at the National Concert Hall, Ireland.

Cahill has exhibited extensively in Ireland, including Parklife: Biodiversity in Contemporary Irish Art, curated by the Glucksman curatorial team in association with UCC's Environmental Research Institute (2022), and more specifically at many wild outdoor landscapes along the West Coast (Calafort 2019, Tombolo 16, 17 & 19, Silva 18). Kari exhibited a solo show 'Where we collide' at The Hyde Bridge Sligo (2021). She has presented work internationally in Japan (Kanreki, 2021), France (IRL, 2012), and Brazil (Selvagem, 2019). Kari has participated in residencies in Ireland (Interface Inagh 2023 and Cill Rialaig 2020), Brazil (Na Casa, Florianopolis 2019), and India (Space 118, Bombay 2016).

Kari has delivered workshops on foraging and pigment processing to various groups both in Ireland, such as the Climate Change Outreach Programme, Luan Gallery Athlone (2023); Cork Printmakers (2022); Essence of the Earth, Solstice Arts Centre programme (2021); Materials Matter, VISUAL Carlow (2021), and abroad, including the Tallamh agus Teanga Art and Ecology Programme in Florida, 2024. Kari is a member of Wild Pigment People, an international organisation dedicated to pigment promotion and education. Kari has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, Art Monthly, The Guardian, The Irish Times, +Billion- Art Journal, and Bloomers Magazine. She was also an invited guest speaker at various events, including Design Pop Cork (2021), Artist Breakfast Club (The Model, Sligo, 2020), Basic Talks (2019), Above the Fold, Galway (2017), Short Stories, Meath (2018), and New Ecologies of Practice, NCAD, Dublin (2012).

She is the Co-Director and Co-Founder of Lay of the Land (LOTL) - a site-responsive arts organisation producing residencies and public art exhibitions in wild locations around Ireland. Kari participates as an artist, curator, and producer. Between 2016-19, Kari delivered 9 large-scale site-responsive projects across 6 distinct and challenging sites, producing more than 65 collaborative artworks. The projects were funded through the Arts Council (Festivals and Events Award, The Festival Investments Scheme, and The Arts Grant Award), Cork County Council's Arts grant, and Creative Ireland. A documentary following the 'Silva 18' project screened at The Guesthouse, Cork, and at Segunda Segunda, Sao Paulo, Brazil. At its core, LOTL challenges artists and engages audiences by making art more accessible and integrated into communities and landscapes, supporting artists to create informed artworks of the quality and depth demanded by the magnitude of their surrounding landscapes.

In The Earth Spun Light, Kari collaborates with Robert Doherty. They interacts with sunlight to create works that capture the energy, colour, and atmosphere of place. Using photosensitive materials exposed in wild landscapes, they transform light into both subject and medium, creating vivid works that act as solar portraits. Since 2022, they’ve developed site-responsive projects across Ireland, Australia, and Thailand, including large-scale installations, cyanotype series, and a limited-edition book. Their recent site-specific printmaking work, CHROMA.SCAPES, (Connemara 2023, Isthmus, Tasmania 2025-ongoing) explores chromatic terrains through expressive monoprint gradients. They have be artists in residency at PressWest (Queenstown, Tasmania, 2025), Megalo (Canberra, 2024), and Interface Inagh (Connemara, 2023).

Kari founded Basic Space while studying Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design and was Co-Director of the space from 2010-14. Kari set up residency programs and curated high-quality exhibitions and projects within this context, facilitating the work of both Irish and international artists. Basic Space produced work for the closing ceremony of EV+A International as part of Gracelands 2012 (Launch 2012) and took up residency at The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and Temple Bar Gallery + Studios (TBG+S).

