Recipient of The Loughshinny Boathouse Studio Award 2026
Fingal Arts Office is pleased to announce Martina O’Brien as the recipient of the Loughshinny Boathouse Studio Award.
Fingal Arts Office is pleased to announce Martina O’Brien as the recipient of the Loughshinny Boathouse Studio Award. The objective of this award is to provide a fully funded studio for a professional visual artist to research and develop new work in response to the coastal environment of Loughshinny and surrounding areas.
The coastline of Fingal is a wonderful natural amenity and an important wildlife resource for the many plants and animals that live in the diversity of habitats found around its shores. This initiative provides funding to enable the artist to observe and explore Fingal’s biodiversity, coastal habitats and climate change impacts. The former boathouse, located in the beautiful coastal village of Loughshinny will provide an ideal space for the artist to undertake research, interact with environmental scientists and engage with local communities. As part of her nine-month residency from September to 2026 – May 2027, Martina will develop and create new work centering on Fingal’s marine environment.
Over the course of the residency, she will focus on intertidal ecologies, light and the politics of visibility. In particular, she will consider how shifting nocturnal light patterns reshape marine ecosystems and how coastal darkening can be approached not only as an environmental phenomenon, but also as a conceptual framework through which to think about illumination, obscurity and care within aqueous environments.
The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr. Tony Murphy commented “I would like to congratulate Martina O’Brien on being selected for this award, which offers a valuable opportunity to engage with our coastal environment. I look forward to seeing the impact of this residency on both her practice and our wider community.”
County Arts Officer, Sarah O’ Neill commented “I am pleased to announce Martina O’Brien as the recipient of the Studio Award in Loughshinny. This award reflects Fingal County Council’s ongoing commitment to supporting artists in the development of ambitious and innovative work, while enabling opportunities for in-depth collaborative exchange with communities and scientists.”
Martina said on being awarded, “I am really thrilled to receive the Loughshinny Boathouse Studio Award. This residency will provide me with much needed time and space to develop new research and to extend collaborative and experimental aspects of my practice, supported by access to a dedicated studio space.”
Image Caption: Minute Bodies by Martina O’Brien
Martina O’Brien is a visual artist based in Ireland. She has participated in a number of exhibitions and artist residencies in Ireland, abroad and at sea. Over several years, her research-led practice has been informed by sustained engagement with specialists in geology, climate science and marine ecology. She has received awards and support from organisations including the Arts Council of Ireland, Creative Ireland, Create, the European Commission, the European Union, Goethe-Institut, Kildare Arts Service, and DLR’s Visual Arts Commission award.
Recent solo exhibitions include Municipal Gallery Lexicon (2025), Galway Arts Centre (2024) and Highlanes Municipal Gallery (2023). Recent two-person, groups exhibitions and screenings include ARTWORKS, VISUAL (2026); A Spontaneous Cairn, Ormston House (2026); SUPERMARKET Stockholm, Independent Art Fair curated by Interface Inagh (2026); CALOIRE Science Gallery Bangalore, India (2025/26); EARTH RISING, Irish Museum of Modern Art (2025); DISSOLUTIONS, curated by aemi (2024); EARTH RISING, Irish Museum of Modern Art (2024) and Holdings, Solstice Arts Centre (2023).
Recent artist residencies include Co-Creative Lab Artist in Residence, Maynooth University and Kildare County Council (2025); Artlink National Artist in Residence (2025); Garden Studio, Butler Gallery (2025); Arctic Deep, Extreme 24 Marine Expedition in the Arctic Ocean NO(2024); University of Oslo’s Marine Expedition, Oslofjord NO(2024); ATU’s Marine Expedition, North East Atlantic Ocean (2023); Artist Laboratory, Devenish Lands at Dowth, Solstice Arts Centre (2023); Landscape, Ecology & Environment Research Residency, Leitrim Sculpture Centre (2022) and UCD Parity Studio’s Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences Artist in Residence (2020- 2022).
For further information see: www.fingalarts.ie www.fingal.ie
Images: Martina O’Brien and Minute Bodies, 2025, 6 x channel video installation, DLR Visual Art Commission, Lexicon Gallery, courtesy of the artist.