HOLLY MULLARKEY
Ceramic Artist

Holly Mullarkey began her career in primary school teaching, with a strong focus on the arts. Following the 2001 revision of the Irish Visual Arts Curriculum, she facilitated its delivery to teachers nationwide. Alongside this work, she delivered art courses to primary school teachers through the Galway Education Centre and Hibernia College. Her passion for art deeply influenced her teaching practice, culminating in a major exhibition with the Baboró Children’s Arts Festival in 2004.

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In 2011, Holly completed a Degree in Ceramics at Atlantic Technical University, where she was awarded Student of the Year for her project The Long Road. Her artistic philosophy centres on the idea that memories held in the unconscious can be awakened and expressed through clay. She draws inspiration for her ceramic practice from the teachings of Carl Jung.

 

Much of Holly’s subsequent work has explored grief and collective memory, particularly in connection with survivors of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home. In 2016, she created Porcelain Shoes for the Commemoration of Tuam Baby Burials. In 2019, she collaborated with Clay Galway to exhibit Tumulus (Irish for burial mound), a series of porcelain bones. For Galway 2020, the European Capital of Culture, she co-created Deora Dé with ceramic artist Emma O’Toole—a poem and video installation reflecting on the outcast mother. In 2021, with Clay Galway, she presented Sacred Bones, a collection of gypsum orbs containing porcelain bones.

 

Her recent projects continue this exploration of art as a vessel for memory and healing. In 2024, she facilitated Healing Clay, a special creative workshop at the Linenhall Arts Centre designed to support those affected by the Tuam story. The workshop invited participants to “share story, share grief, share in the strength of the communal,” embodying Holly's commitment to fostering resilience and collective healing through art.