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Butler Gallery Garden Studio Residency - Vanessa Donoso López
For the Garden Studio Residency, I propose an exploration of clay’s potential to generate sound, combining hands-on experimentation with collaborative elements. This project will investigate how clay and firing techniques can shape the material’s sound- producing capabilities, rooted in both local geology and mythology. Inspired by the Sumerian creation myth, which envisions humans molded from clay and brought to life through divine breath, this project views clay as a source of life and connection. I aim to create sound-emitting clay objects, using various porcelains, clays, and locally sourced materials around Kilkenny city such as broken ceramics, glass and stones, experimenting across different firing temperatures.
According to the myth, the goddess Ninhursag, known as the "Mother of All," formed humans from clay as physical manifestations of the gods’ intentions. The god Enlil then breathed life into them, granting them souls and consciousness. This ancient narrative underscores a connection between humanity and the earth, as both originate from clay, a metaphor for life and interdependence with nature. Breath, here, symbolizes sound, a vital force of life and expression. Guided by this symbolic link between clay, sound, and creation, I will investigate how clay, as a primal material, can emit sound when shaped, fired, and activated.
Through this project, I aim to evoke a sense of connection to the earth, cultural history, and creation itself, while exploring how transformations through heat and experimentation reveal new artistic possibilities. Reflecting my ongoing interest in art as a tool for resilience and adaptation, I see this project as a way to deepen our understanding of cultural transitions. By blending material exploration with sound, I hope to highlight art’s transformative power in fostering connection and a shared understanding of human experience.
About the Artist
Vanessa Donoso López (born Barcelona, Spain) lives and works between Dublin and Barcelona. She studied at the School of Arts and Design Llotja, Barcelona, the University of Barcelona and the Winchester College of Art, UK. Vanessa's work develops within an installation process through a dialogical relationship between a variety of media and mechanisms including, drawing, painting, arqueological- scientific experimentation and repetitive object making. Her practice is committed to exploring concepts of transitional phenomena relevant to contemporary migrant life. It seeks to negotiate the tension between cross-cultural identities and narratives, its instability and complexity, its potential for the loss of identity, language, and the hypothetical compatibility with original cultures.
Vanessa has exhibited nationally and internationally with selected solo exhibitions including: 'I shall change the way things are ordered', Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin, 'No fixed color Continuum', Candyland, Stockholm, 'To swallow a ball', The LAB, Dublin, 'Eye before E except after seeING Stockholm' Supermarket Independent Art Fair, with the Ormston House, Sctockholm, Sweden, 'Eye before E except after see', Limerick City Gallery, Limerick, 'Daily disagreements over small things', Kevin Kavanagh Gallery at the Barcelona Contemporary art fair SWAB, Barcelona, 'A painful excess of pleasure', Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin, 'Jouissanc'e, Madame la Marquise, Barcelona,' it never rains to everybody's taste', Queen St. Studios and Gallery, Belfast, 'the rain in spain falls mainly of the plane', Barcelona, Spain,' Scientifico-experimental-techno-color-movement', M'ATUVU Project Space, Brussels, Belgium,' Establishing a Mission' at the Ashford Gallery, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin. Group shows include 'Death Drive', Galway Arts Centre,' I want to be your dog', The Glue Factory, Glasgow, '40/40/40', Madrid, Rome, Warsaw and Dulbin and' Precaution' at Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin.
Vanessa is represented by Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin.
