Therese Mc Allister is an Irish artist who studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin from 1972-74. After NCAD, Therese worked as a fashion illustrator, and display artist in Dublin before deciding to move to Italy in the mid 1970's.

On her arrival in Florence, she met Pietro Annigoni (renowned for his portraits of the British Royal Family) who encouraged her to enroll at the Studio Simi. Here, under the tutelage of Nerina Simi, she studied the techniques of drawing and painting in the classical tradition.

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Ellen McDermott's Fine Art Portraiture is portraiture with a difference. She started taking photographs to use as guides in her paintings but soon found that she was being asked by people if she would sell them her prints and take their photographs.

Ellen was picked as one of the Finalists in PhotoIreland Festival Open Call 2010. She is a Director of Kilmantin Art Gallery in Wicklow Town. Up until this year Ellen was on the Wicklow Arts Festival Committee but resigned from the board in order to concentrate more on her photography.

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Having lived in Dublin, London, New York and LA, Charmain Fitzgerald is inspired by the unusual quirkes and nuances of her past and present surroundings and their accompanying inhabitants. She chooses oil or acrylic as her medium and her paintings are figurative and realist/surrealist, using representational form to create a sense of otherness, not detached from everyday things.

Forgoing the education route due to so much moving around, Charmain has been taking classes under established artists for the past few years, and currently works from her home in north Dublin. She is making the transition from concentrating on portrait work over to encompassing unsettling interiors and still life where your eye is caught more so by the items that should not really be there.

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Chara Nagle started painting at a young age and decided very early on that art was her life and passion. She was fascinated by observing people and portraying their everyday activities in her art.

Chara's paintings are big, bold, dramatic observations of everyday life. However there is also an element of intrigue and humour to Chara's paintings. She invites the viewer to come to their own conclusions as to what is happening in the painting. Chara engages the viewer further through her use of vibrant colours and realistic portrail of her subject matter.

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Richard Browne is from Kerry but is currently traveling in the U.S.

Artist statement: "I am enthused by organically driven abstracts. For me its all about openess. The art assumes its own shape and life. I tend to see the natural world in my pieces but try not to lead them too much."

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