'Out of Lines', Bloomsday / Summer group show - 15 June to 24 August 2025

Yanny Petters, 'Daisy, The language of Flowers', enamel on glass, 24.5cmx19.5cm. Based on the Language of Flowers mentioned in The Lotus Eaters chapter when Bloom gets a letter from Martha.

"When I set out to make these works to reflect Art Deco and Bloomsday I looked for references to flowers in Ulysses.

The Language of Flowers is mentioned in The Lotus Eaters chapter when Bloom muses on the meaning of the flower sent to him in a letter by Martha. The Victorian Language of Flowers was a popular code to convey discrete and cryptic messages.

I chose Daisy and Forget-me-not.

A reference book of Art Deco designs from my signwriting days (1980s) came in handy for inspiration, looking at fabric and wallpaper patterns. I also found my Spirograph, a toy for drawing geometric patterns which many people had back in the 1970s. With this I was able to make the geometric flowers for my designs. 

The colours I chose are in keeping with the kind of colour combinations commonly used in design and décor in the early 1900s, when Ulysses was written."

Yanny Petters

Yanny Petters, 'Forget-me-not, The language of Flowers', enamel on glass, 24.5cmx19.5cm. Based on the Language of Flowers mentioned in The Lotus Eaters chapter when Bloom gets a letter from Martha.

"When I set out to make these works to reflect Art Deco and Bloomsday I looked for references to flowers in Ulysses.

The Language of Flowers is mentioned in The Lotus Eaters chapter when Bloom muses on the meaning of the flower sent to him in a letter by Martha. The Victorian Language of Flowers was a popular code to convey discrete and cryptic messages.

I chose Daisy and Forget-me-not.

A reference book of Art Deco designs from my signwriting days (1980s) came in handy for inspiration, looking at fabric and wallpaper patterns. I also found my Spirograph, a toy for drawing geometric patterns which many people had back in the 1970s. With this I was able to make the geometric flowers for my designs. 

The colours I chose are in keeping with the kind of colour combinations commonly used in design and décor in the early 1900s, when Ulysses was written."

Yanny Petters

Hugh Cummins, 'In the Spirit of 1925 I', nine bars of bird's-eye Maple and dyed black Tulip wood, from the left, with inserts of blue dyed Sycamore and green dyed Sycamore. Back in Beech, 35x20.2cm

"'In response to re-reading my own collection of books on the Art Deco period and studying all books available in the local Lexicon Library I have been drawn to develop designs with a firm linear theme.  I explored strong colour contrasts and with slight degree variations introduced small changes reflecting the patterns of the period – echoing elements of promise and novelty."

Hugh Cummins

Hugh Cummins, 'In the Spirit of 1925 II', Nine-panel fan. From left to right: Lime, black Bog Oak, Poplar & Ash in the middle band, 28x19cm

"'In response to re-reading my own collection of books on the Art Deco period and studying all books available in the local Lexicon Library I have been drawn to develop designs with a firm linear theme.  I explored strong colour contrasts and with slight degree variations introduced small changes reflecting the patterns of the period – echoing elements of promise and novelty."

Hugh Cummins

Vicky Smith, ‘A Night Away in a Bedroom Suite’, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 50x40cm

Vicky Smith’s response to the 100th Anniversary of the 1925 Paris Art Deco Expo during which time James Joyce’s Ulysses was published are two paintings that are inspired by the Bedroom Suite created by Fredrick MacManus (1903-1985) in 1933 for his London home. 

Staying in a bedroom suite at the Gresham Hotel known for its hallmarks of Art Deco style. Vicky Smith painted herself, nude, just out of the shower wearing a towel in her hair. In James Joyce’s short story “The Dead”, the Gresham Hotel in Dublin serves as the setting for the final scene, where Gabriel and Gretta Conroy arrive after a dinner party. Joyce’s description of the hotel is symbolic, portraying it as a place of sanctuary where the couple temporarily escape their lives and duties. 

