Recipients of the Fingal County Council, Age & Opportunity and Tyrone Guthrie Centre Residency 2024 Announced

Fingal County Council, in association with Age & Opportunity and Tyrone Guthrie Centre, is pleased to announce the two recipients for the month-long residencies at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre.

This year’s awardees are writer Desmond Traynor and visual artist Susan Buttner.

The residency aims to address the goals of Fingal Arts Office, through its Arts Plan 2019 – 2025, of: connecting people and ideas; enabling excellence and fostering experimentation and risk taking. These residencies similarly support Age & Opportunity’s aim of celebrating creative ageing, and representation in the arts of and by older people. This initiative also supports the three organisations aim to foster the professional development of artists in their ongoing practice.

Mayor of Fingal Cllr Brian McDonagh commented “I know what a wonderful opportunity it is for writers and artists to be given time and space working on their art in Annaghmakerrig.  My own Mother, Maeve Ingoldsby was lucky enough to have spent time there writing and it was one of her favourite places in the world. I wish them every success and am delighted as Mayor to support these brilliant bursaries.”

Speaking about the award, Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly said, “We are pleased to collaborate once again with the Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Age & Opportunity to provide these two residencies, reflecting our commitment to nurturing the artistic development of older Fingal artists from diverse backgrounds.”

County Arts Officer Sarah O’Neill said “I am pleased to announce the recipients of this residency opportunity in partnership with the Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Age & Opportunity. The Council is committed to providing continued support for the creative and professional development of older artists in their ongoing practice.”

When asked about the award Desmond Traynor said, “I am delighted to receive this award of a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre from Fingal County Council and Age & Opportunity. As a Dublin Southsider migrated to the northside, it is nice to feel welcome. I’m especially grateful to be able to return to beautiful Annaghmakerrig, a place I absolutely adore, for a whole month.”

And Susan Buttner commented, “I am thrilled to receive this residency award, it provides a wonderful opportunity to spend a focused period working on a new project.”

The residencies at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, located in the beautiful, tranquil setting of County Monaghan will provide an ideal environment to focus on research or the development of new work.

About the Artists

Desmond Traynor

Desmond Traynor is a Dubliner, and a graduate of U.C.D. and Trinity. He is a Hennessy Literary Award winner and an Alumnus Essay Award winner, whose debut novel The Myth of Exile and Return was nominated for the 2005 Irish Novel of the Year Award. Last year he was a prizewinner in the Hubert Butler Essay Competition. He has received bursaries in literature from the Arts Council of Ireland, and Fingal County Council. His short stories have been widely published, and he contributes to many Irish and international publications, writing about books, music, film and visual art.

Susan Buttner

Susan Buttner is an Irish visual artist based in Dublin. She is an artist of emphatic morphology, her practice is a delicate evaluation of power relations, revealing tensions and forces, while highlighting the borderless, transgressive aspect of institutional critique. She completed several national and international residencies, received many prestigious bursary awards and presented a solo exhibition, with collaborative live performance, at the LUAN Gallery, Athlone. Group exhibitions include; Draíocht Gallery, Dublin; The Library Project, Dublin; Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda; Periphery Space, Wexford; Lismore Castle Arts, Waterford; Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasglow; Pallas Projects Studios, Dublin; Cairde Visual, Sligo; Solstice Arts Centre, Navan; Court House Gallery, Clare; among others.

For further information please see:

www.fingalarts.ie      www.fingal.ie/arts     www.tyroneguthrie.ie     www.bealtainefestival.ie  www.ageandopportunity.ie