First We Take Manhattan

The McCleary lass

t’s a long way from Lower Kindlestown Road to 549 West 52nd Street, Manhattan, but somehow, local girl Lisa McCleary managed to get there.

And it was purely through her art.

Taking the long road from here to there, Lisa bounced from an early love of art at Killiney’s Holy Child Secondary School to an Art Portfolio course in Sallynoggin, and then a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at Sydney’s University Of New South Wales Art & Design.

We’ve all been there…

It was here that Lisa enjoyed her first solo shows, such success inspiring the young artist to apply for the Master of Fine Arts program at Parsons in New York. Graduating with Honors in 2018, McCleary has been making waves in the New York art scene ever since.

And that growing recognition has led to her very first solo show there, Edging, at Manhattan’s Gallery MC back in April 2019.

The lady’s reputation has grown and grown ever since, with a solo exhibition, I Remember Touch, currently running at Mexico City’s Shelf Gallery, whilst one of her paintings is hanging at the Irish Consulate in New York City as part of a celebration of Irish artists. Add to that a nomination for the Irish Echo Arts And Culture Award 2022 NYC and making it to the semi-finals of the Smithsonian Museum’s National Portrait Gallery’s Outwin Boochever competition, and sure, McCleary’s career is feckin’ flying.  

“There were 2,700 applicants from around America for that Smithsonian competition, and I made it into the last 80,” says the Greystones girl. “So, that was pretty amazing, especially alongside the Irish Consulate honour, and now my first solo exhibition in Mexico City…”

Untitled 1 2021

For the uninitiated, Lisa’s work, we’re told, ‘focuses on the pleasure of flesh and the way that translates into our desire for our communication devices, and our tactile relationship to industrial materials and textiles’. None of which, of course, is covered by your Apple warranty.

“I’m back in Greystones during the summer,” finishes Lisa, “and would love to have my first solo show in Ireland.”

Ah, we were wondering why the lady had gotten in touch.

You can go check out Ms McCleary’s work on her website here, and follow her latest shenanigans on Instagram here, and find out more about that Edging exhibition right here.