Painting herself in the hotel over one night away from her duties as a mother she relives her independent life as a woman in the sanctuary of the art deco hotel bedroom suite away from home, enjoying being  an independent woman. 

Alongside this painting is ‘Buttery Figure Sitting on the Couch’ (next image), a painting of the artist arching her back on her family couch in her living room at home mid stretch perhaps, or frustrated with the constraints of domestic life. 

The painted blue line cuts across the neck reminding her how things can be held down, cut back. But what would happen if she sashays under the low blue line without falling celebrating life as a mother, an artist and a woman?

Vicky Smith, 'Buttery Figure Sitting on the Couch’, 2024, oil on canvas, 77x61cm

Vicky Smith’s response to the 100th Anniversary of the 1925 Paris Art Deco Expo during which time James Joyce’s Ulysses was published are two paintings that are inspired by the Bedroom Suite created by Fredrick MacManus (1903-1985) in 1933 for his London home. 

Staying in a bedroom suite at the Gresham Hotel known for its hallmarks of Art Deco style. Vicky Smith painted herself, nude, just out of the shower wearing a towel in her hair. In James Joyce’s short story “The Dead”, the Gresham Hotel in Dublin serves as the setting for the final scene, where Gabriel and Gretta Conroy arrive after a dinner party. Joyce’s description of the hotel is symbolic, portraying it as a place of sanctuary where the couple temporarily escape their lives and duties. 

Painting herself in the hotel over one night away from her duties as a mother she relives her independent life as a woman in the sanctuary of the art deco hotel bedroom suite away from home, enjoying being  an independent woman (previous image).

Alongside that painting, 'Buttery Figure Sitting on the Couch’ (featured here) is a painting of the artist arching her back on her family couch in her living room at home mid stretch perhaps, or frustrated with the constraints of domestic life. 

The painted blue line cuts across the neck reminding her how things can be held down, cut back. But what would happen if she sashays under the low blue line without falling celebrating life as a mother, an artist and a woman?

Miriam McConnon, 'To Contain Medicine I', oil on canvas, 20x20cm

This work is inspired by ancient medicine and perfume bottles. The art deco pattern is taken from the Palestinian flag in the background and on the bottle the patterns are from displaced persons' personal objects.

Miriam McConnon, 'To Contain Medicine II', oil on canvas, 20x20cm

This work is inspired by ancient medicine and perfume bottles. The art deco pattern is taken from the Palestinian flag in the background and on the bottle the patterns are from displaced persons' personal objects.

Mary A. Fitzgerald, 'Stella', acrylic on canvas, 24x30cm

"The theme of this year's Bloomsday Festival show in the gallery is 'A tribute to the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts.

From the research given I responded to Art Deco architecture in Dublin with reference to the Stella cinema.  I went frequently in the 80s before the restoration. A cinema space for me not only is a structure but a visceral space, that holds dazzling colour shifts. A space that holds emotional responses to light, narrative and shifting shimmering imagery."

Mary A. Fitzgerald

Mary A. Fitzgerald, 'Inside the picture house - Stella', acrylic on canvas, 30x30cm

"The theme of this year's Bloomsday Festival show in the gallery is 'A tribute to the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts.

From the research given I responded to Art Deco architecture in Dublin with reference to the Stella cinema.  I went frequently in the 80s before the restoration. A cinema space for me not only is a structure but a visceral space, that holds dazzling colour shifts. A space that holds emotional responses to light, narrative and shifting shimmering imagery."

Mary A. Fitzgerald

Annika Berglund, 'Dublin Spring I', Merino wool and Tencel fibre, 90x52cm

"I love the clean lines and repeating patterns of Art Deco design. These pieces were conceived during a series of walks in Dublin in the spring, looking at architecture and art from the period and finding inspiration in the colours and moods of the season. Te Art Deco period's fondness for luxurious materials also influenced my thinking around this theme."

