Painting

Rachael Wilhite

Ephemeral Spaces

Rachael Wilhite’s work is a response to Arte Povera, an artistic movement which combines aspects of conceptual, minimalist art and makes use of discarded, common materials in the hope of challenging the commercialisation of art. Wilhite approaches painting through the medium of large-scale photography and installation. Her practice is concerned with the constructed urban environment. Of particular importance are the effects of decay upon these spaces. The work reflects on the changes that constantly appear within the urban environment, due to weathering and the economy.

Many desolate spaces around the city feature curious surfaces and textures. These decaying surfaces reflect the passage of human culture and the passage of time. Paint is used to mask marks of graffiti or weathering on walls and other surfaces. Often the shapes and colours of these cover-ups have collage-like elements; such as plains of colour, shapes and materials. There is a painterly quality to these spaces.

Imaginative compositions are structured with a camera, the way a painter composes a painting. Colours of the paint in these areas is occasionally adapted to further emphasise how unintentionally beautiful and painterly these overlooked spaces are. Found ephemera is gathered from these areas and the materials are arranged to consider how these objects stained by weather and time interact with other materials. Wilhite views the collection of materials and images as discovered art that the city has accumulated.

rachaelwilhiteartist@gmail.com

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Welcome

We formally welcome you to IMPACT the Limerick School of Art & Design Graduate Show of 2020 featuring the work of final year LSAD Graduates from Animation & Motion Design, Creative Broadcast & Film Production, Ceramic Design, Creative Media and Design, Digital Animation Production, Fashion Design, Fashion & Textiles for Product & Costume, Game Art & Design, Graphic Design Communication, Music Technology & Production, Painting, Photography Film Video, Print Contemporary Practice, Sculpture & Combined Media and Professional Masters of Education in Art and Design with Digital Media.

In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Limerick School of Art and Design Graduate Show takes the form of this online showcase to celebrate the resilience, creativity and talent of our final year students. This is the 6^th edition of the LSAD Graduate Showcase and it is never more important. We wish to play a special tribute to Joe Lane, Programme Leader of Graphic Design Communication, who played a key role in the development of this platform back in 2015. This year, due to the COVID-19 crisis it has come into its own as the sole means of presentation of our graduates work and as an important archive of LSAD graduates over the last six years.

This years showcase features the work of LSAD Graduates across fifteen programmes, from our Limerick City Centre Campuses, Moylish Campus and Clonmel Campus. We are delighted to welcome our first graduates from Music Technology & Production and Creative Broadcast & Film Production on this platform.

The arrival of the pandemic has been a tremendous shock to our lives and the ways we interact with the world. We have all had to figure out new ways of being and doing in this ‘new normal’. It has been a tremendous challenge to our students and staff to adapt to these new circumstances. However we have been overwhelmed by the creativity and tenacity of our LSAD family of students and staff who adapted so quickly and dynamically to find ways to facilitate learning and to present work in digital forms.

We hope, that even through this situation was not in any ideal, it has forged the graduates of 2020 into a cohort of people that have adapted to adversity and succeeded.

If you are on this site as a graduate or a viewer we would like to thank all those who helped make it happen this year in challenging circumstances, our academics, technicians, administrators, students union, support staff and most importantly the 2020 graduates. Finally a huge congratulations to LSAD Student Union President, Sinead Nix and her team on their management of the Impact 2020 campaign, to Arlene Ellis and Olivia Barrett from Graphic Design Communication who proposed the Impact 2020 concept and to Pat Shortt and Simon Maguire, a big thank you for coming on board to launch our site with a cast of many.

May your creative IMPACT in our society represent our best future. #LSADFutureCreatives