Karen Ebbs
Artist
Exploring themes relating to perception, interconnectedness, reality and the human search for meaning.
I bring elements of my work together in my large-scale installations and immersive environments. Quite often, when making the work, I find myself catching a glimpse of something "new" a feeling, alluding to a world beyond the material world, this certainly keeps me curious and wanting more! I am reminded of how everything is interconnected and how all things come into being through relationships and interactions. Painting/colour is my way of interpreting and making sense of the world around me. With applications of translucent, opaque and gestural layers of oil paint, colour gives life to the ambiguous forms that grow on canvas and as spatialised, sculptural objects. I use a variety of materials including oils, acrylics, metals, porcelain, wood, high-density foam and videography.
Art is often seen as having the power to transform and to transcend mundanity and I feel that it is essential - especially now - to aim at injecting our world with hope, to uplift however and whenever one can, and to offer moments of reflection and “pause”.
What I have come to understand is that life is not a linear procession moving directly towards a set goal but is rather a series of continuous spirals, a search for meaning and the numinous, a messy labyrinth of course corrections and perceptual shifts. My work is underpinned by sustained research, material investigation, and a commitment to ambitious, professionally realised projects, often working within collaborative curatorial frameworks.
A core area of my research focuses on how perception occurs, and how it is, in fact, a “best guess” - primed by our accumulated life experiences, psychological, cultural, educational, and societal conditioning, and by our conscious and unconscious biases. We “see” what we expect to "see." One question I ask is "how much of what we see belongs to the world before us, and how much is shaped by the world we carry within us?"
Instagram: @karen.ebbs
Gmail: karenebbs@gmail.com
Studio: The Digital Hub, 157 Thomas Street, Dublin 8
Professional Member: Pallas Projects + Studios; Visual Arts Ireland since 2003; ArtNET DLR
Alumna: RHA School and the National College of Art & Design
Artist Tax Exemption Status since 2004
KAREN EBBS
Curriculum Vitae
Selected Education
2022-23 Masters in Fine Art, Painting National College of Art and Design (First Class)
2017-21 BA (Hons) Degree, in Fine Art, Painting, (First Class), NCAD, Commended
2016-19 Royal Hibernian Academy, Painting & Drawing programmes & Self-Directed
2013-15 Drawing Studio Dublin, Bargue Studies, Drawing Course
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025 An Outer Reflection of an Inner Reality, The Municipal Gallery, dlr Lexicon, Award
2024 Circumambulation, Rathfarnham Castle, OPW
2023 Apropos of Everything, MA in Fine Art, in painting NCAD, Graduation Show
2022 I AM more Blue than YOU, YOU ARE more Green than ME, Farmleigh Estate
2022 Wild Accumulations, The LAB Gallery, Dublin, curated by Sheena Barrett
2021 Visual Perception: A Best Guess, BA (Hons) Fine Art, painting at NCAD
2013 Indreni Childrens’ Charity, Nepal, Windsor Motors
2012 Rock-pools & Constellations, The Gallery, Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre
2008 Transcendence, Red Stables Gallery, Clontarf, Dublin, February
2008 Transcendence, The Gallery, Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre, October
2005 Freedom Within, Freedom Without, The Gallery, Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 Art Riddler, Charlemont Square
2026 A Community of Hope, Artists for Simon Community, Auction
2026 Art House 2026, Outhouse Auction
2025 Dublin Art Book Fair, An Outer Reflection of an Inner Reality Book, Karen Ebbs
2025 Out of Light, City Assembly House
2025 Art Riddler, One Charlemont Square
2025 Court House Gallery, Ennistymon, Co. Clare, curated by Gabhan Dunne
2025 And Nobody Answered…, City Assembly House, invited artist
2025 Scene & Heard, Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, invited artist
2024 Art Riddler, One Charlemont Square
2024 Crosscurrents, Project at Lexicon Gallery, Claire Halpin, curator
2024 Duende curated by Sean Molloy, ArtNetDLR Group Show
2024 The Ladder Is Always There, Draoicht, Shelter Collective, Invited artist.
2023 Climate and Health, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin
2023 Art Riddler, Studio 10 Wicklow Street, Dublin 2
2023 Sculpture In Context, Botanical Gardens, invited artist
2023 Royal Hibernian Academy 193rd Annual Exhibition
2023 Boyle Arts Festival, invited by Sinead Ni Mhaonaigh, curator
2023 Transience, Art Net Dlr, Walters Dun Laoghaire
2023 Hang Tough Contemporary, Selected, Winter Print Show, Edition Print Contract
2022 Painting as Expression, National Treasury Management Agency, Dublin
2022 New Beginnings, The Lab Gallery, co-curated by Sheena Barrett & Karen Ebbs
2021 Metamorphosis, Art Net Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
2021 Pluid Project, Farmleigh House OPW, in aid of Pieta House, Dublin
2021 Revival, Art Net Dun Laoghaire,
2021 Painting in the Pandemic, National Treasury Management Agency, Dublin
2014 The Narrow Space, Tipperary
2014 Pearse Museum, Dublin, selected
2013 The Council of European Union Brussels HQ Justus Lipsius Building
2012 London Design Festival, selected by the Crafts Council of Ireland
2010 Gormley’s Fine Art Gallery
2009 Gormley’s Fine Art Gallery
2009 Making Waves, Kenny Art Gallery, Galway 2006-2012, winter & summer shows
2009 The Barbara Stanley Gallery, London, 2009-2010
2007 The Narrow Space, Tipperary, 2007-2009 winter and spring show
Awards & Residencies
2025 The Municipal Lexicon Gallery solo show award - Open Call
2025 TBGS longlisted for 'Faigh Amach' award, open call
2024 Tyrone Guthrie Residency
2023 Shortlisted for the Royal Dublin Society Visual Arts Awards
2023 Climate and Health Prize, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
2022 The Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award
2022 Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Co. Council Professional Development Grant Award
2022 Tyrone Guthrie Residency
2022 Clancy Quay Professional Development Award & Residency
2010 Cill Rialaig Residency, Co. West Kerry
2009 Cill Rialaig Residency, Co. West Kerry
Public Events, and Artists Talks
2024 Panel Artist on Seminar RHA in partnership with Bealtaine, November 20
2024 We Need To Talk about Expanded Painting & Meta-modernism.
Talks can be found on SoundCloud
Talk Series: at Templebar Gallery & Studios, FREESPACE studio 6
Programmed, moderated and presented by Karen Ebbs including Diana Copperwhite, Colin Martin & Tom Lordan
2022 We Need To Talk About Painting - Talks can be found on SoundCloud
Talk Series: At IMMA and The Complex Dublin
Programmed, moderated by Karen Ebbs, including Christina Kennedy, IMMA, Colin Martin RHA School & Isabel Nolan, (Venice Biennale artist 2026)
2024 The Artist's Well, Interviewed by Alan Keane 5 October 2024
2023 Artist Talk, studio visit by NCAD Studio + students and tutor Taffina Flood
2022 Artist Talk, NCAD, painting department, for second year professional practice
2022 Artist Talk, NCAD, media department, second year professional practice students
2022 Ormond Artists Studios
Publications and Features
2025 Dublin Art Book Fair, Temple Bar Gallery & Studio, “An Outer Reflection of an Inner Reality”, by Karen Ebbs, featuring essays by Gemma Tipton & Tom Lordan
2024 Irish Times January 7th 2024, Feature written by Gemma Tipton
2024 Irish Arts Review, featuring “Circumambulation”, solo show at Rathfarnham Castle
2023 Visual Artists Ireland,, Jan/Feb issue. Commissioned by VAI, Joanne Laws.
2023 RHA 193rd Annual Exhibition Catalogue, celebrating 200 years
2021 Art Folio Annual 2022 Award. Publication featuring work
2019 HCE Review Award, UCD,Literary Journal. Featured in the Apr 2019 edition
2019 The Conscious Pebbles, In response to Wolfgang Tillmans' exhibition, IMMA
2012 Hartwick Knapp, curator/art critic, art review, “Ebbs’ Emotional Painting”
Collections
-
MJF Interiors, Dublin
-
Seachange Now, Brendan Foley, Director, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
-
Michael Sheil Solicitors, Blackrock, Dublin
-
Blackrock Essential Training, Dublin
-
Stelfox Recruitment, Dublin
-
Avoca Clinic, Co. Wicklow
-
OPW acquired for Tullamore Courthouse and Cobh Social Welfare Office
-
Turning Point, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
-
Book Cover Painting Design, “Peacemonger”, Author, Paddy McMahon (deceased)
Memberships:
Pallas Projects & Studios, Studio Member
Visual Artists Ireland Professional membership since 2006
Contact details:
Art Net Dun Laoghaire karenebbs@gmail.com
Instagram: @karen.ebbs
Alumna of the National College of Art & Design,
Alumna of the Royal Hibernian Academy School
Artist Tax Exemption since 2004