JESSICA SHARKEY
Resident Artist:
OCTOBER 2026
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Jessica Sharkey is an Irish art historian and PhD researcher in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Trinity College Dublin. She previously completed undergraduate research at Trinity College Dublin on sixteenth-century sketching, considering drawing as a form of close observation and visual inquiry. She has worked as Visiting Curator at the Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery in Nebraska, where she engaged closely with the artist’s legacy and archival material connected to his teaching and practice.
During her residency in Mulranny, Jess will develop a research-led body of work that moves between writing, studio reflection, and drawing and painting outdoors in the surrounding landscape. Her current doctoral research centres on the work and writings of American artist Robert Henri (1865-1932), particularly his art instruction manual, The Art Spirit, and the paintings he made in Ireland in 1913 and in the 1920s.
Residency Synopsis
During my residency in Mulranny, I will develop a research-led body of work moving between studio practice, plein air painting, and academic reflection. The project is grounded in my ongoing PhD research at Trinity College Dublin which examines the work and writings of American artist Robert Henri, particularly The Art Spirit, with a focus on observation, atmosphere, and lived experience in landscape.
Working in direct response to the coastal environment of Mulranny, I will produce a series of observational drawings, plein air studies, and studio-based paintings shaped by the shifting light, weather, and terrain of the west of Ireland. Written reflections developed alongside this work will consider the relationship between studio and field practice and Henri’s emphasis on direct engagement with the act of seeing.