EDUCATION
1998-2006 Concordia University, Montréal Humanities: Ph.D: Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture
1987-89 New York University, NYC Film: production, history, screen writing
1984 Chicago Art Institute, Chicago Video: production, criticism
1972-75 MFA University of Alabama Ceramics, photography
1971-72 B.F.A. University of Alabama Ceramics, graphic design, photography
1968-70 B.A. University of Alabama English, psychology
1966-68 Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Lynchburg, VA
TEACHING POSITIONS
1990-2006 Concordia University, Associate Professor, Faculty of Fine Arts Montréal, QC Canada
Design Art; Interrelated Arts (Independent study supervisor); Ceramics (Graduate Committee advisor)1989-90 Oberlin College, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Oberlin, OH
Art Department Sculpture (all levels); Drawing; Photography/Video Special Projects
1987-88 Washington University, Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Art St. Louis, MO
Art Department 2 Dimensional Design; 3 Dimensional Design; Figure Sculpture
1985-86 University of Minnesota, Duluth, Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Fine Arts
Art Department Ceramics (all levels); Art Today (Contemporary visual/performing arts); Drawing
1982-85 University of Alabama, Birmingham, Instructor Art Department Sculpture; 2D-3D Design; Drawing
Selected GRANTS, ARTISTS’ RESIDENCIES
2011 Griffis Art Center, New London, CT - Artist residency, research 2010 Holography Book Project - Photon League, Ontario College of Art and Design2009 MARK 09– New York Foundation for the Arts: professional practice program for artists, Potsdam, NY
2008 Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, Maine – Residency: Clay and Words 1990-2006 Concordia University, Montréal, QC – 11 grants: artistic production, research, and conference travel
2001 Irish American Cultural Institute O’Shaughnessy Distinguished Research Award: $5000
1996 Sculpture in Woodland - Sculpture In Woodland: Symposium/commission, Devil’s Glen, Co. Wicklow, Ireland.
1995 Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec - Artistic practice grant and travel grant
1993 Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Alberta - Artists’ residency: International Issues in Contemporary Ceramics
1989 Light Work, Syracuse, NY: Artists’ residency and darkroom facilities
Sculpture Space, Utica, NY: Studio, exhibition facilities - 2 months
1987 Medium West Gallery, Minneapolis, MN: Installation grant
1986 PS 1 Museum/Artists’ Studios, NYC: Studio facilities - 1 year
Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board: Artists’ support grant
1984 Southeastern College Art Conference: Exhibition grant
1982 MacDowell Artists’ Colony, New Hampshire: “Gift of time,” darkroom facilities
1975 Alabama State Council on the Arts & Humanities - Artist’s residency grant
1974 National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C.- Fellowship
Selected EXHIBITIONS: Installations, Commissions
2011 Love Always, John - Griffis Art Center, New London, CT 2009-10 Mapping Mile End, private commission for stairs and kitchen of historic Mile End residence (Montreal)
2008 Montréal: Vizinhança portuguès em azulejos. Ceramic tile mural commissioned by City of Montréal
and Santa Cruz Portuguese Community Centre (permanent installation: June 2008).
1998 Sculpture In Context. Kilmainham Gaol and Museum, Dublin. GAOL/GAOL: Double Talk - sound installation
1997 Paw Print of the Celtic Tiger, Dublin. An Duine An Teanga. temporary installation
1996 Sculpture In Woodland Symposium, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. Na Seachta Scrínte (The 7 Shrines) - 7 commissioned
works for outdoor sculpture garden - 5 week symposium.