Annika Berglund

Annika Berglund, 'A touch of velvet', Merino wool and Tencel fibre, 69x69cm

"I love the clean lines and repeating patterns of Art Deco design. These pieces were conceived during a series of walks in Dublin in the spring, looking at architecture and art from the period and finding inspiration in the colours and moods of the season. Te Art Deco period's fondness for luxurious materials also influenced my thinking around this theme."

Annika Berglund

Nickie Hayden, 'Bells, balls, balloons and long decorations', mixed media, 8x20cm. 

"In these works, I am trying to contrast James Joyce's purposeful manic life with that of his daughter, showing the discomfort of being truly out of kilter. Both places are very hard to exist in."

Nickie Hayden

Nickie Hayden, 'Bubbling below the surface', mixed media, 8x20cm. 

"In these works, I am trying to contrast James Joyce's purposeful manic life with that of his daughter, showing the discomfort of being truly out of kilter. Both places are very hard to exist in."

Nickie Hayden

Hugh Cummins,  'In the Spirit of 1925 III', Holly & blue-dyed Sycamore with two green inserts sloping upwards from left to right.

Back in Beech, 28x13.2cm

"'In response to re-reading my own collection of books on the Art Deco period and studying all books available in the local Lexicon Library I have been drawn to develop designs with a firm linear theme.  I explored strong colour contrasts and with slight degree variations introduced small changes reflecting the patterns of the period – echoing elements of promise and novelty."

Hugh Cummins

David Fox, The Bathing Shelters (Bull Island, Clontarf), oil on board, 33x42cm

"The bathing shelters at Bull Wall were designed by Herbert Simms in 1934 and are highly significant structures within the context of the Art Deco movement.

So elegantly designed, these simple rounded structures have provided privacy for swimmers for over 80 years and have become an iconic part of Dublin’s cultural landscape.

Through various forms of expression, many artists have continued to document these shelters, often utilising the open shapes to crop scenes such as Poolbeg or people swimming in the back drop. As a landscape painter, I was intrigued by the simplicity of these forms and I was drawn to the perspective lines that I then used to form a striking composition."

David Fox

Sheila Naughton, 'The Joyce Connection', painting and collage on cotton rag paper, 40x30cm, private collection

The Joyce Connection

"The shapes most commonly associated with Art Deco are composed of circles, triangles or zigzags which were used as decorative features in both architectural decoration and in interior design in the 20s and 30s. The motifs were used as sharp-edged repeating patterns in both the exteriors of buildings and in interior decoration on wallpapers, flooring and textiles. I selected the triangle as the shape to work with as it is associated with the masculine. Rather than sharp-edged repeats, I chose to use soft-edged torn and misshapen painted triangles to give a worn and aged look echoing the struggle Joyce had to get his book "Ulysses" published one hundred years ago this year. The triangles are arranged in a random rather than regular way, as the process was organic rather than linear with many challenges and difficulties along the way. 

I chose to work with collage as my medium in reference to paper and publishing. The triangular shapes are painted, torn and assembled to create an irregular rhythm reminiscent of a ramble taken by a flâneur. The painted layered background is suggestive of the worn urban environment of Dublin. The collage is also reminiscent of the endpapers of hardback books which were a feature of limited editions in those times. The symbolism of the work references the nature of the walkabout in Dublin of Leopold Bloom in "Ulysses" of a ramble with a few significant stops in between."

Sheila Naughton

Colin Eaton, 'Cadence', papercut collage & mixed media, 42x32cm framed (26.5x18cm unframed)

"Art Deco influenced music genres such as jazz with energetic rhythms and syncopation common. Melodic clarity was favoured, as in clear and memorable melodies. Orchestral arrangements with brass and woodwinds were popular. 

A cadence is a term in Jazz to describe the end of a phrase which resolves tension created by another line of music. That spoke to me as my practice often involves the placement of disparate elements. Elements taken from my archives, a palimpsest of previous works overlaid with new elements and applications. 

‘Cadence’ references the forms of the woodwinds. The clapper keys, valves, bells and garlands have been referenced by the use of a series of circular forms, their placement, some on the base, some floating brings to mind the sliding movement of the arm of the trombone changing in length to alter the pitch. 

