Sheila Naughton

In 2010, Sheila was awarded a residency at The Custom House Studios and Gallery in Westport. This experience was pivotal in developing her interest in contemporary abstract drawing and painting and resulted in her first solo exhibition Chiaroscuro there in 2011. Lightspill, a solo exhibition at the invitation of The Higher Bridges Gallery, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh took place in 2016. Blur was held at Dun Laoghaire County Council pop up gallery in 2017. The Darkest Night is her first solo show at The Olivier Cornet Gallery in November 2022.

Two person shows included Striae, with Hugh Cummins at the Olivier Cornet Gallery in Dublin in 2018 and Hinterland a collaboration with poet/writer Alison Hackett at Eblana House, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin in 2019. Elegy, a two person show with Lorraine Cleary, was held at at the Custom House Gallery in Westport in 2020. The work for Elegy took transience as its theme. “The beauty of the world hath made me sad, this beauty that will pass”. The exhibition was selected for Critics Choice in The Irish Times’ cultural supplement “The Ticket” by Aidan Dunne

Group exhibitions include the RHA Annual Exhibitions, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020; Cairde Visual at The Model, Sligo, 2017, 2019; GOMA open submission exhibitions in Waterford, 2017, 2019; Dunamaise Open, 2017, 2018, 2019; Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise; VUE at the RHA with The Olivier Cornet Gallery, Dublin, 2017, 2018, 2019; The Lavit Gallery Members Exhibition, 2018 with a mention by Cristin Leach in the Sunday Times; Christmas at the Lavit in 2019; The Summer Show, SO Fine Art, Dublin, 2019; 44 The Quay in Waterford 2017/18/19/20; Drawing on Don Quixote, a themed exhibition curated by Olivier Cornet, was held in conjunction with Wexford Opera Festival 2019 at Wexford Opera House. Sheila is a member of Drawing Box International and has work in the travelling exhibitions A0 and A5.  

In 2020, work was selected for Hualabhoig Open, Uig, Outer Hebrides, Scotland and for The Lavit Gallery members Open Submission in Cork. A group exhibition 6 took place at Kilfane Glebe House Studio in Thomastown, during Kilkenny Arts Week 2020 with a review by Catherine Marshall, senior art curator, in the Nov/Dec issue of the Visual Artists Ireland magazine. Work was selected by Sean Larkin for Water and for Transformation by Nuala Clarke, Ballinglen Arts Foundation for ArtnetDLR online exhibitions. Emergence, selected by artist Jay Murphy, was held at Walters Gallery, Dun Laoghaire in 2021. Sheila also participated in Westival, the Visual Art exhibition of the arts festival in Westport, Co. Mayo. Sheila was selected as one of nine participants for the 9 Walls exhibition at the Hyde Bridge Gallery in Sligo in November 2020, and for Cairde Visual at The Hamilton Gallery in Sligo in 2022. Obscene, Outrageous and Offensive was the Bloomsday Exhibition at the Olivier Cornet Gallery in June 2022. Sheila was delighted to be invited to participate in Waterford Makers curated by Vincent O’Shea at Waterford Municipal Gallery in 2022.

Italian art curator Valeria Ceregini, invited Sheila to be interviewed as part of her project JournAll on the theme of the Covid 19 lockdown. 

Artist residencies include The Custom House Studios in Westport, Co. Mayo, The Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annamakerrig, Co Monaghan and AirKrems in Austria. Sheila was the recipient of a Residency at The Heinrich Böll Cottage on Achill Island in September 2020. A poem resulting from this residency was hand-printed by letterpress together with a black and white photograph with the support of The Goethe Institute in Dublin. The framed works were presented to the Heinrich Böll Cottage in Achill and The Goethe Institute Library in Dublin in 2021. A special presentation was also made to the outgoing German Ambassador, Dieke Potzel on the completion of her mission to Ireland.