Biography
Seliena Coyle studied Jewellery and Silversmithing at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art (Dundee University), graduating with a BDes (Hons) in 1993. She went on to complete a Masters of Fine Art in Jewellery and Silversmithing at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, graduating in 1998. The Ireland of 2013 is a much-changed landscape both politically and economically and through her work, Coyle makes a deliberate attempt to construct a new contemporary Irish aesthetic. Her current body of work is reflective of a uniquely Irish landscape and utilises a material indigenous to the country, bog oak. Research of the national collections of Bronze Age artefacts in combination with the physical nature of the material has also engendered her work, which is contemplative without relying on sentimentality or cliché. Ancient jewellery types such as the Torc, Lunnula, Sun Discs and ear-spools have influenced both the form and function of her jewellery pieces which, although unashamedly Irish in character, are nonetheless compatible with contemporary practice. Coyle’s work has been exhibited extensively. Most recently, she curated the exhibition and project, CultureCraft – Culture in the Making in which 36 of Ireland’s foremost craftspeople present a piece made in response to the question of culture and identity. Showcased in Derry (2013), CultureCraft – Culture in the Making will tour to the National Craft Gallery in 2014.
Selected Exhibitions
2014 CultureCraft – Culture in the Making, National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny
2013 CultureCraft – Culture in the Making, City of Culture, Derry, UK
2012 TwentyTwelve, SpaceCraft, Belfast, UK
2012 dubh / dialogues in Black, Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin
2012 Ornament, Rua Red, Tallaght, Dublin
2012 21st Century Icons, National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland and touring
2012 Seoid 11, Touring Group Exhibition, Australia
2011 dubh / dialogues in Black, American Irish Historical Society, New York
2008 Image of Longing, National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny
2007 Embrace, Dublin Design Week, Dublin, Ireland and Brilliantly Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
2007-2004 Forty Shades of Green, Touring exhibition; Ireland, USA (SOFA Chicago) and Lithuania
2004 LOOT, Museum of Arts and Design, New York Looking, New York
2004 Over my Shoulder, Lesley Craze Gallery, London
2004 Make Life More Beautiful, Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham, UK
2003 RareFinds, New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, UK
2002 Sieraad Jewellery Show, Enschede, the Netherlands
2001 Going Dutch (Curated by Beeld & Aambeeld), National Gallery, Castle Yard, Kilkenny
2000 Contemporary Irish Jewellery, Beeld & Aambeeld, Enschede, the Netherlands
2000 Marks of the Millennium, Designs Gallery, Castle Douglas, UK
2000 GOLD, Contemporary Irish Jewellery Design, Touring exhibition