Sasha Sykes

Sasha Sykes is an artist and creator of highly unusual hand-crafted contemporary furniture and functional artworks. Born in Dublin in 1976, Sykes studied Architecture and worked as a designer before establishing her solo artistic career. The artist has an MA in Architectural Studies from Edinburgh University.  She has worked all over the world including London (1999-2003) and New York (2003-2006) and has now settled in her native County Carlow where she lives with her husband and three children and works in a strawbale studio next door. Known for her use of hand-cast resins, embedding found objects and collected organic materials, Sykes tell stories of our landscape and social history.

She reflects, ‘My work is primarily influenced by the scale, approach and aesthetic of the Irish landscape. I like to explore the cycle of life and decay, and the dichotomy of fragility and preservation. I am particularly interested in mankind’s relationship with our surroundings, and expressing the nature of that interaction is central to my practice. I like to work with unusual organic and locally found materials; eg, wildflowers and thistles from the Wicklow mountains, mosses and lichens from Carlow or seaweeds and shells from the south & west coasts. Together, objects such as these tell intimate stories about the physical locality as well as shedding light on the values and priorities of people living in the area. This combination of the natural habitat and man’s influence shape and color everything in our world.’

Sykes’ art is found in numerous private and public collections such as the National Museum of Ireland, The Office of Public Works, The Department of Foreign Affairs and The Department of Culture & Heritage, as well as prestigious hotels and corporate headquarters: from Carton House to the Bank of America. The New York Times stated that Sykes’ art is ‘for people who live in the city but dream of the country’.

Noted honors include Gyre, which had critical success at the PAD fair in London, and being invited to exhibit in the ‘Best of Europe’ at the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity’s 2018 ‘Homo Faber’ show in Venice,  and  receiving an inaugral Fellowship from the foundation in 2023.

Exhibitions

2023
Self Determination (Irish Museum of Modern Art) Oct 2023
In Residence III (Pavilion Gallery London) June 2023

2022
Conjuring Form (National Craft Gallery) Aug 2022
Our Irish Chair (NMI Museum of Country Life) Feb 2022
Collect (Somerset House London) Jan 2022

2021
As I AM Now (Rathfarnham Castle) Nov 2021
Irish Pavilion Dubai Expo 2020 Dec 2021
Conjuring Form (Donaraile House OPW) July 2021
Légendes Botaniques (Chateau de Menthon St
Bernard, Annecy, France) Sept 2021

2020
Create, Brown Thomas, Dublin Oct 2020
Through the Artists Eye, Birr Castle & Demesne Sept 2020
The Time of Our Lives (OSG) April 2020
Surface Matters, National Craft Gallery Jan 2020
Life in Still Life (OPW) Ireland (touring) 2019/2020

2019
Vue, Oliver Sears Gallery RHA, Dublin Nov 2019
Rear Window, Mason’s Yard London Oct 2019
In Living Memory, Emo Court June 2019
Taking Time, DLR Lexicon April 2019
Press Play, Oliver Sears Gallery Dublin Feb 2019
Surface Matters (DCCOI Critical Selection) Dublin Castle Feb 2019

2018
Solo show 1:8 @ VoltzClarke Gallery NYC Nov 2018
PAD, Peter Petrou, London Oct 2018
Homo Faber (Best of Europe) Venice Sept 2018
Ealaín, The National Gallery of Ireland July 2018
Salon, Oliver Sears Gallery Dublin May 2018

2017
PAD, Peter Petrou, London Oct 2017
Tresor Contemporary Craft Fair, Basel Switzerland Sept 2017
Narratives in Making, National Craft Gallery of Ireland
& Ruthin Centre, Wales May 2017
A Name Unmade, Solstice Arts Centre & Nerve, Derry
& the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris April 2017
BADA, Peter Petrou, London March 2017

2016
In Residence II, Oliver Sears London Oct 2016
Summer show @ Voltz Clarke NYC July 2016
PAD, Peter Petreou, London June 2016
“Caliology” Oliver Sears (solo show) Jan 2016

2015
In Residence, Oliver Sears London Oct 2015

2014
“Vase, Vessel, Void” Oliver Sears, Dublin Sep 2014
“Encased”(solo show) during Armory Week (NYC) March 2014
Solo show at Anthropologie Gallery (London) Feb 2014

2013
“The Walls of Cashel” solo show, Cashel Arts Week Nov 2013
Cheongju Biennale (Korea) Oct 2013
Vernacular (Tent, London Design Week) Sept 2013
Future Beauty, (Farmleigh) Aug 2013
Eigse Open Submission (Visual, Carlow) June 2013
After & Since Eileen Gray (Newtownbarry Hse, Wexford) June 2013
True Love (Kilgraney House, Carlow) June 2013
Living With Design (Malthouse & NCC Kilkenny) May 2013
Icon @ Brown Thomas (Dublin) May 2013
Future Beauty, Irish Craft Portfolio (Kilkenny) Jan 2013

2012
Irish Craft Portfolio @ the RHA Nov 2012
Gallery 43, Eigse Art Festival (Carlow) June 2012
Light Fantastic, The Malthouse Design Centre May 2012

2011
Designs to Live With, Dun Laoghaire Oct 2011
Celebration of Craftsmanship & Design, Cheltenham Aug 2011
Start, Clarence House, London July 2011
Bloom Festival (with CCOI) June 2011
Blooming Art, Kilgraney House Gallery June 2011
Interior Design & Art Fair, RDS May 2011

2010
EU Gateway Interior Design Mission to Tokyo Oct 2010
The Family Silver (solo show) Eigse Art Festival (Carlow) June 2010
Interior Design & Art Fair, RDS May 2010

2009
100% Design, London Sept 2009
Interior Design & Art Fair, RDS May 2009
Ecology, Mythology, Technology

2007
(National Craft Gallery Kilkenny & Farmleigh) Oct 2007
Urban Retreat Gallery, Dublin July 2007

2005
Create, Fota House Cork Sept 2005
Space Downtown, Chelsea Hotel New York Design Week May 2005
Insomniac Dreams triple artist show, M Gallery, Mercer St)
March 2005

2004
Space Downtown, Chelsea Hotel New York Design Week May 2004

2003
Farm21 solo show at CC Gallery, Westbourne Grove, London Oct 2003
100% Design, London Sept 2003

100% Design, London Sept 2002

Press

Sasha’s work has been documented numerously and fronted by the global press and international bloggers over the last two decades including frequent pieces in The Financial Times’ How To Spend It, the NY Times, Architectural Digest, US Vogue, Galerie Magazine, US Elle décor, Harpers Bazaar, Domino, the LA Times, The New York Sun, London Times, The NY Post, The World Of Interiors, Wallpaper, House, Metropolitan Home Irish Times, The Sunday Times, The
Telegraph magazine, The Gloss, The Examiner, the Irish Arts Review, Sunday Business Post, The Book Of Interiors, GQ, Elle Décor, IDFX (cover) FX Design, UK Vogue, Image Interiors, Prudence, Time Out, Evening Standard, Gardens Illustrated, Hong Kong Journal, Home Ideas, Shop, The Irish Garden, and Grand Designs, and Living Etc (cover)