Introducing Eimear O’Caoilte

Originally from a drawing and painting background, Eimear was introduced to ceramics during her HND in Fine Art and immediately fell in love with the material. She found it to be a very therapeutic process as the material simply cannot be rushed. Having to respect the process forces you to slow down, focus on the moment and fully engage with the work.

Wanting to push her painting and print-making processes on the ceramic surface she transferred into the Contemporary Applied Arts Ceramics Degree course and after graduating with a BA Hons in 2015, she was selected for an Artist in Residence position in the Duncairn Arts Centre Belfast.

During her 5 years as Artist in Residence, she was given her own studio and access to necessary equipment for her practice. Here she was able to focus on her body of work, ‘The Ease of Ignorance’, which was concerned with ignorance in society and absent interactions in everyday urban life.

The body of work was made up of a series of portraits on ceramic slabs with a build-up of printing processes focusing on urban textures and forms. These were then combined with sketched narratives to imply a sense of disengaged chaos.

Even though she was able to spend some time focusing on her own work, her 5 years were mainly spent teaching ceramics to the local community, various groups within the community and the voluntary sector, and she even returned to teach at the Ulster University from where she graduated.

In 2021 she made the decision to leave the Residency to set up a home studio and focus solely on the development of her own works.
2021 saw the birth of Broken Earth Ceramics. This is a business/shop that studies, through clay, the texture of broken earth. Presented in wearable and functional forms, the black ceramic texture shows how the earth can break itself so beautifully on its own.

The aim of this business was to create small ceramic, handmade and unique gifts inspired by the Irish landscape and culture. She also uses Ogham to create framed ceramic homeware and jewellery.

Ogham (oh-am) is an ancient alphabet. It is the earliest form of writing to be found in Ireland and surviving archaeological evidence dates back to the fifth century, although many believe that the alphabet itself was created much earlier.

Ogham is written vertically and read from bottom to top, each letter is represented by perpendicular or angled strokes along a central vertical line. It is found on standing stones, wood carvings and jewellery. Most archaeological finds are in Ireland although there have been examples discovered in Scotland and Wales.

Now that she has the freedom of her own studio, her focus for next year is to reconnect with her Fine Art background and work on a new collection of work.

Eimear lives in Belfast with her partner Declan and her dog Alfie. Her work can be viewed and purchased through her Broken Earth Facebook and Etsy pages.