Sample-Studios Logo
  • A
  • A
  • A
  • A
  • A
  • A

Our Team

Emer Yip

Acting Director

Emer Yip is an arts manager and freelance project manager based in Cork City. A graduate of NUIG and UCC, Emer worked as an archaeologist and site photographer in Co. Clare before relocating to San Francisco, California where she co-founded an artist collective and cultural venue on the edge of the city’s Mission District whilst working as a printer in the commercial photography industry.  Returning to Ireland in 2007, Emer has held venue management and creative producer roles with many notable Irish arts organisations including Cork International Film Festival, Circus Factory, Clonmel Junction Festival and Sounds From a Safe Harbour. She was a core member of the management team behind the Kerrygold Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food & Wine and is currently an advisor to Cork International Film Festival on their culinary cinema strand.
Read more...
Read less...

Kevin O’ Keeffe

Facilities Coordinator

Kevin O’ Keeffe is an arts professional and artist with over a decade of experience supporting contemporary art practitioners. He holds a BA in Fine Art Painting from Limerick School of Art and Design and a Level 9 Certificate in Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship from Trinity College Dublin. He was Co-Founder and Director of Occupy Space (2009-12) in Limerick City, delivering the exhibitions and workshops of over 200 artists. In 2012, he became Co-Director of Faber Studios, a Limerick-based studio group and exhibition space and was Exhibition Manager and a Technician for the 2012/14 editions of EVA International Biennial. He was awarded a three-year Limerick City & County Council Residency in the Artist's Apartments in 2014 and the following year, became a lecturer in Sculpture & Combined Media in Limerick School of Art and Design, during which time he also coordinated the Visual Art Ecology Limerick Conference.  Sample-Studios welcomed Kevin O' Keeffe to the team in the role of Facilities Coordinator in January 2022.
Read more...
Read less...

Dr. Darius Whelan

Board Member

Darius Whelan is a Senior Lecturer in Law in UCC. His research interests include Mental Health Law and Internet Regulation.  He is Director of UCC’s LLM in Intellectual Property and E Law.  Darius is co-founder of UCC's IT Law Clinic and a member of Creative Commons.  He is President of the Irish Mental Health Lawyers Association and Chair of UCC's Library Advisory Committee.  Darius is a past member of the national executive of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. He has acting and singing experience, and has written prose pieces for RTE's Sunday Miscellany and Tenx9 storytelling.
Read more...
Read less...

Dr. Michael Waldron

Board Member

Dr Michael Waldron is a curator, educator, and researcher based in Cork, Ireland with an interdisciplinary background in literary criticism and art history. He is presently Curator of Collections & Special Projects at Crawford Art Gallery. He has previously lectured in English, Irish Studies, European Art History, and History of Art at University College Cork. He holds a PhD in English literature and has published on Irish artists John Hogan, Samuel Forde, Patrick Hennessy, John Noel Smith, Joseph Heffernan, John Rainey, and writer Elizabeth Bowen. He is on the editorial board of The Elizabeth Bowen Review. He has previously been co-investigator of The Samuel Forde Project (2012-14) and research assistant for Deep Maps: West Cork Coastal Cultures (2016-17). He has co-curated the exhibitions The Crawford at the Castle (2016-17) at Dublin Castle, and Samuel Forde: Visions of Tragedy (2014) and The Gibson Bequest 1919-2019: Selecting, Collecting & Philanthropy (2019-20) at Crawford Art Gallery. He is the curator of Deep Maps: West Cork Coastal Cultures (2017) at The Glucksman and several further exhibitions at Crawford Art Gallery, including Recasting Canova(2019-2022). He has also coordinated the events Living Artists in National Collections (2017) at Dublin Castle, ‘A Heart That is Free’: Terence MacSwiney in Context (2016) at Cork Opera House as part of Cork Midsummer Festival, and DUETS: Creativity in Context (2014) facilitated by REACT Knowledge Exchange Hub at Firkin Crane, Cork. Access and education is at the core of each of these projects and endeavours, whether it takes the form of teaching, interpretation, facilitation, or curation. He joined the Board of Sample-Studios in August 2021.
Read more...
Read less...

