Biography

 

Alva Gallagher is currently working on numerous site specific commissions to be unveiled later this year and her new body of work Icescapes to be unveiled at Mountain Galleries Canada this Winter. Her work involves a continuous exploration of oceanic movements and elements. She began to explore the deep sea at a young age and adores the solitude experienced in the depths of the water.

 

She is represented by the Kildare Gallery, Ireland; Mountain Galleries, Canada and Mall Galleries London, UK. She has shown at Saatchi Gallery London; La Gallerie SEMA, Paris; the ECB, Frankfurt, Germany; Mall Galleries, London; European Glass Context Biennale, Denmark representing Ireland with The National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks and at various exhibitions globally in Tokyo, Berlin, Shanghai and The Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, China. Alva, ANCAD,  received the first Irish Partner Scholarship to study at Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, USA, was the first recipient of the JimMcNaughton/TileStyle €10,000 Bursary Award, was preselected for the prestigious Columbia Threadneedle Award, London in 2012 and most recently, following an International call, was announced as the winning commissioned artist for The Sharp Building Commission at Hogan Place in Dublin’s core city centre. Her commissioned sculpture installation ‘Rise’ measuring 6 metres by 4 metres in glass and stainless steel with a sophisticated integrated lighting system was unveiled in early January 2019 and then won the Jim McNaughton Perpetual Award for Best Commissioning Practice at the Allianz Business to Arts Awards 2019, the second time Alva has won this Award. Alva recently featured in the 2020 Spring edition of Irish Arts Review and was recently exhibited, by invitation, in the ‘Cast’; Art & Objects exhibition at the Wayne Art Institute, Philadelphia, USA accompanied by ‘Cast’ the critically acclaimed book published by Schiffer Publishing New York featuring Alva’s work and now available at the MET, NYC. 

 

She was awarded the Arts Council of Ireland Covid 19 response Award to develop her project, In a Bubble'. She recently installed a newly commissioned sculpture at the stunning Arthur Cox Building, Dublin, Ireland to commemorate their centenary year. She has shown with Solomon Fine Art Dublin; the RUA Belfast; Art Below, London and recently concluded ‘Ebbs and Remnants’ her Solo Exhibition with the Catherine Hammond Gallery, Ireland.

 

Including having work in State and International Collections such as The National Museum of Ireland Collins Barracks; The Sharp Building Dublin; the OPW; The Deloitte Art Collection; Kelly Group London; AWAS Aviation Ltd; the BMW Art Collection; the MasterCard Art Collection; The iconic 'Gherkin' building in the city of London and the private collection of Lady Dunraven, Alva has just completed a new installation piece for the Four Ferns building in Foxrock, Ireland in stainless steel and glass with integrated RGB fibre optics and has work in private collections throughout Europe, the US, Canada and Australia. She has been published in Modern Painter; Irish Arts Review and the acclaimed International contemporary sculpture book ‘CAST’. Most recently Alva won the Sculpture in Context Award 2018, was shortlisted for the inaugural Merrion Plinth Award 2019, exhibited in the FE McWilliam Open 18 Sculpture by invitation, in the internationally acclaimed ‘Cast’ exhibition 2019 at the Wayne Arts Institute, Philadelphia, USA and she is proud to be newly represented alongside the top echelon of Canadian Artists with Mountain Galleries, Canada; Banff | Jasper | Whistler | Stratford.