Michelle O'Donnell receives €12,000 artist commission from Creative Places: Edenderry

Creative Places: Edenderry is our ambitious three-year project which aims to put people, place, and participation at the centre of cultural life in Edenderry. 

As part of this programme, we're pleased to announce an artist commission of €12,000 has been awarded to Michelle O’Donnell. Michelle will be delivering a project called Wings of our Community, which will result in a glass sculpture which will be attached to the library wall in Edenderry. The project will celebrate the rich tapestry of the Edenderry community - bringing together families, talents, and cultures through a visually stunning and interactive installation.

Wings of our Community will centre around empowerment through art. The project will engage every member of the community, both young and old, by inviting people to share their unique family stories and contributions. It will aim to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard and recognized.

Congratulations to Michelle - we look forward to working with you and seeing this project take flight!

Find out more about Creative Places: Edenderry.

About the artist

Michelle O'Donnell is an internationally acclaimed glass artist based in Rhode, County Offaly. A Donegal native, she attended art school in Belfast. During a stint working on fishing boats, she noticed there was a distinct interplay between colour and light in water and began experimenting in different mediums to convey this in her work. Glass became her material of choice as a means of capturing the beauty, palette and atmosphere of nature in all its environments. She is a professional, 21 years in her field, making fused glass artworks and sculptures, in her purpose-built studio. She specialises in bespoke pieces, which have led to a dynamic body of work suited to various different environments, from corporate and industrial workspaces to private homes and gardens. Among her commercial commissions, she has created work for clients in Health Care, corporate offices, Schools, Hospitals and Hotels. Over the span of her career she has birthed a vast portfolio of highly coveted pieces, some of which features in collections such as the White House Art Collection USA, Queen Elizabeth's personal Art Collection, and the AIB Art collection.

Michelle's creations are highly evocative, and utterly unique, from one to the other. Using colour and form, her pieces are stark representations of her imagination and surroundings. Depicting vibrant figures and landscape-inspired scenes, her work lifts any space and lives in conversation with the light around it. Her use of colour brings a great sense of life to her designs and their surroundings, resulting in work that speaks to the head and appeals to the heart.

You can find out more about Michelle on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.