Camac Sculpture, Carbery Water Gardens, Co. Dublin, Ireland. La langue d’eau : In the Wake of Grosse Île –
6-month floating installation in Camac River1993 Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Alberta. International Issues in Ceramics-10 week symposium
1992 2nd International 3-D Media Technology Conference, Montréal. Holography and sculpture installation: Moi et bois
Solo2011 Atelier 117, Champlain, NY - Kat O’Brien: After Champlain 2009
1995 A.R.C. Gallery, Chicago, IL - Eau de Passion II : Partnerships
Espace Virtuel, Chicoutimi, Québec - Eau de Passion III : Santé
1994 Galerie photo-vidéo l’Espace f., Matane, Québec - Eau de Passion I : Environnment
1992 Centre des Arts Contemporains du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec - Je bois le bois
Group
2011 bookMARKs - Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 2009-10 Tell-Tale Tiles, Philadelphia Magic Gardens, Philadelphia, PA. Curator: Susan Tunic. Sponsor: Tile Heritage FoundationMuseo de la Cerámica Contemporánea, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – Elit-Tile: 4th International
Ceramic Tile Invitational Triennial A Book About Death Invitational Exhibition, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY. Curator: Louise WeinbergCollections: Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Research Library . Wish You Were Here, A.I.R. Gallery, NYC, NY2007-08 Great China Ceramic Museum, Jingdezhen, China – Masters In Clay: International Contemporary Ceramics
Advocate and Nochis Galleries, Los Angeles, CA. – Y: Cross your fingers (wood installation)
Azulejos portuguès, Montréal - Facing Portugal: a study of maps for ceramic tiles
1998-2000 Disputed Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Studies in Religion and Culture, Concordia University
Appropriate, Concordia University, Montréal
Performing Interdisciplinarity, Concordia University, Montréal
1996-97 7th International Symposium of Electronic Arts, Rotterdam, Netherlands
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. - “Global Focus: Women in Art and Culture Selections from United Nations’ 4th World Conference on Women” UN, NYC, NY - “Beijing and Beyond” China Art Gallery, Beijing, China (plus 11 other venues) - “Beijing and Beyond” 1994-95 Huairou Convention Centre, Huairou, China - “Female Perceptions, Technological Visions: Five
Photographers” (United Nations’ 4th World Conference on Women)
China World Trade Centre, Beijing, China - “Global Focus: Women in Art and Culture”
Huairou Convention Centre, Huairou, Beijing, China -“Tell Me A Story: Personal Narratives”
Foothills Art Centre, Golden, CO - “North American Sculpture ‘94”
Farrington Keith Fine Arts, Dexter, Michigan - “Radicals”
Downey Museum of Art, Downey, California - “Ceramics Now: ‘94”
1990-91 International Design Centre, NYC - curated by Neville Lewis
A.I.R. Gallery, NYC - “Choice”
Manhattan Display, NYC - “Loss” - curated by Louise Weinberg
I.S. 1 Studios, Long Island City, NY - Hunter’s Point Artists’ Open Studios ‘90 and ‘91
Pennsylvania School of Art and Design, Lancaster, PA - 3 person invitational exhibition
Marymount Manhattan College, NYC - “Theater of the Object”
Ohio University, Athens, OH - “Photo Alternatives” curated by Jeff Weiss. 1988-89 New York University Galleries, NYC - curated by Alan Frumpkin
A.I.R. Gallery, NYC - Invitational group exhibition
Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH - 2 person exhibition
Ceres Gallery, NYC - group exhibition Washington University, St. Louis, MO - Fine Arts Faculty exhibition1986-87 W.A.R.M. Gallery, Minneapolis, MN - Women In the Visual Arts. Curator: Nancy Azara. University of Montevallo, Montevallo, AL - OFF CENTER Invitational (group exhibition)
W.A.R.M. Gallery, Minneapolis, MN – 6 member group exhibition
1984-85 University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA - SE College Art Conference (performance)
688 Performance Theater, Atlanta, GA - group performance
Birmingham Southern College, Birmingham, AL - OFF CENTER Invitational (installation)
University of Alabama, Birmingham - 3 person exhibition
Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, IL - video/performance Selected ART REVIEWS 2011Ní Chárthaigh, Aine and Aidan O’Sullivan, Appreciating Art, Dublin: Gill & Macmillan2008 Harper, Glenn and Twylene Moyer, eds. Landscapes for Art: Contemporary Sculpture Parks. Washington, DC: International Sculpture Center Press
2006 Abascal, Jimena Blázquez, V. Varas, and R. Rispa,, eds. Sculpture Parks in Europe: A Guide to Art and Nature, “Ireland: Sculpture In Woodland.” Basel, Boston, Berlin: Birkhauser Publishers for Architecture “Sculpture In Woodland”
2002 Magner, D, Sculpture In Woodland, catalogue, Sculpture In Woodland, Inc., Dublin.
1999 Preece, Robert, “SITE: Sculpture In Woodland” Sculpture Magazine, 18:8 (Oct.) 1999.
Dunne, Aidan, “Seeing the Wood for the Trees,” The Irish Times, 11 March
1998 Dunne, Aidan, “Out of Context,” The Irish Times, 22 September
Magner, D, ‘The poet, the sculptor, and the forester,’ Journal of the Society of Irish Foresters, 55:1, 1998,. 91-100
1996 Cox, V. “Sculptures on show in forest,” Evening Herald, Dublin, Oct.11
Magner, D., “Creating a wood culture in the Devil’s Glen,” Wicklow People, Wicklow, Oct. 6
Hilliard, L., “Sculpture In Woodland,” Sculptor’s Society of Ireland, Nov.- Dec.
