about

BIOGRAPHY

Sam was born in Dublin in 1965. He studied architecture at University Collage Dublin and graduated with Honours in 1989. In 1987 he won the ICOMOS Scholarship and worked for the Historic American Engineering Record (HAEP) in West Virginia in the US. In 1991 he won an International Competition for Thesis Projects with the Russian Architectural Institute and travelled to Moscow.

On graduating from college, he worked part-time for a number of years in the Practice of Prof. Cahill O Neill. He also worked part-time in a number of other  practices, mainly working on architectural competitions and rendering finished drawings.

His love of drawing  and architectural design brought him to lecture as a studio tutor, in The School of Architecture in University College Dublin. He tutored there part-time for five years. During this time Sams interest in painting increased and he started to paint in oils. By 1995 Sam was painting full time and he had his first solo exhibition in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin later that year.

In 1998 Sam, with his wife Sadhbh and two sons, moved to the West of Ireland. Here in the beauty of County Clare they did extensive renovations to their cottage and set up their studios.

Sam now paints full time. His paintings expresses his deep love of the Irish landscape and her Sacred Sites. They capture the beauty, subtleties and history of our landscape and our ancestors. From his earlier travels to Russia a passion for Icons grew. His journey with painting Icons reflects the depths in which he experiences the world. This soul connection  flows through all his paintings, whether landscape, tree, sacred site or icon.

Sam has had many solo exhibitions including shows in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Hall and the Brú na Boinne Visitor Centre. He exhibits regularly in Group Shows including his local Iniscealtra Arts Festival Summer exhibition. Sam has worked on a number of Public Commissions in colleboration with his wife Sadhbh. The Commission by the Office of Public Works for the Brú na Boinne Visitor Centre involved travelling to Sacred Sites around Ireland. This work culminated in a series of monochromatic paintings of the sites on silk.  Other Public commissions from the Office of Public Works were for Muckross House in Kilarney and for Carlow County Council’s  Tourist Office. He was commissioned to paint a series of paintings as part of the Percent for the Arts Scheme for Ennis General hospital, County Clare.

Sam has work in a number of collections including Dunlaoghair-Rathdown County Offices, County Dublin,  the Franciscan Friary, Killarney, County Kerry and The Neurological Institute, Dublin.

Sam is currently working on a new solo show for 2013.

CURRICULUM VITAE

LINKS

COUNTY CLARE ARTS OFFICE