CV

/EDUCATION

BA (Fine Art), NCAD, Thomas Street, Dublin, Ireland.
Printmaking Masterclass, Graphic Studio, Dublin. (2017, 2018, 2019)
Japanese Woodblock Masterclass, Graphic Studio, Dublin. (2020)
Earth Pigment Masterclass with Tilke Elkins. (2021)

/EXPERIENCE

The Earth Sun Light. Collaborative Project. 2022 - Present
Lay of the Land Arts Organisation. Co-Founder & Director, 2016 - Present
Scarfskin Apparel and Homeware Brand. Co-Founder & Director, 2014-2016.
Basic Space Arts Organisation and Artist-run Space. Co-Founder & Director, 2010-2014

/UPCOMING/CURRENT

IN RITUAL - Annointing Ceremony, Clifden Arts Festival 2025
ISTHMUS PROJECT - Collaborative printmaking project that captures the light and land in the landscape at five isthmus locations across Tasmania. (The Earth Spun Light)
AUSTRALIS - Collaborative series capturing light’s ubiquitous presence in the landscape through the cyanotype medium

/SELECTED PRESENTATIONS & EXHIBITIONS

2024
TALAMH AGUS TEANGA Land and Language in Contemporary Irish Art - Museum of Fine Art, Florida State University, Tallahassee, USA
WAYZGOOSE - Members Exhibition - Canberra, Australia.
TIME TORN SHORE Book (Supported by the VA Bursary Award, Arts Council.)
TERRARIUM - National Concert Hall, Dublin.

2023
HALLOWED STONE - Gallery 126, Galway, Ireland.

2022
PARK LIFE: Biodiversity in Contemporary Irish Art. At The Glucksman Gallery Cork, Curated in partnership with the Environmental Research Institute, UCC.
PAIPEAR - Hang Tough Contemporary, Dublin.
TIMPEALLACHT - Klicoe Studios Group Exhibition, Skibereen Arts Festival.
CAIRDE VISUAL ARTS GROUP EXHIBITION - Cairde Festival, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo.
CLIFF PAINTING - Northwest Coast, Ireland. Funded by the Arts Council Project Award.

2021
KANREKI - The Graphic Studio Gallery
KANREKI - Internation Mokuhanga Association - Nara, Japan.
WHERE WE COLLIDE - Solo Show, Hyde Bridge Gallery, Yeats Building, Sligo.
TIDELINES - Tread Softly Arts Festival, Walking Project, Sligo
ARE WE THERE YET! - Hawk’s Well Theatre Commission, Sligo
MATERIALS MATTER - Workshop at VISUAL, Carlow
FAR IN FAR OUT EXHIBITION - Cairde Festival - Sligo
PIGMENT REVEALED EXHIBITION - Online, The World’s first Pigment Symposium
KANREKI - The Model, Sligo.
FORAGING FOR COLOUR - Glór Arts Centre, Ennis - Bealtaine Festival

2020
KANREKI - The Model, Sligo.
SO FINE ART CHRISTMAS SHOW - Powerscourt, Dublin. 2020
60 - Graphic Studio Members Exhibition, Hyde Bridge, Sligo.

2019
WILD INK - Exhibition at WILDS Gallery, Glandore, West Cork.
CALAFORT - Lay of the Land Residency + Exhibition, Port, Donegal.
CEANNBHRAT DEARG - Another Love Story, Killyon, Co. Meath.
RES 1 KERRY - Residency, Lauragh, Co. Kerry.
TOMBOLO 19 - Lay of the Land Residency + Exhibition, Brow Head, West Cork.
TOMBOLO WORKSHOP SERIES - Community Arts Engagement Programme.
RES 2&3 PORT - Residency, Port, Donegal.
FÍADH SELVAGEM - Exhibition at NaCasa, Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

2018
SILVA - Lay of the Land Residency + Exhibition, Knockomagh Woods, West Cork.
VUE - National Contemporary Art Fair, RHA, Dublin 2.
AURA - Solo Exhibition, Wilds, Glandore, Co. Cork.
COALESCE - Exhibition, Studio 10, Wicklow Street, Dublin.

