About
Ana Duncan was born in Dublin. She works primarily in bronze and ceramic from her studio in Churchtown. The female figure has constantly been the subject and inspiration for her work. Amongst her influences are the abstraction of Henry Moore, the voluminous figures of Fernando Botero, Barbara Hepworth’s modernist work, the simplicity of Brancusi and the sculptures of Juan Muñoz among others.
She has recently completed several large scale public commissions in Jiangsu, China. In 2015 she completed a large-scale stainless steel public sculpture in Nashua, New Hampshire, USA. Other public commissions include a life size Mother and Child for Tallaght Hospital, Dublin.
She has exhibited in numerous galleries and exhibitions in Ireland since 1992 including Royal Hibernian Academy, Royal Ulster Academy, Claremorris Open, Boyle Arts Festival, Sculpture in Context at Fernhill Gardens, Dublin Castle, and the National Botanic Gardens. Her work has also travelled to exhibitions in Belfast, Boston, Britany, London, Paris, and Scotland. She has had solo exhibitions in 2004 and 2010, and has been involved in many two and three person exhibitions in several galleries including the National Botanic Gardens in 2015.
Her work is represented in the collections of the Office of Public Works, Department of Finance and Personnel, Northern Ireland, Morrison Hotel, Tannery Restaurant and several other private collections in Ireland USA, UK, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal.
Ana was a joint exhibition coordinator of Sculpture in Context, one of Ireland’s largest outdoor exhibitions from 2000 to 2013.
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Duncan could be described as an heir and executor of the Romantic Movement. She readily channels the pathos and passion of the Golden Age of the Irish sculptural movement, pushing it into 21st century terms. This is wonderfully refreshing. She makes moulds and then creates wax copies from the moulds. This permits control over the piece until the casting stage. The wax is taken into the foundry where it is finally cast in bronze.
As a portrayer of human form, Duncan transports her traditional methodology into a modern approach via the realms of psychological subtlety. Germination is the alpha and omega of her oeuvre. This is a vision and metaphor for the cyclical nature of life. With possibilities for biblical or feminist undertones, the piece should be perceived through the compliment of juxtaposing forms as the embodiment of Mother Nature. Germination; the budding, blossoming, growth and fusion of all life. From seed - life begins! What extraordinary richness there is in this simplicity not only of form but of theme! The voluptuousness of the form and use of lithe lines recalls the influence of Henry Moore. This sculpture appears to soar higher, stretching upwards and outwards yet still retaining the aspect of plant like growth. The base of the piece plays an essential part in its structural rhythm. Within a social contemporary context this piece speaks volumes.
The touchstone of Ana Duncan's work remains the female form. Her distinctively dialectic handling of gravity and elevation at times look to angular forms or cubic proportions. This serves as a means to emphasise the action of the piece such as the contemplation of Memories, the sinuous movements of the body in Stretch, or the sense of propriety of Seated Figure. This cutting and reducing of figures to a more cuboid form whose stereo metric ideal is reminiscent in ancient Egyptian Block Statues. Yet her exploration of concave and convex forms echoes the Art Deco undertones of Picasso's classical sculpture. Duncan's use of soft undulating line and personalised approach also takes on blithe or entertaining scenarios seen in work such as Figure with Umbrella. Tinged with irony and flavoured with humour, this female figure clutches a tiny bronze umbrella, in a vain attempt to protect her voluptuous form from the onslaughts of a rainy day. The wonderful nature of this piece is that the figure is completely oblivious of the fact, lost in some moment to herself. This friviolous, if untimely gentle humour reflects the work of Fernando Botero, another artist whose work inspires, albeit Duncan transcribes his ideas within a more refined context.
Recently Ana Duncan has worked directly in concrete. This is an immediate process where she created a welded steel and wire mesh structure. This reinforced the structure, to which she then 'buttered' on the concrete. She has just finished a life-size piece, which was on show in September last at the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin. Her collections and a series of distinguished group and solo exhibitions throughout the years have firmly established her within the niche of an original, unique talent who works within a modernist framework. One can only wait with baited breath for the next piece from her studio!
Jennifer Goff, INT.BA, MA, Mlit, Curator of Eileen Gray Exhibition National Museum of Ireland
pUBLIC / Large Scale SCULPTURE
‘Observer’, The Hall, Chip Valley , Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, bronze, 1 M high, 2021.
’Captive’, Sand Lake Fund Town, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China 1.5M high, 2021.
’Gravity’, Private Collection, Jiangsu, China, 1M high, 2020.
‘Storm’, Suzhou Centre, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, bronze, 2.5 M high, 2018.
‘Curved Looped Form’ , Suzhou Centre, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, bronze, 2.5 M high, 2018.
‘Connected’, Nashua, New Hampshire, USA, stainless-steel, 2.5 M high, 2015.
‘Healing images’, Tallaght Hospital Multi-Denominational Chapel, Dublin, bronze relief work,
each panel 50 x 35cm, 2006.
‘Theotokos’, Tallaght Hospital Multi-Denominational Chapel, Dublin, 1.2 M high, 2004.
SOLO / 2-4 PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2015 3 Person Exhibition, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin 9
2004, 2010 Solo Exhibition, Mill Cove Gallery, Castletownbere, Co Cork.
2009 4 Person Exhibition, Imagine Gallery, Hall Street, Long Melford, Suffolk, UK.
