"A Sparkling Party: Contemporary Irish Silver" - An Illustrated talk by Kevin
O'Dwyer - Master Silversmith

RESERVATIONS: Princess Grace Irish Library +377 93 50 12 25 - pglib@monaco.mc

Entry 10 EUR per person payable at the door. Reservations essential due to the limited number of seats. The street doors will be closed at 20:00 sharp.

For over 30 years O’Dwyer’s artwork has explored the subtleties of ritual and imagination. Irish prehistoric art, bronze-age artefacts, early monastic metalwork, 20th century design and architecture are his creative influences. Equipped with this visual vocabulary O’Dwyer has created artefacts that often combine the textured surfaces and flowing lines of our past with the strong and austere forms of modern architecture. His ultimate goal has been to create a work of art that is timeless, thought provoking and responsive to the human spirit.

O’Dwyer continues to explore the flowing and architectural forms that have been the trademark of a career that has blurred the boundaries between art and craft. Eleanor Flegg’s introduction to the “Sparkling Party” catalogue states, “O’Dwyer has an affinity with the sculptural interpretation of mundane household items, but especially with teapots. His Party Teapot abandons itself to a wild coiffeur of silver, like the wedding headdress with more money than sense, while a self-contained Rocking Teapot balances quietly on a curved base, made from a continuation of its handle.”

He was named to Irish America’s Top 100 for 2007 by The Irish America Magazine, which first compiled the Top 100 in 1985, honouring people in the fields of arts & entertainment, community, education, medicine & science, politics & public service, song & dance, sports, and the written word. O’Dwyer was honoured for his contributions to the Arts both as a visual artist and for his involvement in arts and heritage projects in Ireland and the USA.

O’Dwyer initiated the Lough Boora International Sculpture Symposium which won the prestigious Business to Arts Award in 2003. He now directs Sculpture in the Parklands, which received a national award for Best Public Art/Sculpture project for 2007 (LAMA Awards) and Business to Arts Award in 2009.

His involvement in Heritage projects includes the conception and direction of the coffee table book Stories from a Sacred Landscape: Croghan Hill to Clonmacnoise, which looks at the rich monastic heritage of County Offaly.

He curated the touring exhibition Wild Geese - The Irish in America, which looked at the contemporary craftwork of Irish American artists. He conceived and curated the visual arts programme FIS: Passion/Rhythm/Spirit for the launch of The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick.

In 2010, O’Dwyer received a National Endowment for the Arts award to work as artist-in-residence at Pratt Fine Arts Centre in Seattle, Washington. Michelle Bufano, Director of Pratt Fine Arts Centre states, “Much like himself, O’Dwyer’s work is an unconventional mix of tradition and innovation. Dramatic and elegant in its form, the work engages the viewer to look beyond the main object to the space that surrounds. It whirls in a frozen dervish dance that embraces the air and makes the negative form part of the piece.” O’Dwyer will continue to explore the relationship between form and function creating a series of sculptural glass and metal artefacts during his residency.

O’Dwyer is internationally renowned and represented in both public and private collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The National Museum of Ireland; The High Museum, Atlanta; The Ulster Museum, Belfast; The Kamm Teapot Foundation, Celestial Seasons, Colorado; The Company of Goldsmiths, Dublin; The Racine Museum of Art; Nelson Mandela, King Karl Gustav of Sweden and The Japanese Imperial Family.

He has represented Ireland in over 40 international exhibitions and has featured in over 200 publications including Ireland’s Treasures, 5000 years of Artistic Expression by Dr Peter Harbison.