Global Localism
Handmade Art Without Borders

Inner Landscape (2026)
Walnut, Madder-Root, Oak Gall, Whin Bush inks on washi-style paper from Nepal
50cm x 70cm
From Deepest Earth, A Flower (2026)
Fanad Inks on recycled cotton waste paper, handmade in India
30cm x 57cm

In our time of mass-production, homogenisation, and AI, Global Localism is a proud re-commitment to locally produced, handmade, artisanal art, celebrating a world of local, place-based communities.

It is art which refuses borders but honours the unique diversity places and peoples.

The works are made from Irish-produced inks - most made by the artist himself - applied to traditional handmade papers from round the world. The papers are primarily sourced from India and the Himalayas (Bhutan & Nepal). I buy them from specialist importers with a strong commitment to sustainable and ethical trading practices: Khadi Papers in London and Liberties Papers in Dublin.

Tree and Sun (2026)
Oak Gall and Cochineal inks on elephant dung & recycled cotton paper. 
21cm x 30cm

I make ink from plants and vegetables harvested locally (gorse, dandelion, beetroot), from widely available fruits and vegetables (red cabbage, coffee, pomegranate, walnut), from locally-mined minerals (red ochre), and from imported dried pigments sourced from elsewhere (oak gall, sequoia, brazilwood).

I often use paper made in villages in India from recycled cotton waste, though also papers handmade using traditional processes, from sustainably harvested materials in other places such as Bhutan and Nepal.

Monk Was, Is, and Will Be. (2025) 
Brazilwood and Oak Gall inks on paper from Bhutan, mounted on tea-stained recycled cotton paper from India. 
4ocm x 32cm

I don’t cut the papers. I use them in the form they reach me. This is one of the ways I seek to respect the artisanal input of the paper-makers. I use what they provide without manipulating it to suit my own conception of what the final work will be..

The edges of handmade papers are often rough - deckled - and pictures in the Global Localism series are mounted to emphasise and celebrate this. The handmade nature of the work is foregrounded within the final framing process. 

Monk Climbs (2026)
Pomegranate, Oak Gall, Avocado, Gorse and Cochineal inks on recycled cotton waste paper from India
21cm x 30cm
Monk's Long Journey (2026)
Oak Gall and Cochineal inks on handmade paper from Bhutan, coated with yellow ochre
42cm x 30cm

Artist’s Statement

Painting is practical and physical - a conversation between my body and the materials I work with.

It's an investigation into physical choices: different ways of applying ink or paint, different gestures, different consistencies of ink and paint, different sorts of paper.

To paint I must calm my mind and relax my body. I open myself to the materials, the tools, and the surface I’m working on. If I’m distracted, the work I create will be unfocused or superficial.

Painting is a mental discipline as much as a physical one.

Painting, like performance (my previous career) combines fearless creation with spontaneous editing. Anything is possible. Not everything is useful.

I never know how a finished painting will look when I start it. Painting is a conversation between me and the materials.

I don’t finish a painting. The viewer does. I don’t control a viewer’s response. I’ve completed my work when the ink has dried and the picture is framed.

I hope you experience the calm, curiosity and humanity of my process, but that’s not within my control.

Respectfully, I leave it up to you.

CV

2026

Organised and exhibited in Fanad Creatives Exhibition at Fanad Head Lighthouse

Took sole occupancy of studio in The Courthouse, Bushmills

Established Fanad Inks

‘The Art of Calm: Painting With Ink’ - Workshop, Bushmills

2025

Group exhibition ‘Garden of Earthly Delight’, Derry, UK

Initiated ‘Global Localism’ project - local, handmade, speciality materials across borders

Took shared occupancy of studio in The Courthouse, Bushmills

Six-week funded course on ‘The Art of Calm: Painting With Inks’: Fanad

Group exhibition ‘Coast’ at Fort Dunree, Co. Donegal - with Donegal Visual Arts Network

Published ‘Everyday Encouragement’

2024

Established Fanad Art

2010 - 2022

Artistic Director of DUENDE and THE DUENDE SCHOOL OF ENSEMBLE PHYSICAL THEATRE

Published ‘How To Teach Performance’, ‘Climbing The Mountain’, ‘Presence’, ‘Encountering Ensemble’

2004-2010

Senior Lecturer (Drama) & MA Course Leader, University of Huddersfield (UK)

1997-2004

Freelance Performer, Director & Teacher, Australia

1988 - 1997

Freelance Performer, Director & Teacher, UK

1988

MA Theatre Studies, Leeds University, UK