Roscommon artist marks milestone year with national exhibitions
Stephanie Cuddy Cullen's photograph Calvary was chosen for the RHA 185th Annual Exhibition, one of Ireland’s most respected open-submission shows.
Roscommon artist and educator Stephanie Cuddy Cullen is marking a significant moment in her professional trajectory, with a succession of high-profile exhibitions across national institutions.
In May, the photographic work Palas de Reis was selected for Resolve 25, the Royal Hibernian Academy School’s annual exhibition of contemporary practice. The piece was subsequently purchased by the Office of Public Works (OPW) for the Irish State Art Collection, a substantial endorsement of its artistic significance.
Her photograph Calvary was chosen for the RHA 185th Annual Exhibition, one of Ireland’s most respected open submission shows. Selected from more than 5,000 entries, it was exhibited alongside members of the Academy, Ireland’s leading contemporary artists.
Stephanie’s recent work includes a series of graphite drawings include Testament, a finely rendered graphite drawing, featured in the RHA/TUD collaborative exhibition in November. Her practice is grounded in close observation and shaped by early encounters with illuminated manuscripts and devotional imagery. These formative influences guide a search for moments that “arrest awareness” and allow the everyday to reveal its contemplative and transcendent potential.
This month she is presenting Natural Packing, a graphite drawing exploring systems of natural organisation, in a collaborative exhibition between Trinity College Dublin’s Physics Department and the RHA.
This expanding body of work evolves in tandem with her long-established commitment to arts education.
Since founding the Roscommon School of Art in 2006, she has cultivated a symbiotic environment where teaching, demonstration, and shared visual inquiry continually refine her own methodologies. The reciprocal exchange between classroom and studio underpins the precision, sensitivity, and attentiveness evident throughout her work.
With a year defined by prestigious exhibitions and a growing national profile, Stephanie stands at an important juncture in her career, her practice distinguished by depth, discipline, and a heightened attentiveness to the subtleties of lived experience.