2017
TOMBOLO 17, Brow Head, Mizen Peninsula, Cork
SIAR, Group Show, Doswell Gallery, Rosscarbery, Cork
LOCALES, Group Show, Doswell Gallery, Rosscarbery, Cork
CLUAIN MEALA - commissioned by Clonmel Junction Festival and Tipperary County Museum.
WILLOW WEAVE - Commission for Rachel Allen Restaurant, Cork City.

2016
TOMBOLO, Brow Head, West Cork.

2015
BLACK|WHITE – Commission for Teelings Distillery, Dublin 8, Ireland.
YES - Commission, Dublin Flea Market for Gay Marriage Referendum, Dublin

2013
[IRL][Nous Avons Voyagé à Nantes], d’Atelier De La Ville en Bois, Nantes, France.

2012
LAUNCH - ‘Circling the Square’, Gracelands at EV+A International 2012, Limerick Milk Market. Ireland.
FINE ART GRADUATE DEGREE SHOW, NCAD, Dublin.
NEW ECOLOGIES OF PRACTICE, NCAD Gallery, Dublin.

2011
UNDERGROUND, Basic Space, Vicar Street Warehouse, Dublin
HOST, Basic Space, Vicar Street, Dublin
RENDERED, Block T, Smithfield, Dublin

/ CURATION

2019 - LOTL 2019 Programme of Exhibitions & Residencies. Kerry, Donegal, West Cork.
2018 - SILVA 18 - Lay of the Land, Knockomagh Woods, Cork.
2017 - TOMBOLO 17 - Lay of the Land, Brow Head, Cork.
2016 - TOMBOLO 16 - Lay of the Land, Brow Head, Cork.
2014 - STAR WARS II - The Institute of Jamais Vu project, Basic Space, Dublin.
2013 - GUESTS - d’Atelier de la Ville en Bois group show, Basic Space, Dublin.
2012 - SHOP - NCAD Gallery, Dublin 8.
- UNDERGROUND - Basic Space, Vicar Street Warehouse, Dublin.
2011 - HOST - Group Show, Basic Space, Vicar Street Warehouse, Dublin
- RENDERED - Block T, Smithfield, Dublin

/ RESIDENCIES

2024 - PressWest, Queenstown, Tasmania.
- MEGALO, Canberra, Australia.
2023 - INTERFACE INAGH, Connemara.
2022 - BKK, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
2021 - HOW TO MAKE THE EARTH SPEAK COLLABORATIVE RESIDENCY - Sligo (June 2021)
2020 - CILL RIALAIG, Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry.
2019 - CALAFORT - Arranmore Island, Co. Donegal.
- RES 2 & 3 PORT - RES 2 & 3 - PORT - Residency, Donegal.
- NACASA, Florianopolis, Brazil.
- CASA DO MAR ABERTA, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
2018 - SILVA 18 - Lay of the Land, Knockomagh Wood Nature Reserve, West Cork.
2017 - TOMBOLO 17 - Lay of the Land, Brow Head, West Cork.
2016 - TOMBOLO 16 - Lay of the Land, Brow Head, Cork.
2015 - SPACE 118 - Bombay, India
2012 - PRESS - IMMA, Royal Kilmainham Hospital, Dublin
2011 - SUMMER CAMP - Basic Space, Vicar Street Warehouse, Dublin

/ GUEST SPEAKER

2022 - THE GREEN ROOM Ecology & Sustainability Segment, Dublin City FM, Dublin.
2021 - DESIGN POP, Architectural Festival. Cork.
2020 - ARTIST BREAKFAST CLUB. The Model. Sligo
2019 - BASIC TALK - Hugh Lane, Dublin 1.
NaCASA ARTISTAS - Florianopolis, Brazil.

