About the Artist…

Originally from Donegal, Irish artist and poet Maria Noonan McDermott now lives and works from her studio in Kinlough, Co. Leitrim.

Heavily influenced by the impressionist movement, her work focuses on the study of light and form in Irish landscapes. With a love of folklore and story-telling, Noonan McDermott's influences lie in rural Ireland, it is in these magical places that share a colloquial history where stories and the people are often etched into the landscape.

I began my artistic career in Dublin in 1985 and qualified in Fashion and Design. I returned to college and completed a certificate in visual education before continuing on to study Fine Art. In the year 1990, I had my first solo exhibition of paintings. setting me on a path that now spans almost four decades.

My work is deeply influenced by a connection to the natural world, especially the rugged beauty of the Irish landscape with its ever-shifting skies and dramatic seas. I’m equally drawn to the people rooted in this land, bound by a shared kinship with their poetry, stories, music and soulful lyrics.

I've always been in awe of the storyteller, those gifted people who so effortlessly draw us into their imagined worlds, who submerge you so deeply, you cry, laugh and often seethe with anger and frustration. To me, this is true magic, possessing the rare skill of creating something from nothing, evoking such passion and emotion.

Growing up I found words didn't come so easily to me, art and writing became my outlet. I was transformed into the 'Cailleach Feasa', the storyteller. I recorded and recollected all the tales from times gone by, breathing life back into places and quirky characters I met along the way.

I was raised in a small village in Donegal and like most small communities in Ireland, it was filled with the most amazing characters.

As a child, my head was filled with fantastical stories told and dramatised by neighbours and family, the gatekeepers of local history. These tales, were, of course, exaggerated and embellished with such fun and gusto, like only true Irish seanchai can, that I couldn't help growing up with a great love of the people around me and all their fascinating antics.

In my work, I narrate the stories with colour and humour as over the years they've formed and shaped in my memory.

My paintings become the text and you the reader and as the reader, you are challenged to participate and forge your own journey, enabling the story to live all over again!

This attachment is ingrained in my work and I strive to bring forth its warmth in the most honest and pure way I know how.

Maria Noonan-McDermott CV In Brief...

29 solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions both nationally and internationally.

  • Recent notable developments include my touring solo exhibition 'Time-Lapse' (2022–2026), which has been showcased at Art Centres and Art Galleries throughout Ireland. This exhibition was supported by grants from the Irish Hospice Foundation, Creative Ireland Programme and Leitrim and Donegal County Council Arts Bursaries.

  • Shortlist for the John Richardson French Residency Award (2026) for my painting ‘First Light’.

  • Feile na mban Curator and Facilitator 2026, Art and Poetry event in partnership with Poetry Ireland, aired on TG4 for St. Brigid’s Festival weekend., Bundoran, Co.Donegal.

  • Received the Eilish MacBride award at the Frances Browne Literary Festival 2025, as the overall winner in the local English Language category for my poem, ‘Aunties’.

  • Honoured to be part of The Lough Erne Collection, marking a vibrant new collaboration between Hambly & Hambly Gallery at Dunbar House and @lougherneresort. An inspiring partnership which brings together Ireland’s leading contemporary artists in one elegant publication that unites art, place and experience.

  • My poem, ‘The Red Chair’ has been selected for inclusion in ‘Washing Windows VI’, an anthology of Irish Women Writers, celebrating fifty years of publishing by Arlen House in Dublin.

  • Granted a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, September 2025, through Leitrim County Council’s Individual Artists Bursary Award.

  • Commissioned to create three landscape pieces for the Library as part of the Landscapes & Belonging series for The Crawford Collection at Belle Isle curated by Ciara Hambly of Hambly & Hambly Gallery.

  • My painting ‘The Healing Land’ was selected alongside 100 female artists for BLOODROOT Exhibition in Pulchri Studio, The Hague, The Netherlands with Hamilton Gallery, Sligo in partnership with The Embassy of Ireland. (January/February 2025) The inaugural St. Brigid’s exhibition is themed on poetry by Annemarie Ni Churreain.

  • My poem, ‘The Empty Chair’ has been selected for inclusion in ‘Washing Windows V’, an anthology of Irish Women Writers, published by Arlen House in Dublin.

  • My painting, ‘shared Histories’ was selected for ‘Europe in the Heart of Ireland’ exhibition for its inaugural showing in the new Europa Gallery in Dublin and subsequently in Hamilton Gallery, Sligo.

  • I am privileged and honoured to have been officially awarded full membership of the Ulster Society of Women Artists (USWA) in 2024.

  • My painting 'Silent Requiem' was shortlisted for the John Richardson French Residency Award and is now part of the public collection of the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.

Awards

Awarded Residency at The Tyrone Guthrie Centre, 2025

Leitrim County Council Individual Artists Bursary Programme Award, 2024, 2021

Two weeks Residency Award 2024 at Inishowen Artists Retreat in partnership with Artlink Fort Dunree, Residency 2026

Awarded full membership of the Ulster Society Of Women Artists, USWA, 2024

Donegal County Council Artists Bursary, 2022/2023

Seed Grant Award, The Irish Hospice Foundation in Association with Creative Ireland, 2021

‍ ‍Membership

  • Visual Artists Ireland Professional member.

  • USWA Member, The Ulster Society of Woman Artists, Professional member.

  • Solas Art Gallery, Island Theatre, Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim.

  • Artlink, Fort Dunree, Buncrana, Co. Donegal.

  • Cnoc Bui Art Centre, Union Hall, West Cork.

  • Creative Frame Member, Leitrim Professional Development Network.

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