1995 Warwick, L.“Beijing Revisited: Five Montréal Women,” Montréal Gazette, 7 Oct.
Selected PANELS, LECTURES, WORKSHOPS
2009 Exit Art, NYC – Píeces de résistance: Artist’s talk, June 6
2008 Ann Stannard: Ceramic workshop for Advocacy, Morgan, VT
Mahmoud Baghaeian Porcelain, Montreal – porcelain (8-week workshop)
2007 Classical Art Glass, Montreal – Glass fusion (3-day workshop)
2006 Canadian Association of Irish Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON. “Cultural Memory” 14-17 June
2004 Grian:Anthologizing Ireland: Collection, Curation, Dissemination, New York University. “Landscapes of Death in Text and Image”
Canadian Association of Irish Studies—Mother Tongues, St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
2002 Études Irlandais: Imaging Ireland’s Dead, Université Paris 7, Paris, France. “Language of Images: Commemorative Monuments of the Irish Famine in Ireland and Eastern Canada 1848-1998.”
Women’s History: Irish/Canadian Connections, St. Mary’s University, “Na Mna Caointe: Keening Women, Colonisation, and Voices Wailing To Be Reckoned With In Contemporary Imagery of the Irish Famine.”
History In the Making VII, Concordia University, “Montréal and Buffalo: Commemorations and Imagery”
2001 Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, Université Laval, Québec City, QC. “Under Construction: Commemorations of the Irish Famine at Grosse Île and Skibbereen”
Canadian Association of Irish Studies, Université Laval, Québec City, QC. “Visualising the Voices, Burying the Bodies: Trilingual Monuments in Quebec and Ireland”
2000 American Conference on Irish Studies, Limerick, Ireland. Chair of panel, “Le mémorial des Irlandais: Re-framing the Irish Diaspora” Paper: “Images at the Crossroads of Famine and Public Memory.”
Ireland’s Great Hunger: An Interdisciplinary Assessment, Quinnipiac University, Hamden Connecticut. “De-Constructing the Irish Famine Memorial in Contemporary Québec”
Montréal Irish Studies Colloquium, Concordia University: Language and Crosses: Circling Crossroads
1999 American Conference on Irish Studies, Roanoke, VA. Panelist: ‘Visual Dialogue in Famine Commemorations’
Montréal Regional Public Health Department - slide lecture: “Mapping the Body in Language and Landscape”
Concordia University, Montréal (Simone de Beauvoir Institute) - lecture: ‘Na Seacht Scrínte: The Seven Shrines’
1998 LeMoyne College, Syracuse, NY. Irish-American Cultural Institute Lecture Series. “Famine Commemorations”
1996 7th International Symposium of Electronic Arts, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1995 United Nations 4th World Conference on Women, Beijing, China - Panelist: “Women, Cameras, and Computers” Global Focus: Women in Art and Culture
1993 Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Alberta – 10-week artists residency: International Issues in Contemporary Ceramics
WRITING
2006 O’Brien, K. “Contemporary Caoineadh: Talking Straight Through the Dead” Canadian Journal of Irish Studies
2006 O’Brien, K. “The Subtle Body Revisited” introduction to exhibition catalogue, Ottawa Art Gallery (Ottawa, ON)
2005 O’Brien, K. “Language of Images: Commemorative Monuments of the Irish Famine” Interfaces
2003 O’Brien, K. “Circling Language at the Crossroads of Famine and Nationalism,” Eire/Ireland
2002 O’Brien, K. “Re-Framing the Irish Diaspora in contemporary Québec” chapter in Ireland’s Great Hunger: An Interdisciplinary Assessment, ed. Christine Kineally. Lantham, MD: University Press of America,
O’Brien, K. and S. Gauthier “Montréal Irish: Re-imaging the Traces” Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, 26:1
1999 O’Brien, K. ‘GAOL/GAOL: Reviewing Silence in Kilmainham Gaol,’ Éire-Ireland, Spring
1998 O’Brien, K., ‘Catharine Flaherty (1831-1896): b. Ireland,’ Viewpoints: Sculpture and Commemoration, Dublin: Sculptors' Society of Ireland, January
O’Brien, K., ‘Na Seacht Scrínte (The Seven Shrines),’ Canadian Woman Studies, Summer issue (Women of Ireland)
COLLECTIONS
Francesca Arcilesi Fine Art Gallery, NYC, NY
Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Research Library
Sculpture In Woodland, Devil’s Glen, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
Great China Ceramic Museum, Jingdezhen, China
City of Montréal and Santa Crux Portuguese Community Centre, Montréal, Québec