The tones and shades of colour used pay homage to the instruments of jazz. The metallics. The brass. The lustre of the era of new hope. Of the new future, embraced through architecture, design, the motor car, the liner, fashion and of course, music. 

The quadrant of corrugated card placed at the bottom of the work references music notation. It’s departure in texture from the overall and with its torn edge celebrated speaks of an improvisation in the genre, an optimism in a future taken from the past."

Colin Eaton

Colin Eaton, 'Cocktail Hour', papercut collage & mixed media, 42.5x32.5cm framed (27x19cm unframed)

"Cocktail Hour was inspired by the work of French jeweller and glass designer René Jules Lalique 

Best known for his creations in glass in the Art Deco style, he participated in the 1925 International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris.

His techniques expressed contrast between clear and frosted glass and the use of patina and of ‘pâte-de-verre’, a technique of moulding ground glass. 

A prolific collaborator, he worked on the design of luxury perfume bottles, creating for the likes of Guerlain, Roger & Gallet and D’Orsay. For Citroën he created the ‘Spirit of the Wind’, or ‘Victoire’ mascot. Those clean lines, geometric forms and stylised elements such as chevrons and zig-zags spoke to me. His work, still, careful and considered stirred emotions and spoke of speed and a future. The essence of Art Deco. 

Lalique’s work on the Normandie Luxury Liner and the Côte d’Azur Pullman Express evoked the luxury and opulence of that movement. I thought of those soirées, the fashions, the ‘new’ jazz … and cocktails. In a Lalique glass perhaps. 

This piece, ‘Cocktail Hour’, takes the old and makes it new. Part of my practice involves a fascination with the history and provenance of materials. Some of the elements then come from, ‘the past’. Parts, offcuts of previous works set aside and kept in the expectation that they might present themselves in a new light. A new future. 

The placement of the geometric elements evokes movement, effervescence and joie de vivre. The central vertical element the stem of the cocktail glass. A la Tienne! Sláinte and Good Health."

Colin Eaton

Colin Eaton, 'Rayon de Soleil', papercut collage & mixed media, 42x32cm framed (29.5x19cm unframed) 

"Art Deco, shortened from the French, Arts Décoratifs first appeared in Paris in the 1910’s. It embraced a belief in social and technological progress. In newness. It rejected what was seen as the overly elaborate styles that came before, although in many cases, particularly with its use of luxurious and exuberant materials art deco was just as elaborate. It did however, come to symbolise an optimism in the future and an embracing of new technologies. 

Rayon de soleil is titled as a homage to the origins of art deco and depicts rays of the sun. A sign of optimism. Playing with the dominate graphic expression of the era of art deco the rays express themselves as angular and geometric forms. They emanate from a base composed of repurposed corrugated cardboard. Torn and cut. The old becomes new in the process."

Colin Eaton

Kelly Ratchford, 'Cocktails in the Sky', mirrors & stained glass (variable sizes) 

Kelly Ratchford, 'Flappers no1 to no4' (installation shot), mirrors & stained glass (variable sizes) 

Annika Berglund, 'Dublin Spring II' (installation shot), Merino wool, silk, viscose and Tencel fibre, cotton thread & brass hoops, 135x50x50cm

"I love the clean lines and repeating patterns of Art Deco design. These pieces were conceived during a series of walks in Dublin in the spring, looking at architecture and art from the period and finding inspiration in the colours and moods of the season. Te Art Deco period's fondness for luxurious materials also influenced my thinking around this theme."

Annika Berglund

Annika Berglund, 'On the Line' (installation shot), Merino wool, viscose and Tencel fibre, linen thread and brass hoops, 70x100cm

"I love the clean lines and repeating patterns of Art Deco design. These pieces were conceived during a series of walks in Dublin in the spring, looking at architecture and art from the period and finding inspiration in the colours and moods of the season. Te Art Deco period's fondness for luxurious materials also influenced my thinking around this theme."

Annika Berglund