Why (the Site of) Drawing Matters...to me.

I’m an independent visual artist with a studio at The Model for the past five years and practice-based researcher currently a doctoral researcher (PT) at Loughborough University, UK. 

To be human is to make a mark. I am a ‘patheur’; someone who follows their intuitive impulses, and I make drawings that must be felt rather than just cognitively understood. Combining fieldwork, material and philosophical research, I create ephemeral site-specific drawings both inside and outside the gallery space.

​By recording the ‘emotional vibrations’ of a space, my life work examines drawing’s capacity to materialise the non-representational aspects of our world. My practice involves site as an active agent and co-creator of the drawings.

​By paying close attention, the ‘emotions of atmospheres’ can collectively touch us through our felt bodies to enact an intimacy; a ‘holding space’ for something intermediate where we can affirm our presence, which is always and already happening.

O’Toole is also co-founder of Drawing deCentered which is artist-led collective that explores contemporary drawing practice in Ireland. 

To follow work and progress:
#contemporarydrawing, #drawingresearch, #publicar, #sitespecificart, #site-responsive,#slowlooking,  #environmentalart,#nature,  #installationart, #digital media, #photography, #drawingecology, #drawingandlandscape, #artandecology, #kieraotooleartist, #officeofpublicwonder, #artisticresearch, #contemporaryart,  #sitespecificdrawing,