Susan Early is a visual artist, printmaker and architect. Her artistic practice considers the transition, between the physical and natural environment, between nature and built structures. She observes the Irish landscape and how people co-exist within the natural environment, historically, currently and in the light of climate change. Architectural elements and structures, including lighthouses and Martello towers, where their fixed positions are set into the landscape, speak to her as an architect and an artist. Her research has taken her all around Ireland’s coast, and to the east & west Atlantic seaboard making connections and recording marks and traces on the land where it meets the sea. 

S U S A N   E A R L Y  ¦  P r i n t m a k e r

Susan works mainly in etching, using aquatint on a single copper plate to produce subtle fine-art prints of tone and colour. Each of her editioned works are hand-printed at Graphic Studio Dublin where she has been a member since 2012.

She is an artist member of Graphic Studio Dublin. She has also worked as Administrator and Secretary for the organisation and for Print Network Ireland, supporting members, running an Education Programme and curating and co-ordinating Studio Exhibitions.

Susan has exhibited in Ireland, Europe, Canada, Japan and the USA and her work is in national and international collections. She is a member of The Watercolour Society of Ireland, Dublin Painting & Sketching Club & the VAI and has curated and organised a number of exhibitions for printmakers of Graphic Studio Dublin.

Background

B.Arch. UCD, 1989; Works as Architect & Manager, MVK Architects Dublin.

Member - Airfield Print Studio, 2009-12; Graphic Studio Dublin since 2012; Watercolour Society of Ireland; Dublin Painting & Sketching Club.; Visual Artists Ireland.

Studio Administrator & Company Secretary, Graphic Studio Dublin 2016-2025. Co-Manager Print Network Ireland

Solo & 2- person shows

2026 The Seamus Ennis Arts Centre, Dublin, Solo Exhibition of Print

2024 Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin ‘Watermark’, with Jennifer Lane

2019 Blue House Gallery, Schull, Co. Cork, ‘Dublin Coast’, Solo show 

2019 OPW Dower House Gallery, Emo Court, Co. Laois ‘Coastal’, Solo show

2017 Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin ‘Shore’, with Elke Thonnes,

2014 Hawkswell Theatre, Sligo, ‘The light and the half-light’, Yeats Day & Tread Softly Festivals

Solo exhibition of prints of Sligo landscapes with associated poetry & writings of WB Yeats

Selected & Upcoming Exhibitions

2025 The Seamus Ennis Centre, ‘Home’ Members work from GSD/ Simon/ HLB exhibitions 2021-2024- Curator & Artist

2024 & 2025 Dublin Port Substation Gallery, Dublin Painting & Sketching Club, ‘Shorelines

2024 & 2025 Farmleigh Galleries, Dublin Painting & Sketching Club 150, ‘Park Perspectives & Dublin Past & Present’

2012-2025 Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin, ‘Winter, Summer & Members Exhibitions’

2019-2025 1 Windmill Lane, Dublin, ‘Dublin Painting & Sketching Club Annual Exhibition’

2013-2025 Dun Laoghaire Concourse & Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin ‘Watercolour Society Annual Exhibition’

2018-2025 Ulster Museum, Belfast, ‘Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibitions’

2017-2023 RHA Gallery, Dublin ‘Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibitions’

2021-2024:Graphic Studio Artists with Simon Communities & HLB Ireland, CHQ / RHA Dublin, curator & artist, ‘The Art of Home, ‘Returning Home’, ‘Home Again’ & Echoes of Home'

2023 Spazio 6, Verona, Italy, ‘Exhibition of Irish Printmakers’

2022 & 2023 IMPACT 12, Bristol, UK, & Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin, ‘Geomancy’, Curated exhibition by GSD

2010-2022 ‘New Leaf Printmakers, Vancouver, Canada & travelling, ‘BIMPE VI-XI miniprint exhibitions’

2022 RHA Gallery, Dublin, ‘GRAPHIC STUDIO DUBLIN- 60years RETROSPECTIVE’, curated by Eithne Jordan

2022 King House, Boyle, ‘Boyle Arts Festival’ Invited Exhibition, curated by Paul McKenna

2022 Carrickahowley Gallery, Maine Irish Heritage Center, USA, ‘Bealtaine’Online exhibition of 5 Irish artists

2020-2021 The Model, Sligo & IMC, Nara, Japan ‘Kanreki’ – 60 years of GSD, Mokuhanga exhibition

2020- 2021 Draiocht, Dublin (Fingal), Lexicon Gallery, (DLR),Hyde Bridge Gallery Sligo,Blue House Gallery Schull, ‘60 years of Graphic Studio Dublin’, Graphic Studio Gallery ‘Diamond Point’ -60 Years GSD- Manager, curator & artist.

2013-2015 National Botanic Gardens; Greenacres, Wexford; Lavit Gallery, Cork; Hamilton Gallery, Sligo; RDS Dublin; Galleri Astley Uttersberg, Kunstforum Norrkoping, & Stockholm, Sweden, Blue House Gallery, Schull and other venues. ‘A Natural Selection’ 2013-15 & Another Bite of the Cherry (2017), Co-ordinator & artist.

Awards                                                                               Residencies

Arts Council Ireland Agility Award 2022                              Shepherd & Maudsleigh, Boston 2023

Fingal Co. Arts Bursary 2020,21, 22, 23 & 2025                Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Annamakerrig 

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Bursary 2021 & 2023                Burren College of Art Residency 

DLR / Creative Ireland Bursary 2019 & 2022                     GSD Cill Rialaig Residency

DLR Arts- Public Engagement commission- Print Process #dlrIntoArt Jan-Mar 2023

Artist’s Talk ‘Artists Beyond the Studio’, online series for Graphic Studio Dublin with Niamh Flanagan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kcfP47iEJ8&ab_channel=SusanEarly

Galleries                                                                                                     

Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin                                            

The Open Window Gallery, Rathmines, Dublin

The Hamilton / Cat & The Moon, Sligo                                              

 Fox Framing & Art Gallery, Foxrock, Co. Dublin

Art Fairs                                                                                                     

London Original Print Fair (GSD)                                                         

 Woolwich Print Fair, London (GSD)

Woolwich Print Fair London (Open Call, Directors’ Cut 2024)      

IMPACT 12 2022, Bristol

National Botanic Gardens, Sustainable Craft Fair 2024