Catherine Creaney

Catherine Creaney (b. 1978) is a Northern Irish self-taught artist working primarily in portraiture in the mediums of oil, pastel and pencil in a realist style. Her work focuses on subtle expressions and lighting to convey the inner world and story of the sitter. Catherine has exhibited throughout the UK, Ireland and Europe and has won multiple awards for her work including: The ESB Keating Award and Silver Medal for an outstanding art work at the 185th Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition and First Place in the Artist’s Magazine All-Media Online Competition (2014). She has won The Drawing Prize and The Rowel Friers Perpetual Trophy at the Royal Ulster Academy’s Annual Exhibition twice. She was shortlisted for the Hennessy Portrait Prize, Dublin (2016). She has been awarded the don niccolo d'ardia caracciolo award at the Royal Hibernian Annual Exhibition, Dublin, The Henri Roche Award and The People's Choice Award at The First International Pastel Exhibition, Rome (2017).  Most recently she won the People's Choice Award at The Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast and the Portrait Prize at the National Open Art, London (2018). Recent exhibitions include ‘20” x 20”’ and ‘Painting Today’ held at the MEAM, Barcelona and the Derwent Art Prize, Mall Galleries, London.

She was commissioned by the Office of Public Works in Ireland to create a portrait of the Former Taoiseach (Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland) Enda Kenny (2018).  Most recently Catherine has also been involved in creating a portrait for the Women on Walls Campaign. A campaign that seeks to make women leaders visible through a series of commissioned portraits, creating a lasting cultural legacy for Ireland. She was one of six artists commissioned to create a series of portraits of historical female leaders in medicine to be displayed in the Boardroom of the RCSI Dublin.

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 14^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.