Meandering / Materiality conjures memory, experience, and interactions with place. Exploring the concept of a ‘sense of place’, Besch’s paintings depict an interplay of physical and emotional terrain. Each work signifies an engagement with the landscape, extending an invitation for connection and reflection. Tohl’s sculptures dispersed throughout the gallery call for active participation and seek to spark curiosity of the relationships existing within the space. Playing with process, Tohl aims to join the material, people and experience into an ephemeral woven fabric. 

Erin Besch is a painter and multidisciplinary artist, whose current practice centers around identity and sense of place, manifested through the connection she feels to the Irish landscape and heritage.  She is currently pursuing an MFA in Studio Art at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Ireland. She received her MA in Art Education from the University of Florida in April 2022, as well as a certificate from the Kang O’Higgins Atelier at Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, Washington that same year. In 2019, she earned her BS in Psychology and BA in Visual Arts from Union College in Schenectady, NY. 

Phoebe Tohl (b. Los Angeles, 1995) is an artist and curator based in western Ireland. Her practice centres on eco-materiality and intertwines with craft. Tohl works to foster a sense of community through gatherings and personal exchanges and is influenced by the local landscape. Through acts of care and attention paid to ignored material and labour practices, Tohl’s work responds to the circumstance while pushing the notion of a woven structure, both literal and metaphorical, to understand the interconnected relations that exist within a place and environment.

Phoebe earned her Bachelor’s in Gender Studies, Art History, and Arts Administration from Skidmore College in 2018. She is currently finishing an MFA in Art and Ecology at the Burren College of Art, part of the University of Galway. Recently she co-curated an exhibition, Meant to Fade, at Laneway Gallery in Cork (June 2023). Meant to Fade will travel to Automat Space Gallery in Saarbrucken, Germany September 2024 as part of Ireland in Germany an initiative coordinated by Culture Ireland. Tohl has shown work at Kilcoe Studios in Cork, Newtown Castle in County Clare, and the Burren College of Art Gallery.