Deirdre McLoughlin

The archetypal form, the ovoid, is central in Deirdre McLoughlin’s work. Imbued with an intense physicality and dedication to perfection of form and surface, her sculptures are layered with meaning, charged with movement, a feeling of power, a sense of purity. ‘I know a work has come to an end when an inner logic reveals itself. Her making process is slow and demanding; her pieces undergo a protracted process of polishing and multiple firings. This can last for days into weeks.The work in an instance feels right.’

Irish artist Deirdre McLoughlin is a graduate from Trinity College Dublin. Moving to Amsterdam in the early 1970’s she began working in clay inspired by the sculptures of Rosemary Andrews. Finding form in this medium she would eventually come to the realization that the shapes she was making were a language of expression and were what was generally termed art. Up until then she had been unable to answer the continuing question, ‘why do you not make something useful’. The realisation brought her to Japan where she set up studio and worked alongside the artists of the Sodeisha Group. The sculptures of Yasuo Hayashi, in their sublime geometry, have had a lasting influence on her. After her first solo exhibition in Kyoto she travelled throughout China, which was opening up. In 1988 she returned to Amsterdam where she now based. Deirdre McLoughlin is twice winner in Keramik Europas Westerwaldpreis and honoured in Kocef, Korea. Her portrait is part of the National Self Portrait Collection of Ireland and her work has been honoured with a stamp. She is an elected member of the International Academy of Ceramics. She works full time in her studio and exhibits internationally.