John MacMonagle

Company Secretary

John MacMonagle is a member of Sample-Studios since 2017, a board member since 2018 and was appointed Company Secretary in 2022. In the 70’s he graduated with a B.A. from NIHE (now UL) and a H. Dip. from UCC. He later attended Crawford College of Art and Design and was a member of Cork Arts Collective and worked as an arts administrator with Triskel Arts Centre. In the 80’s he taught in a finishing school in Switzerland and worked as a designer with QuarkXpressfor in the US before he came back to Cork, in 1993 and set up Raven Design, a visual communication company, where he is Creative Director. When he grows up he wants to be a full time artist. "I am a mature visual artist, practicing in painting and mixed media collage with a strong interest in contemporary experiences and interpretations of outsider cultures and psychological otherness. The image of the Head or “portrait” as both timeless symbol of human identity and contemporary image of fractured psyche has been the main focus of my research. I have returned to art practice after many years in other creative industries, driven by my life-held interest in contemporary art. As well as developing a new studio practice, the complex poetics of rendering the image of the human experience continues to develop and hold my attention – alongside my exploration of new, found and traditional materials. Materials sometimes suggest an image or prompt the charge of expressive gestures in the work. What runs through and continues to fascinate me is the primacy of art, its psychological force and my relationships with it." - John MacMonagle

Read more...
Read less...

Dr. James O’ Sullivan

Board Member

Dr. James O'Sullivan is an author, researcher and educator across various topics in the digital humanities and digital culture, specifically, digital literary and cultural studies, and computer-assisted criticism. He began a lectureship in the Department of Digital Humanities at University College Cork in July 2017, having previously held faculty positions at the University of Sheffield and Pennsylvania State University. He has also taught in an adjunct capacity at Cork Institute of Technology and Washington State University, Vancouver, and held visiting fellowships at NOVA University, Lisbon and Trinity College Dublin. Dr. James O'Sullivan is involved with a variety of digital projects, including the Cork Film Festival digital archive and Joyce Word Dictionary. He presently serves as the Director of DHSI Atlantic, sits on the Research and Innovation Committee for the College of Arts, Celtic Studies & Social Sciences at University College Cork. He joined the Board of Sample-Studios in November 2020.
Read more...
Read less...

Sarah Jayne Booth

Board Member

Sarah Jayne Booth is a Cork based multi-media installation artist whose work centres on domesticity, gender inequality and social histories. She has an MA in Art & Process from MTU 2014 and maintains an actively engaged practice with a number of solo exhibitions, bursaries and notable group exhibitions. She initiated and heads up the collective r. a. g. e (realising•absolute•gender•equality) alongside Dr Eve Olney, Fiona Ní Leíme & Dr Honor Tuohy, their recent zine publications are available on weragetogether.com. Upcoming group exhibitions: Rua Red Spring Open and The Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon. In 2022 she created a new body of work (for) All Our Grievous Doings for a group exhibition Bones in the Attic at the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin. Also in 2022 The Arts Council of Ireland acquired This will not be Pretty for their collection. Other noteworthy achievements in 2021 include a project award from the Domestic Violence Network Cork for the ‘16 Days of Activism’ campaign, it launched with a solo exhibition It’s still not Pretty in Triskel Arts Centre and Cork City Council Atrium. Also in 2021 she received an Arts Council Agility Award and a Bursary from Cork City Council which produced This will not be Pretty, an exhibition, performance and publication in collaboration with r.a.g.e. In 2020 she received Arts Council Professional Development Funding. She showed in three group exhibitions in 2019: I see crimson I see red, Cork, Cahoots A4 Sounds, Dublin and the Kinsale Arts Festival. In 2017 Diving the Wreck a collaboration with SoftTack was performed in UCC Cork, UCD Dublin and Lass Struggle UCL London. She’s had three other solo exhibitions at Signal Arts Centre, South Tipperary Arts Centre and the Bookcube Gallery and has been awarded residencies with 126 Artist–Run Gallery, Galway and Fire Station Studios, Dublin. She sits on the board of directors at Sample-Studios, Cork where she also holds a studio.
Read more...
Read less...

