Karen Ebbs
Artist
Exploring themes relating to perception, interconnectedness, reality and the human search for meaning.
I bring together elements of my work in my large-scale installations and immersive environments . Here I explore 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 metals, porcelain, wood, high-density foam and videography.
Art is often seen as having the power to transform, transcend and promote well-being. 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 my experiences have taught me 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, enabling me to confidently deliver complex, multi-disciplinary work within collaborative curatorial frameworks. Building on a practice established in the early 2000s, I returned to the National College of Art and Design (BA 2021; MA 2023 in Fine Art Painting). This period of study allowed me to critically expand my studio work, engage with contemporary discourse, and strengthen both the positioning, and the conceptual and methodological foundations of my practice.
In addition to my extensive experience as a visual artist - grounded in both theoretical inquiry and material practice - I bring a facilitation practice informed by interdisciplinary training in counselling and contemplative methodologies. This enables me to confidently manage group dynamics, cultivate trust and well-being, and support sustained, process-led community engagement alongside the delivery of ambitious exhibition projects. My practice is rooted in collaboration and dialogue, with experience programming and moderating public talk series, (WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT...), that foster critical exchange, engagement, and collective reflection within institutional and community contexts - for example at IMMA (2022), and The Complex Dublin (2022), and Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, (2024). These talks featured curators, educators, philosophers, art critics and artists and the topics included Painting, Expanded Painting and Meta-modernism. Please see my Homepage where you will find SoundCloud links to these talks.
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. My work reflects affinities with early 20th-century European Expressionism and mid-20th-century European and North American painting, particularly Abstract Expressionism, alongside strong influences from the perceptual and atmospheric concerns of the 1960s Light and Space Movement.
www.karenebbs.com 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 2006
KAREN EBBS
Curriculum Vitae
Selected Education
2017-23 Masters in Fine Art, Painting National College of Art and Design (First Class)
2017-21 BA (Hons) Degree, in Fine Art, Painting, (First Class) Commended, NCAD
2016-19 RHA Drawing, Painting programmes, Self-Directed & Masterclasses
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
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 Rockpools & 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
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, September 2024
2024 Duende, curated by Sean Molloy, ArtNetDLR Group Show
2024 Pallas for Gaza, Pallas Project +Studios, in aid of United Agency Relief
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, Curated by Karen Ebbs
2021 Hang Tough Contemporary, Winter Print Show, and Limited Edition Print Contract
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
2021 Transition, Art Net Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
2021 Hark, Hambly & Hambly, Enniskillen, Fermanagh, Winter Show
2019 Trajectory, The NCAD Gallery in aid of The Rape Crisis Centre, Dublin
2019 A Quiet Space, Collaborative Well-being project, NCAD
2018 Liminal Space: A Process Space, NCAD Sybil Connelly, 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 shows
Awards & Residencies
2025 TBGS longlisted for 'Faigh Amach' award, open call
2024 Tyrone Guthrie Residency
2023 Shortlisted for the RDS Visual Arts Awards
2023 Shortlisted for Climate and Health Prize, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
2023 The Municipal Lexicon Gallery solo show in 2025 award - Open Call
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
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,
Talk Series: at Templebar Gallery & Studios, FREESPACE studio 6
Programmed, moderated and presented by Karen Ebbs
SoundCloud links to the talks.
2022 We Need To Talk About Painting
Talk Series: At IMMA and The Complex Dublin
Programmed, moderated by Karen Ebbs
SoundCloud links to the talks
https://soundcloud.com/karen-ebbs/wnttap-complex-talk-241122
https://soundcloud.com/karen-ebbs/wnttap-complex-talk-031122
https://soundcloud.com/karen-ebbs/wnttap-complex-talk-271022
2024 The Artist's Well, Interviewed by Alan Keane 5 October 2024
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J710Z_BC9BQ
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
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MJF Interiors, Dublin
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Seachange Now, Brendan Foley, Director, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
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Michael Sheil Solicitors, Blackrock, Dublin
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Blackrock Essential Training, Dublin
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Stelfox Recruitment, Dublin
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Avoca Clinic, Co. Wicklow
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OPW acquired for Tullamore Courthouse and Cobh Social Welfare Office
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Turning Point, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
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Book Cover Painting Design, “Peacemonger”, Author, Paddy McMahon (deceased)
Memberships: Pallas Projects & Studios, Studio Member
Visual Artists Ireland since 2006
Art Net Dun Laoghaire
Alumna of the National College of Art & Design,
Alumna of the Royal Hibernian Academy School
Artist Tax Exemption since 2006