Biography
Chloe Lennon grew up in the midlands of rural Ireland near Athlone town. In 2016 she graduated from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin with a BA (hons) specialising in ceramics. After this she moved to London where she worked in the studio of porcelain installation artist Valéria Nascimento for 4 years. In early 2021 she set up her own ceramic studio at home in rural Ireland. Lennon completed her Master’s degree in ceramics at the Royal College of Art, London in 2023 and works between her home and London studios.
Chloe Lennon’s work is an exploration of (dis)equilibrium within our world. Her work contemplates the land we dwell on and our relationship with it—both physical and emotional. It scrutinizes the visible, tangible facets of our interaction with the environment, through the lens of Irish landscapes – exploring the destruction of natural ecosystems through interventions such as mass cutting of the boglands to create fossil fuels. This symbolizes humanities broader history of exploitation and our relentless need to transform natural materials into industrial resources.
Lennon’s work also interrogates the gradual breakdown of harmony within our relationship with our lands, contemplating the degradation of our cultural bonds with the earth—from venerating it as a deity or mother figure to perceiving it merely as a resource ripe for exploitation. This highlights how the surge of globalized capitalism has coerced us into an obsession with ownership and a cycle of incessant consumption and disposal, steering us away from the once symbiotic and reverential relationship we shared with the land.
As these landscapes, once emblematic of natural harmony, erode, so does our sense of belonging to something beyond the individual self.
Selected Exhibitions
2023 RCA Graduate Show, Battersea, London
2022 Irish Ceramic Awards, Mill Cove Gallery, Kenmare, Kerry
2022 Clay/Works, Ceramics Ireland, Dublin Castle, Dublin
2022 Clay & Canvas, Lavit Gallery, Wandesford Quay, Cork Ceramics #2, Cahir Arts, Tipperary
2022 Cluster Crafts, Ugly Duck, 49 Tanner Street, London
2022 SO Fine Art Editions, Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, Dublin 2
2022 Ceramics Ireland Exhibition, Farmleigh, Phoenix Park, Dublin
2021 Sculpture in Context, Botanic Gardens, Dublin
2021 Thrown Contemporary Winter Exhibition. (Online)
2021 The Secret Garden Exhibition, The Berkeley Gallery at Grennan Mill, Thomastown, Kilkenny
2019 Christmas at Jaggedart, Jaggedart Gallery, London
2019 Cluster Crafts, Ugly Duck, 49 Tanner Street, London
2016 Sculpture in Context, Botanic Gardens, Dublin
2016 Courthouse Visual Arts 2016, Wicklow
2016 Degree Show, National College of Art and Design, Dublin
2015 Transform , Tile Style, Dublin
Awards
2022 Sir Alastair and Lady Pilkington Scholarship (RCA)
2022 Ceramics Ireland Professional Practice Award (Winner)
2022 RDS Craft Awards (Shortlist)
2022 Roscommon County Council Artist Bursary (Winner)
2021 DCCI Futuremakers Emerging Maker (Winner)
2015 Transform Exhibition, Tile Style, Dublin (Winner)