Plants of Ireland: Celebrating native Irish plants as dyestuffs in the North East / Plandaí na hÉireann ag ceiliúradh plandaí dúchasacha Éireannacha mar ruaimeacháin san tOirthuaisceart

By Emily Mc Gardle

Emily will be undertaking an artistic research project from 13-30 April that explores our local knowledge and memories of native plants used as colourants to dye clothing and textiles.

Based at The Kiosk Project Art Space for the second half of April, Emily will be demonstrating which dye colours can be obtained from which part of local plants. From these raw materials, Emily will process dye colours for her lake pigment and inkmaking activities, combining them with a carrageen seaweed binder to make screenprinting ink which she will use to create a series of screenprinted works.

Everyone is welcome to pop-in during this time to learn and share their experience of natural dyes, textiles and printmaking.

As part of this residency Emily will be hosting two free public events:

🌿Saturday 18 April, 2pm | Introduction to native Irish dye plants

🌸Saturday 25 April, 2pm | Making screenprinting inks from native Irish plants

Supported by Droichead Arts Centre, Louth County Council and Creative Ireland.

Emily Mc Gardle is a printmaker from Co. Monaghan. She graduated from Dublin Institute of Technology in 2016 with a First-Class Honours degree in Fine Art, and received an MA in Print from the Royal College of Art, London in 2020. She has received Established Artist and Emerging Talent awards from Monaghan County Council’s Artist Support Scheme in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2025. She received a Sculpture Practice award from Fire Station Artists’ Studios, Dublin in 2024, and the Print Network Ireland Tyrone Guthrie Centre residency award in 2025. Emily was shortlisted for the 2022 Zurich Portrait Prize, the 2023 and 2024 Trinity Buoy Wharf Working Drawing Award, the 2024 Derwent Art Prize, and the 2024 AIB Portrait Prize where she received a Highly Commended Award.

Emily’s artistic practice consists primarily of screenprinting and drawing. Using hand-drawn artwork she creates multi-layer screenprints which combine humour, satire, and parody. Her current body of work explores the often-overlooked surrealism, absurdism, and inherent weirdness of Irish seanfhocail (proverbs) where humans, animals, and nature interact with each other.