Eileen O’ Hara

Minutes Secretary

Education professional with experience in marketing and fundraising. Eileen has been on the Board of Sample-Studios since May 2019. She is also a member of Sample-Studios' Education Programme Working Group.
Read more...
Read less...

Jacqui Feely

Treasurer

Jacqui Feely joined Sample-Studios Board of Directors in the role of Treasurer in March 2021. She is a highly experienced arts and finance professional bringing many years of experience to the role of Treasurer. She was formerly Head of Finance at Cork Opera House until December 2021. She has a strong affinity with and is an avid supporter of the arts and culture in Cork. She holds a Bachelor of Business Studies from the University of Limerick and is a Certified Public Accountant. She brings over 30 years of experience in finance roles across various sectors in Ireland, the US, the UK and Germany. Feely has held many voluntary community roles, including with Kanturk Arts Festival where she presented her own poetry and plays. She works to support the behind the scenes work that ensures the sustainability of this important visual arts organisation.
Read more...
Read less...

Rebecca Bradley

Board Member

Rebecca Bradley is a visual artist living and working in North County Cork. Her painting practice explores ideas about landscape, abstraction and place-hood. In 2022 she was selected for the  Irish Contemporaries in CIACLA Santa Monica and, in 2019, for a residency at the Mark Rothko Arts Centre. She has recently expanded her practice to include performance as part of the Breaking Cover Collective at IMMA. Bradley holds an MA (Art and Process) & BA Fine Art ( MTU Crawford College of Art),  BA Sociology (Kingston University) and H. Dip in Co-op organisation, Food Marketing and Rural Development (UCC). She has been a Board member of Sample-Studios since 2018. Selected Exhibitions include: The Irish Contemporaries (2022), CIACLA, Los Angeles; Earth Rising, Irish Museum Modern Art (IMMA) (2022);  We Only Have the Earth, A4 Sounds, Dublin, (2021); Breaking Cover Performance, IMMA (2021); Slip Stream, MTU Gallery, Cork (2021); Rothko Art Centre Collection ,National Library, Latvia, (2020); Stories From Lismore & Beyond (2020); Athens Open, (2020); Rothko Painting Residency, Rothko Art Centre, Latvia (2019); We Each have our own Landscape, Arthouse, London,(2019); Group show, Municipal Art Gallery of Piraeus, Athens (2018); Misc Arts, Romania (2018); Thresholds, Gonzo, Thessaloniki, (2018); The More You See The less You Hold , Sternview, Cork,(2017);  Art Works, Visual, Carlow Arts Festival, (2016); Utopia Dystopia, Fringe Arts, Bath; Vestige of Place, Seamus Ennis Art Centre, Naul (2016). Her work is held in public and private collections in Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Switzerland, UK and USA. Recent acquisitions of her work have been made for the OPW State Art Collection and the Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils.  
Read more...
Read less...

Carl Dixon

Chairperson

Carl Dixon is the Owner and Senior Ecologist of DixonBrosnan Environmental Consultants. He has a broad range of experience in large scale infrastructural projects, commercial projects, agricultural developments, quarries and industrial developments. He is also an experienced free lance journalist working for national and regional publications in arts, features, sports, angling, ecology and science features.
Read more...
Read less...

