We’re delighted to share that Creative Futures Academy alumna Mary Doyle Burke is presenting a major solo exhibition “Deep into the Psyche of the Land, Mo Anam Cara” at The Source Arts Centre, Thurles, hosted by Thurles Library and curated by P.J. O’Connell. Mary completed her Level 9 Professional Diploma in Art & Ecology (CFA at NCAD) in June 2024, and we’re proud to spotlight an alumna whose practice has developed into this sustained three year Bog & Wetlands Project.

Mary’s practice moves across painting, sculpture, biomaterials, textiles, and digital media. She showed bioplastic sculptures at NCAD Gallery, Thomas Street, Dublin for her Level 9 graduate presentation, and has facilitated biomaterials and art workshops at Pallas Studios, Dublin, and the Chester Beatty Museum. Her fieldwork and material research inform a body of work that treats bogs, moors, wetlands, and shorelines as anam cara — companions that hold memory, enable intergenerational healing, and foreground negative space through rigorous material exploration.

The exhibition brings together oil and acrylic on organic bioplastic substrates, layered textured paintings, a sculptural installation of organically dyed and painted cloths, and a digital piece combining poetry, video, and photography gathered across three years of fieldwork. Eamonn Colman offered a thoughtful address and recited her poem “My Wildfire,” while Gerard Flannery hosted the evening and P.J. O’Connell reflected on the cohesion and strength of the work.

Reflecting on her experience studying with CFA, Mary commented: “The Art and Ecology Diploma with Creative Futures Academy at NCAD was genuinely transformative for my practice. Learning inside a living, breathing ecology resonated with my ongoing work in the wetlands near my home. Working within the FIELD site sharpened my sense of material, place, and responsibility. The course’s collaborative, critically engaged, and embodied delivery allowed me to expand my research, deepen my ecological literacy, and evolve my practice in ways that feel both urgent and accountable to the more‑than‑human world.”

As well as making waves as a professional artist, Mary is the founding director and in‑house curator of An Chéad Tíne Art Gallery in Kilkenny, where she manages eight artist studios, supporting local practice and community engagement.

The exhibition is on view until 7 March — everyone is invited to visit, sit with the work, and listen to the land.