Eileen Keane, born in Roscommon, is an Irish Artist and Writer, living in Co. Leitrim.
Eileen divides her time between writing and art, finding there are never enough hours in the day!
She is known to incorporate text into her artwork, while her writing is often described as very visual, so in that sense, she is always trying to find a path between the two mediums.
Eileen has displayed her art in countless exhibitions and group shows and has had her writing honoured in many awards and publications.
Feel free to send her a message with any queries.
Art Background
Eileen was mainly involved in painting in oils and acrylics and mixed media work up to 1997, and exhibited in many local exhibitions.
In 97-98 she attended a course in the National College of Art and Design and was introduced to printmaking by Taffina Flood of the Graphic studio. She liked the technical aspect of it and the unexpectedness of the results and became a founding member of the Leinster Printmaking studio in 1998.
In the beginning, she worked mostly with carborundum and collograph as these techniques suited the textural quality of her work but went on to practice safe etching techniques with copper sulphate. She also went on to use photo polymer etching, as this is very suitable for transferring text onto plates.
Recently she has begun to experiment with screen printing. Traditional printmaking involves making a plate for each colour layer of the print, and inking the plate which is then rolled through an etching press to transfer the image to paper. Thus multiple images can be made- from small to larger editions - she usually creates editions of a maximum of 30 prints.
Eileen took part in a collaborative print project between the Leinster printmaking studio and The Regional print centre Wrexham from 2008 to 2011 and participated in residencies in Cill Rialig in Kerry and in Nant Gwrtheyrn, in Wales. She started working with her Welsh ‘twin’ Linda on the idea of home and memory. They began with sources such as the Irish bog and the slate mines in Wales and exploring mapping as a way of describing the landscape. Eileen began to work on imagery inspired by the bog near her home - Mouds bog - exploring its physical presence through making collographs from materials found on the bog and also its history of burial rituals and its inspiration for poets such as Seamas Heaney. Eileen is also a writer and is very interested in words and language. This project has widened the scope of her work with a broader use of ideas, from texture to text and mapping, and has given her an interest in making artists books.
Recently, she has developed the use of mapping as a background to drawings of buildings and monuments and streetscapes in Kildare. Her work has moved away from abstraction and become more figurative and returned to where she started with depictions of landscape and she has also returned to painting in oils and acrylics.
Writing Background
Eileen Keane is a Roscommon born writer and artist now living in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. Previously a teacher of Art and English, she began to write in 2003. In that year she began to job share in order to have more time for printmaking and instead found herself writing a novel. She had previously started a novel at the age of seven but was overcome by writers block after the first page and though she always dreamed of writing stories she never knew how to begin the business of being a writer.
When she put the first words on the page in 2003 ideas came streaming out and she has been writing ever since. She enjoys reading her work at open mics and festivals and in 2008 began to write short humorous pieces for music and writing sessions in her local pub.
Her first short story won the Cecil Day Lewis short fiction prize in 2004 and since then she has been long and shortlisted in many other competitions. She was shortlisted for a Hennessy award in 2014 for her short story ‘A Perfect Prayer’, and she was thrilled to win first prize in the inaugural James Plunkett short story award in October 2013 for her story ‘The Peace of Evening ’.
In June 2013 she was selected by Kildare County Council Arts office for The Cecil Day Lewis Emerging writer award. She has previously won the humorous essay prize in Listowel, has been selected for the ‘Lonely Voice’ readings in the Irish Writers centre, and her story ‘Woman Walking on Nassau Street’ has been professionally recorded as part of ‘Stories for the Ear’ Volume 1.
Her work has also been published in a Poolbeg press anthology ‘Do the Write thing’, Listowel Writer’s week Winners anthology, Census 1, 2, and 3, Crannóg Literary magazine and the Irish Independent. She has written two novels, one in her Literary voice and one in her humorous voice. She is also completing a short story collection and she hopes to find a publisher for all of these very soon.
Awards
May 2016: Awarded residency at Stiwdio Maelor, Corris, Wales
February 2016: Awarded residency at Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Annamakerrig
March 2014: ‘A Perfect Prayer’ shortlisted for Hennessy award
2013: Awarded Cecil Day Lewis Literary Bursary for emerging writer by Kildare Co.Council
October 2013: ‘The peace of Evening’ Ist prize, James Plunkett award: Writers Union
March 2013 ‘A Perfect Prayer’: selected for New Irish Writing, Irish Independent
2007: ‘Tick – Tock’ winner of humorous essay section Writers week originals Listowel
2007: ‘Tryst’ selected as runner-up in RTE/ Poolbeg competition ‘Do the Write Thing’
Latest Exhibitions
2021 - Riverbank Art Theatre - Newbridge, Kildare
2021 - Grá Gallery - Naas, Kildare
2021 - Junefest Virtual Exhibition - Kildare
Published work
‘Tryst’. ‘Do the Write thing’ anthology- short story. Poolbeg press 2007
‘Tick – Tock’: Winners anthology Listowel Writers week 2008- humorous essay
‘The Cave’ : ‘Census 1’ anthology 2008
‘Woman walking in Nassau St’ : ‘Census 2’ 2009, and chosen and professionally recorded for ‘Stories for the ear’ volume 1 2009. Kildare County Council Arts office.
‘Walking with Another’: ‘Census 3’ 2012- Seven Towers.
‘Boy on a Window Ledge’ : Crannog literary magazine March 2013.
‘A Perfect Prayer’: published in New Irish Writing, Irish Independent, March 2013
‘At the Water’s Edge’ New Roscommon Writing Awards Booklet December 14
‘Don’t Forget the Charger’ Roscommon Herald May 15
‘Snapshots’ Long Story Short online literary journal, July 15
‘Filling the well’ Roscommon Herald August 15
‘Boy on a Window Ledge’ Roscommon Herald Monthly short story feature April 2016
‘Sometimes’ (poem) Flare poetry broadsheet October 2016
‘Waiting’ (poem) published in Flare 2, quarterly publication from the Sunflower Sessions January 2017