Sinéad Barrett

Programme Coordinator

Sinéad is a Cork-based visual artist and the Programme Coordinator of Sample-Studios' exhibitions and education programmes. She holds a BA Hons in Fine Art from Crawford College of Art and Design and brings over twenty years experience of working in project management roles in the Education, Arts and Business Sinéad formerly worked in Munster Institute of Technology (now MTU) where she supported the establishment of educational initiatives such as Girls into Science and Technology and Electronic Engineering Transition Year module. In 2014 she returned to education to study Fine Art, graduating from Crawford College of Art and Design in 2019 when she was awarded the CIT Presidents Prize for outstanding studentship and received a Crawford College of Art and Design Graduate Residency award 2019/2020. She was also awarded the Sample-Studios Graduate Curatorial Residency Award 2019/2020. In 2021, Sinéad received The Arts Council of Irelands Visual Arts Project Award to curate a present a series of site specific exhibitions and residencies in The Lord Mayor's Pavilion and on Spike Island. She was also invited to join The Arts Council of Ireland's Peer Panel. She is very active in her own artistic practice, having secured numerous exhibition opportunities since graduating. Her work is held in both public and private collections. As Programme Coordinator, Sinéad supports Sample-Studios multidisciplinary Education Programme, including the 'Cork Creative Careers Programme' with local primary and secondary schools and the 'Cork Young Critics and Curators Programme' with young people. Sinéad also works with our graduate residents and artists who are exhibiting in our Exhibition Programme each year.
Read more...
Read less...

Aoibhie McCarthy

Artistic Director

Aoibhie McCarthy is an arts manager, curator & arts educator and, since August 2020, Artistic Director of Sample-Studios. After graduating with a B.A in Art History, Architectural History&English Literature from TCD, she worked in the National Gallery of Ireland, the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin Contemporary and Whyte’s Auctioneers before securing the Shinnors Curatorial Scholarship, M.A tracking PhD research scholarship and becoming Education Curator of Limerick City Gallery of Art and eva International. She led visual arts programming at Galway Fringe Festival and Make a Move Festival before undertaking project management roles as part of regional and national initiatives such as Limerick City of Culture 2014, The Year of Irish Design 2015 and National Adult Learners’ Festival 2016. From 2016-2018, Aoibhie McCarthy was Visual Arts and Outreach Manager of Garter Lane Arts Centre in Waterford, where she is currently on the board of Waterford Youth Arts. From 2018-2020, she was Marketing and Development Manager of Cork International Film Festival and the Business to Arts Fundraising Fellow.
Read more...
Read less...

Kim-Ling Morris

Financial Manager

Kim-Ling Morris is UK born and lived in Europe, Africa and South-East Asia before settling in Cork, Ireland. She trained and worked as a Biochemical Engineer, creating her art practice in parallel. Beginning with sculpture in Leamington Spa, UK, she continued at the École Duperré, Paris, France, also exhibiting in France. Kim-Ling Morris recieved her Fine Art Textiles Special Purpose Award at CIT Crawford College of Art & Design and has exhibited nationally. She is a member and Treasurer of the Cork Textiles Network. In 2011, she became one of three co-founding directors of Sample-Studios and now holds the role of Financial Manager. She is a studio-based member of Sample-Studios and has received an Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award 2021 in support of her artistic practice. In 2021, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland.
Read more...
Read less...

Sample-Studios CLG is a non-profit organisation, incorporated as a company, limited by guarantee and not having a share capital.
Sample-Studios Ltd. is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Cork City Council, the Cork Arts Fund at The Community Foundation of Ireland and Gurranabraher Credit Union.

theartscouncil Cork City Council
  • Exhibitions
  • Events
  • Education & Outreach
  • Facilities
  • Residencies
  • Sample-Studios Members
  • The Address Arts Experience
  • Young Curators
  • Company No: 495880
  • Registered Charity Number: 20205874
We made this!
  • Sample-Studios
  • Members
  • Membership Options
  • Exhibitions
  • Events
  • Education & Outreach
    • The Address Arts Experience
    • Young Curators
      • Case Studies
  • Residencies
  • Studio Facilities
  • About
  • Support
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT