Nuala Clooney is an artist working with sculpture and video based in Birmingham, UK. Her work uses everyday bodily processes such as eating, cooking and grooming that mirror the actions and gestures that are embodied within traditional craft practices. She works with a variety of found objects and edible materials to subvert the intimate interactions or relationships we have with these and with interior spaces.
Nuala has exhibited internationally and extensively across the UK. She was recently selected by Art & Heritage for a new commission project for Middleport Pottery, Stoke-on-Trent, (2021). Nuala was included in the Arts Council exhibition Women Power Protest at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (2018) and in projects at Tincal Lab, Porto, Gallery Gabi Green, Munich, Kunsthal Charlottenburg, Copenhagen, as well as Science Gallery London, Barts Pathology Museum, London and the Art and Science Festival, Birmingham.
Nuala is the recipient of a Feeney Fellowship (2020). She was shortlisted for the John Ruskin Master of All Trades Prize, Sheffield (2017).
EXHIBITIONS
2019
2018-19
2018
2018
2017-18
2017
2017
2017
2016
2016
2015
2015
2015
2015
Jewlery and Anatomy
Women Power and Protest
Subterranea
Air
Ambiguous Implements
John Ruskin Prize: Master of all trades
Nasty Women
Subterranea
Institute of Making ‘Cutlery Challenge’
Charlottenburg Spring Exhibition 2016
Jewellery Design Award
Carnally Consumed
Crafting Anatomies
Jeweltopia
Tincal lab, Porto Portugal
Arts Council exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Group exhibition at School of Jewellery, Birmingham
Group exhibition at School of art, Birmingham
Arts Council England funded touring exhibition in collaboration with FEAST, Roco, Sheffield
Shortlist Exhibition, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield
Creative Debuts gallery, Shoreditch, London
Group show, Gallery Gabi Green, Munich
The Worshipful Company of Cutlery
Kunsthal Charlottenburg, Copenhagen, Denmark
Nominated for the 2016 Jewellery Design Award, The Arts Foundation
Solo Show - part of Plymouth Art Weekender. Victoria Sewart Gallery, Plymouth.
Bonington gallery, Nottingham Trent University
Artist in Residence Exhibition, School of Jewellery, Birmingham
DINING EVENTS
2017
2016
2016
Tasting Joyce
GOING Public
After Dark
A journey through the tastes and smells of Joyce’s Dublin. The James Joyce Centre. Curated by Eliza Oliver.
Celebrating the opening of the Napoleone collection. Touchstones Gallery, Rochdale. Curated by Laura Mansfield
A sensual experience for curious appetites with a desire to push the boundaries of dining. Curated by chef Chris Hughes and Producer Kaye Winwood
PERFORMANCE PROJECTS
2017
2016
Expanding Intimacy
Mellifluous
Arts & Science Festival, University of Birmingham
Presented at the ‘Edible Body Farm’ at Bart’s Pathology Museum in collaboration with Kaye Winwood
RESIDENCIES
2020
2018
2017
2015
2014-15
2010
Peep @ Stryx
BCU Graduate Residency
Research residency in collaboration with Kaye Winwood
Summer Lodge Artist Residency
Artist in Residence
Artist in Residence
Online residency at Stryx Gallery, Birmingham
Grand Union, Birmingham
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham
Fine Art Department, Nottingham Trent University
School of Jewellery, Birmingham City University
Wonford House Hospital, Exeter, Devon
COMMISSIONS
2020
2016
Commissioned by Middleport Pottery Part of Meeting Point, a programme led by contemporary arts agency Arts&Heritage (www.artsandheritage.org.uk)
Mouth Controller - Designed three metal mouth prosthetics for the 'Mouthy' season at Science Gallery, London
AWARDS
SYMPOSIUMS
2017
2016
20:20 Visions Conference
Indialogue
Association for Contemporary Jewellery. Presenting ‘Ambiguous Implements’ with Rachael Colley.
An international symposium that interrogates how artists and researchers use dialogue in practice. Presented work in progress; 'Ambiguous Implements’ with Rachael Colley.