2007 3 Person Exhibition, Trilogy, Lavit Gallery, Cork.
2001, 2006 2 Person Exhibition, Mill Cove Gallery, Castletownbere, Co Cork.
2005 4 Irish Women Artists, Kilcock Gallery, Kilcock, 2005.
2001 2 Person Exhibition, Solomon Fine Art, Dublin.
4 Person Exhibition, Lavit Gallery, Cork.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Art + Soul, Castlemartyr Resort, Cork, and Culloden Hotel, Belfast, 2023.
Sculpture in Context, Fernhill/Malahide/Conrad Hotel, Irish Management Institute, Dublin Castle, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, 1993 – 2023.
’Modern Irish Sculpture’ Kenmare Butter Market, Kenmare, Co Kerry, 2022.
Wexford Festival Art Exhibition, Greenacres, Selskar, Wexford, 2021, 2022, 2023.
Boyle Arts Festivel, ‘Crossings’, King House, Boyle. 2021
Ceramics Ireland, Rathfarnham Castle, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, 2021.
Old Voices, New Perceptions, 6 Women Artists from Ireland, Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith, London, supported by the Embassy of Ireland, 2019.
F E McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge, Co. Down, 2018.
Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 1992, 1995–1999, 2001–2003, 2006-2008, 2011, 2017, 2019.
Wexford Opera Festival Exhibition, Johnstown Castle, Wexford, 2017.
Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast, 1994 – 2004, 2006, 2008.
An tOireachtas, Dublin, Belfast, 1994 – 1998, 2001.
Opera Festival Exhibition, Green Acres, Wexford, 2016, 2015.
The Secret Garden, Sculpture Exhibition, Iveagh Gardens, Solomon Gallery Dublin, 2008.
Garden Sculpture Exhibition, Brackenstown Estate, Co Dublin, Gormleys Fine Art, 2008.
Reflections, A Touring Exhibition of contemporary Art Works, Office of Public Works in association with Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland. 2006.
Garden & Sculpture, Solomon Gallery, Clonlea Studios, Blackrock, Dublin, 2005.
Waterways, Lavitt Gallery, Cork, 2005.
Affordable Art Fair, Bristol, 2004.
Affordable Art Fair, London and New York, 2002, 2004.
Blasket Island Interpretative Centre, Co. Kerry, 2004.
Burns Library, Boston College, USA, 2002.
Chelsea Fine Art Fair, London, 1997, 1998, 2002.
L’Espirit - Salon de la Sculpteur Contemporaine de Bretagne, Brittany, 1999.
Case 99, Lavitt Gallery, Cork, 1999.
‘The Nude’ - Solomon Gallery, Dublin, 1998.
‘Little Scupture’ - Solomon Gallery, Dublin, 1997.
‘On a Grand Scale’ - John Martin of London, 1997.
‘Fifty and One’ - John Martin of London, 1997.
‘Women Sculptors’ - Solomon Gallery, Dublin, 1996.
Exhibition on Female Form, Wellspring Gallery, Tralee, 1995.
Claremorris Open Exhibition 1994, 1995.
Royal Hibernian Academy Banquet Exhibition 1992.
COLLECTIONS
Office of Public Works, National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland.
University of St. Thomas, William J. Flynn Centre for Irish Studies, Houston, Texas, USA. Department of Finance and Personnel, Northern Ireland.
Bank of Ireland Collection.
Morrison Hotel, Dublin.
Tannery Restaurant, Waterford.
Access Translations, Cork.
Several private collections in Ireland and Abroad.
PUBLISHED
Bronze sculpture featured in Sculpture Parks and Trails of Britain and Ireland, by Alison Stace published by Bloomsbury 2013. Ceramic sculpture featured in Irish Ceramics by Dr John Goode.
Art Bulletin, Noelle Harrison, 1997.
Sunday Independent, Ciara Ferguson, 1998.
Sunday Tribune, Angela Murray 1998.
AWARDS
2019 Sculpture in Context Award for work of distinction, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin .
2012 Irish Ceramic Award for a work of distinction in ceramic.
2007 Residency, Cill Rialaig, Artists Retreat, Co Kerry.
OTHER INFORMATION
Sculpture featured in show garden at UTV Garden Show Ireland and awarded Gold Medal.
A Room for All Seasons’ designed by Michael O’Reilly MGLDA & Maurice Maxwell, 2014.
Member of the organising Committee of Sculpture in Context Annual Exhibition from 2000 to 2013, at the National Botanic Gardens.
2008 - Sculpture selected for use in design of Catalogue by Australian Gynaecological Endoscopy Society, Focus Meeting, Perth, Australia.
1996 - Sculpture selected for use in Opel National Advertising Campaign.
Member Visual Artists Ireland.
GALLERIES
Solomon Fine Art, Balfe Street, Dublin 2.
Iona House Gallery, Woodstock, Oxford, UK.
Hope Gallery, Hebble House, Old Gate, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, UK.
Gormleys Fine Art, 27 Frederick Street South, Dublin 2.
Greenlane Gallery, Holyground, Dingle, Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry.
Mill Cove Gallery, Kenmare, Co Kerry.
Lost Gallery, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, UK.
Nadia Waterfield Fine Art, The Old Grain Barn, Goodworth Clatford, Andover, Hampshire, UK.
Trinity Gallery, 19 Clare Street, Dublin 2.