Bio

Bart O’Reilly is an Irish poet and painter based in Maryland, USA. He teaches at The John Carroll School and has shown work in Baltimore, Chestertown, Washington DC, Philadelphia and Kentucky as well as in Ireland and Northern Ireland. In 2000 he received his BFA from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. He received his MFA from The Maryland Institute College of Art in 2012 where he received MICA’s MFAST award. He has also received grants from The Baltimore Social Innovation Journal and an Individual Artists Award from The Baltimore Office of Promotions of the Arts. In 2022 he published his first book My Father’s Work Shed with Resource Publications. It is a collection of poetry and painting spanning 11 years of work.

Artist Statement

I work primarily with painting and poetry. Though the subject matter is deeply personal, I engage with contemporary art practice. The paintings seek to evoke a sense of place and diffuse memories, places, and nostalgias that accompany it. The connection to Ireland and my childhood is heightened by geographic distance and the recent passing of my parents. The interactions between pigment suspended in water and the fabric surface of the canvas or paper keep my process open to the push and pull of control and letting go. Though I begin with childhood memories I develop a concurrent relationship with light, perception, material, and color; the ever -shifting background of Irish skies informing my complex relationship with 21st century America.

Curriculum Vitae

Education
2012 The Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. Masters of Fine Arts in StudioArt(MFAST)
2000 National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland. Bachelors Degree in Fine Art (Painting) with first-class honors.

Awards
2018 Recognition of Scholarly and Creative Work, Harford Community College.
2017 Woven Tale Press Fine Art Competition winner.
2015 The Mayors Individual Artists Award. The Baltimore Office of promotion and the Arts.
2014 Baltimore Social Innovation Journal Grant.
2012 MICA MFAST Award.

Skill Sets
Observational drawing, Acrylic materials and mediums, Oil materials and mediums, Traditional gesso and grounds, Rabbit skin glue paint with powdered pigments, Painting supports and sizes, Adobe Creative Suite, Video, Photography, Sound, Writing, Poetry.

Teaching Experience
January 2013 Present: Professor of Two-Dimensional Design, Drawing and Color Theory Harford Community College, Bel Air, Maryland.
June 2013 Present: Painting and Drawing instructor, Summer Pre-College Program, Painting and Drawing the Figure in Oil and Acrylic. MICA, Baltimore, Maryland.
Spring 2021–Spring: Professor of Two Dimensional Design and Abstract Painting at Loyola University, Baltimore, Maryland.
September 2019–June 2020: Oil Painting, Working in Series, Drawing from Observation and Imagination, Beyond the Still life. Open Studies, YPS program at MICA.
Fall 2019- Spring 2020: Fundamentals of Two-D Design and Learning to Draw, Open Studies, Community Ed Program at MICA
July 2014–July 2017: Visiting Artist and technology for artists instructor for the MFAST Graduate Program MICA, Baltimore, Maryland.
Spring 2018: Adjunct Professor of Drawing and Painting at Washington College.
Spring 2018: Visiting Artist Talk at Washington College.
September 2017: Guest Lecturer at McDaniel College.
February 2017: Guest Lecturer at Goucher College, Towson, Maryland.
September 2015–December 2017:Art Instructor, The Hussman Center at Towson University, Maryland.
August 2012–2014: Drawing and Two-Dimensional Design instructor at Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland.
January 2007–August 2012: Art Manager, Providence Center, Anne Arundel County.

Community Leadership and Institutional Service
2019: Left Space Co-organizer, A group exhibition of MICA students alumni and faculty at 1100 Wicomico Street, Baltimore, Maryland
2018: Studio Stream, a Fate Regional Roundtable at Stevenson University
2016 : Artists for Truth Co-Organizer
2014/2015: Founder and Director of City Project(ions)

Selected Exhibitions
2019: Empathy with Branches, York College, Marketview Arts, York, Pennsylvania.
2018: Things might Happen in the Sky, Pence-Chowning Art Gallery, Campbellville University, Kentucky.
Ghost Pools, China Hutch Projects, Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland.
2017: Poems from the Mountains, Chesapeake Gallery, Harford Community College, Bel Air, Maryland.
2016: Guest artist at Hamilton Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland.
Tigh an Chnoic, the Reeves Gallery at Saint Ignatius Church, Baltimore, Maryland.
2014: An Imagined Shed Trilogy, at Highlandtown Arts District, Baltimore, Maryland, curated by Sandra Abbott.
2013: Shadow Interventions, at The Drawing Project, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin Ireland.
2012: MFA in Studio Art Thesis Exhibition, MICA, Baltimore, Maryland.
2011: Emerge International Art Fair, Capitol Skyline Hotel, Washington DC, Represented by Solas Nua.
2010: Old Lines from the Luminous State, Flashpoint Gallery, Sponsored by Solas Nua, Washington DC.
2008: Slippages at A-X-D Gallery with artist Sheldon Drake, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
2007: Materializing the Story, a two-person exhibition with Artist Daniel Stuelpnagel, Load of Fun Studios, Baltimore, Maryland.
2006: Found Fragments, Creative Alliance at The Patterson, Baltimore, Maryland.
2005: Passing Places, Montage Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland.

Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 Left Space, A group exhibition of MICA’s MFAST students, alumni and faculty at 1100 Wicomico Street, Baltimore, Maryland.
2016 The Army That You Have, curated by Marian April Glebes Current Space, Baltimore, Maryland.
Repression/Resurgence/Reemergence, Hillyer Art Space, curated by Jackie Hoysted for Solas Nua., Washington DC.
2015 Cross this Line, Max Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland. Project 837, Project PLACE, Baltimore, Maryland.
2014 Under 500, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, Maryland. Emergence 2014, International Artists to Watch, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, Maryland.
2013 Cinesonika 3, University of Ulster, Derry, Northern Ireland. Flex, Flat Atlas, Washington, DC.
2012 Makeshift Residency Show, OPEN WABI MAKESHIFT RESIDENCY, Fredericktown, Ohio.
2011 Things Fall Apart, Catonsville Community College, Catonsville, Maryland. Materiality, Coppin State University, Baltimore, Maryland.
2009 Art Hamptons with Clark Priftis Art, The Bridge Hampton Historical Society, New York.
Where the Sun Don’t Shine, Nudashank Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland. Escape, American Contemporary Gallery Annapolis, Maryland.
2008 Transmodern Festival 2008, Load of Fun Studios, Baltimore, Maryland. The Art of Making a Living, MIM Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland.
2005 A Moment in Time, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin, Ireland.
2003 Painting at the Beginning of the 21st Century, Sligo Art Gallery, Sligo, Ireland. Painted, Signal Arts Center, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland.
Painted, Bank of Ireland Arts Center, Dublin, Ireland.
2002 Painted, Orchard Gallery, Derry, Northern Ireland. Painted (Six painters at the Linenhall), Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland.
2001 Heaven on Earth (In aid of UNICEF), Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland.
Eruption, Players Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Group Six, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland.