April 28, 2017
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Gráinne McHugh trained as an artist in Cork and Galway, Ireland, and has exhibited extensively in South Africa where she lived for several years.

Mainly working with ceramics McHugh creates ambiguous figures: beautiful, cute, fun, but also discomposed, ironic and muted. “My sculpture should speak for itself,” she asserts, “it should attract or repel; it should have its own magnetism.” 
In 2014, the artist was part of a FabLab residency program in Lisbon, Portugal, exploring the scope of digital fabrication. She has recently been part of several group shows in Berlin and Bremen, Germany. This is her first Artist-in-Residence in North America. Her project at Lunenburg School of the Arts is entitled: Dark Waters.

“Everyone has a sense that, globally, politically, we’re in a perfect storm. The sea has always been a great metaphor and my work at LSA attempts to reflect in a maritime way something of the present climate. I’m not primarily concerned with making policy statements about this or that subject as I am in the emotional undertow and the need to hold out a hope that is higher than the high-water mark.”

“The best aspect of being an artist-in-residence is that it affords one an opportunity to work without distractions for a sustained period of time. This strengthens the process of discovery and that suits my intuitive inclination and the medium of ceramics to a tee.”

Her Dark Waters exhibition, opens at LSA Friday, April 28th, 7:00pm

http://cargocollective.com/grainnemchugh