Alumni Stories - Sheila Rennick
"At my NCAD final year degree show, I was awarded the CAP Foundation Award. This was a meaningful achievement because the award included an artist studio space for a year in Leeson Street, Dublin, as well as funding. This award was a confidence boost that launched me on the path to become an artist."
Name: Sheila Rennick
Current Career (Field): Fine Artist
Graduation Year: 2004
Discipline(s): Painting
Location (Working/Living): London
What career path did you want to follow as a child?
When I was a child, I don’t remember being career focused but I remember drawing, making, and painting a lot. During my childhood I really got the chance to explore my creativity. One Christmas my mother went with me to pick out my present from the craft section in the toy shop, but I had already made everything! When I was eight years old, I clearly remember doing an abstract painting and sticking it on my kitchen wall. I recall the sense of pride from that. I guess it was my first experience of exhibiting my art, making something non-representational and original to share with everyone. Maybe these activities were the first indications from my childhood that I would follow a creative career path.
Why did you decide to study at National College of Art & Design?
In 5th year at school, when our careers guidance teacher handed me a book listing all the colleges in Ireland, I was instantly excited to see there was an art school in Dublin called NCAD. From that moment I had my heart set on NCAD.
Coming from Tuam in Co. Galway, I imagined Dublin would be a more exciting place to go. I understood that Art College and being an artist might be a difficult career ambition. But, I felt by moving to Dublin there could be lots of opportunities for creatives and this spurred me on. NCAD was and is considered to be a difficult art school to get into. Being offered a place to study at NCAD surely meant I had talent.
How did you develop your career towards your current job or practice?
At my NCAD final year degree show I was awarded the CAP Foundation Award. This was a meaningful achievement because the award included an artist studio space for a year in Leeson Street, Dublin, as well as funding. This award was a confidence boost that launched me on the path to become an artist.
I then moved to England to do a Master of Arts degree. Doing an MA in London really helped my painting to progress. More success followed. I was selected for Jerwood Painting Prize in 2007. After graduation I returned to Ireland and started exhibiting with Monstertruck Galleries, the RHA, Hillsboro Fine Art, and the NCAD Gallery. There was quite a buzz around Dublin at the time. The support and openness of the Dublin art scene was very nurturing and has really helped me to continue to develop.
By 2011 I had moved back in London. However, I am still very connected to what is going on in Ireland. I am represented by Kevin Kavanagh in Dublin and I recently had a solo representation with them at London Art Fair 2023.
What is the one experience during your time at NCAD that has informed you most in your career and work to date?
The life drawings sessions I had in NCAD really grounded me. I remember doing my first ever life drawing session when I was 17. I found it so liberating and exciting. I painted these life size figures on huge sheets of paper. When they were finished the tutors placed them on the floor. The class gathered around them and they really complimented me on my brushstrokes. Professor Brian McGuire, Head of Fine Art at the time, took a look at them and gave me a nod of approval.
I think this was when I felt you could really express yourself through your body and with paint. For me, my work has always been quite physical and freeing. Before that experience I was just a school girl working from my bedroom with a HB2 pencil and some acrylics. Since leaving NCAD and art schools I find I often go back to life drawing when I’m feeling lost and directionless in my work. The figure continues to play a huge part of my painting.
If you were chatting with current NCAD students today what is the one piece of advice you would offer?
Your peers are so important. After graduating I recommend you continue to do shows with your peers. Make sure you all keep connected and keep communicating. Being an artist can be lonely at times. Being an artist can often feel like an uneasy experience. During periods of uncertainty you really need a support network to lean on.
What new opportunities have developed for you as a result of changes in work practice during the Covid pandemic?
My Art took a bit of back seat during most of Covid. I had my first baby. I also moved house. The pandemic made me realise how important my art is for me. My work helps me to process what’s going on in my life and the world around me. At times when things are not going well in my life, my painting is always something I go back to and lean on to help me through, as well as something to nurture and continue to develop. My painting has always felt like a close friend.
During the Covid pandemic lockdown and when I was on maternity leave, there were periods when I didn’t have a studio to go to. I used this time to write and draw in lots of notebooks. I recommend never stopping to note down your thoughts and ideas. I now have lots of sketch books and note books that I keep on file from time when I was not painting as much as normal. From time to time, I find it very useful to look back through them. There are always lots of ideas and images to revisit. I find I might use some of these ideas, or by looking at them again something else, something good, might develop from them.
Since having my first child during Covid, and as a result of the whole pandemic experience, I am now a much more patient person than I ever was in the past. I still try to develop more patience and by slowing down it has positively influenced my practice.
