Meet Athy's new artist in residence
Maggie Owens, artist in residence Ali Clarke and Jason Maguire Photos: Aisling Hyland
THERE has been a warm welcome for the new artist in residence in Athy's Art House venue. Multidisciplinary artist and cultural producer Ali Clarke has been working in Athy as an artist in residence since January.
The artist in residence scheme is handled by Kildare County Council’s Arts Service in collaboration with Creative Places Athy and she had been selected as the recipient of the 2026 Connect & Gather award.
Ali has been operating from Art House on Leinster Street, building on the work of Anthony Haughey who established the art gallery and workshop space. She also works as a Community Connector for Creative Places Bagenalstown.
Originally from Bray, she has been working in the arts for around 15 years. She started off as a dancer and choreographer, learning her trade in the Netherlands, before moving to Belgium and then back to Ireland. She then emigrated again to Portugal, where she worked predominantly in dance and circus spaces.
Speaking to the Kildare Nationalist on a crisp day in early March, she detailed her experiences abroad that have formed part of her career trajectory. Discussing her time in Portugal, the Wicklow woman outlines how she honed her ability to make art accessible and inclusive.
“We'd perform on stage, we'd also perform in cafes or in non-traditional spaces, as we'd call it, kind of the same stuff we'd put on stage, but bringing it to where people are, and kind of making it available for everyone, and not just those who could or would make it to the theatre.”
Ali then returned to Ireland once again, becoming involved in socially engaged art. She has worked for Dublin City Council producing projects as well as making art. She boasts a diverse range of experiences and skills, which helps in the arts, which is “quite a precarious industry to work in” as she notes.
Asked about how this role in Athy came about, Ali explains that there was an element of good timing with the artist already moving down to the area.
“So I'd seen it advertised through a couple of different art networks, and I was moving down to the area at the time. It seemed like a great opportunity. Connect and Gather and Art House are funded through Creative Places, and I've worked previously with Creative Places in Darndale in Dublin when I worked for Dublin City Council Art Office."
Ali has started off her time in the Art House by hosting an exhibition from school children that was created with Clodagh Doyle, a teacher from Scoil Phádraig Naofa.
Ali has since worked with Athy Sing and Sign club throughout February on the 'Signs of Spring' exhibition.
There was a successful event at the Art House on St Brigid’s Day with live readings, live music, performances from the young people from the club and the unveiling of a stained glass art piece to celebrate the launch of 'Signs of Spring'.
Throughout the month there were workshops to fill the space before an event on the final day of the month to officially launch the final exhibition and to celebrate the transition into spring.
It becomes clear from speaking to Ali that working with the deaf community has been an important and very rewarding part of her work in the town so far.
“We had invited the deaf community of Kildare to come in and be part of a conversation or to lead on a conversation around a new sign for Kildare. So I'm sure the deaf community could explain this much better, but the sign for Kildare and the sign in Irish sign language for Kilkenny are the same. So some of the Kildare Deaf community, were like, “let's create our own sign” so we can avoid all of this confusion between Kildare and Kilkenny.”
Ali added that Maggie Owens , the leader of Athy Sing and Sign, invited ISL (Irish Sign Language) linguists and the deaf community from Kildare to initiate a conversation around the new sign. Ali brought Jaima Gago, a deaf artist, to do visual note taking to turn the conversation into a piece of art.
"This is by and for the deaf community and trying to, as much as you can, bring in deaf artists, deaf producers, deaf community members into it.” The artist is a big fan of the central location of Art House, which makes it visible and accessible to the local community.
She says that it “gives credence to the young people and to the communities whose art should be on display for everyone to see”, citing a recent example of this when Ryan Tubridy was walking past and decided to pop in when young people and pupils from the school had their exhibitions on.
It’s obvious from speaking to Ali that it has been very rewarding work so far, who had very positive words for the community in Athy:
“I've been really, really deeply touched and impressed by the community in Athy already. Everyone is just so warm and everywhere you go, someone wants to have a conversation.”