2018
SEGUNDA SEGUNDA - Sao Paulo, Brazil.
BLOOMERS ART EVENT - Guesthouse, Shandon, Cork.
SHORT STORIES - Another Love Story Creative Festival, Killyon, Co. Meath.

2017
ABOVE THE FOLD - Creative Conference, Galway City.
ADRIFT STAGE - Body & Soul Festival, Ballinlough Castle, Co.Meath.
CREATIVE SPEED DATING - OFFSITE, OFFSET, Design Symposium Dublin 2.
FRED TALKS - Fading Light Festival, Caherdaniel, Co. Kerry

2012
NEW ECOLOGIES OF PRACTICE - NCAD GALLERY, Thomas Street, Dublin 8.

/AWARDS

2021 - Project Award 2021. Arts Council
2020 - Visual Arts Bursary 2020. Arts Council.
- Studio Artist at The Model, Sligo
- Professional Practice Award, 2020. Arts Council
2019 - Travel & Training Award. Arts Council
- Arts Grant Award. Arts Council.
- Graphic Studio Membership Award.
2018 - Festival Investments Scheme. Arts Council
- Cork County Council Community Engagement Scheme.
2017 - Festival & Events. Arts Council
- Arts Grant. Cork County Council
2016 - Arts Grant. Cork County Council
2014 - Vacant Spaces Initiative. Dublin City Council
- Visual Arts Workspace Scheme. Arts Council
2013 - Vacant Spaces Initiative. Dublin City Council
- Visual Arts Workspace Scheme. Arts Council

/ ARTICLES + MEDIA

2021
PAINTING IN TEXT - Artist Feature - June 2021
IRISH EXAMINER - Article - January 2021
IRISH BUSINESS POST - Interiors Section - January 2021
IRISH INDEPENDENT - Weekend Supplement - January 2021
IRISH INDEPENDENT - Interview - February 2021
SLIGO CHAMPION - Artist Feature - January 2021
SLIGO NOW - Artist Interview - February 2021
21 people who will shape culture in 2021 - The Tenth Man, Camden Street, Dublin

2020
WILD PIGMENT PEOPLE - Featured Artist 2020.
CASSANDRA VOICES - Featured Artist - June 2020.

2019
IRISH INDEPENDENT - Weekend Supplement - January 2020THE IRISH TIMES - Feature - August 2019
THE MAKERS - Feature - August 2019
WEST CORK PEOPLE - Feature - May 2019
SOUTHERN STAR - Culture Piece - May 2019
EXAMINER - Arts Feature - May 2019
IRISH TIMES MAGAZINE - Wild Art Feature - May 2019
THE ECHO - Culture Feature - May 2019
PURECORK.IE - What’s on in Cork - May 2019
IMAGE.IE - Feature - MAY 2019
THE GLOSS MAGAZINE - 5 GLOSSY THINGS TO DO - MAY 2019 BLOOMERS MAGAZINE - Interview with Artists - Oct

2018
THE JOURNAL - Culture Feature - Oct 2018
IRISH TIMES MAGAZINE - Highlight - Sept 2018
MY GOOD PLANET - Interview - March 2018
GROWN - Interview - February 2018

2017
TOTALLY DUBLIN - 2017
REBEL MATTERS PODCAST - 2017
THE IRISH EXAMINER - 2017
THE IRISH TIMES - 2017
RYALL CONTEMPORARY 2017

2016
IRISH TIMES MAGAZINE - 2016
TOTALLY DUBLIN - 2015 (SCARFSKIN)
IRISH TIMES MAGAZINE - 2015 -(SCARFSKIN)

2012
PAPER VISUAL ARTS - 2012
ART PAPERS - July/August 2012
AFAR - July 2012
POSSIBILITY.RISK.PEDAGOGY The Ideology of an Artist Run Space - BA (Fine Art) Thesis, Kari Cahill. 2012
NEW YORK TIMES - December 2012
+BILLION- ART JOURNAL - September 2012
THE GUARDIAN - 2012