Biography and Statement

Kyla McDonagh

Artist Biography

Specialist training in the field of ceramics led Kyla McDonagh to investigate the beauty of form through the medium of clay. Graduating from the University of Ulster with a First-class Honours Degree in Fine and Applied Arts, she was awarded a prize by the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts. Her work has drawn influence from Palaeolithic bone engravings. Connected to principles of knowledge, her curated displays reverberate the sound of treasured history and remnants from the past.

The forms are basic. Some present as bone-like effigies, others pertain to stone, featuring schematic etchings or spirals. The simplicity of the designs contrast with the complexity of their essence; it's a dance between the crude material world and the intangible philosophies which induce it. Many contain hand-written scrolls. Sealed behind glass, they are a representation of concealed knowledge.

Kyla is currently producing art works from her studio based at the North Coast and her carefully selected, wall mounted displays continue to intrigue.

Artist Statement

My artefacts are fashioned in clay. The tactile process of modelling a soft, earth-sourced material and transforming it with heat into a vitrified ceramic body recounts the physical construction. The impetus behind it is a mental scuffle with ideologies and theories of human origin. From the dawn of opposable thumbs, the human species has been leaving its mark on history, every modest incision linked to a greater story.

Additional materials are integrated including papyrus, paper, stone and shell. Organised in groups and sealed behind glass, these mixed-media curations allude to allegory. Hand-written scripts are rolled tight, wrapped in the spiral that spans global symbolism.

Palaeolithic bone engravings, rudimentary tools and monoliths have been a source of inspiration. Cave artists were using iron oxide, manganese dioxide and charcoal as pigments forty thousand years ago. As a ceramicist in the 21st century, the same pigments are being used in my own work today.

Living beside the Mesolithic site at Mount Sandel, I have collected segments of flint debitage from the floor of the Bann when the tide is out. Some of these feature in my arrangements exuding whispers of human history and connection to the land.