Bernadette Madden

Bernadette Madden studied Fine Art at the National College of Art & Design. Awarded a scholarship to Paris by the Department of Education in 1970, Madden had her first solo show in 1971 and has continued to win awards since. Awards include the MacAuley Fellowship in Painting by the Arts Council in 1976, commended in the Mont Kavanagh Award for Environmental Art and in Church Art Competition organised by Dublin Diocese in 1983. In 1984 Madden was appointed to the Board of National College of Art and Design by the Minister for Education. In 1998 she was appointed to Cultural Relations Committee (to promote Irish Art abroad) by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The same year Batik "2000" was used as the millennium symbol by the Diocese of Dublin. In 1999 her "St. John" batik was presented to his Holiness Pope John Paul II by President Mary McAleese, and more recently in 2000 her "St.Benedict" wall hanging was presented by An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. In 2009 Madden’s self-portrait was acquired by the National Portrait Collection in Limerick University and in 2010 she was selected as one of two hundred artists in Robert O Byrne's Dictionary of Irish Artists.

"In Ireland, the name Bernadette Madden is virtually synonymous with batik. That is so because she has taken a medium that was chiefly associated with decorative craft and developed it as a means of artistic expression. In doing so she has, with exceptional technical virtuosity both revealed the versatility of batik and exploited its painterly possibilities as never before. It is evident from her work that she exercises a remarkable degree of control over the play of rich, saturated colour and tonal variations that the technique of fabric dyeing allows. But she has also immeasurably extended its conventional range of subject matter and its compositional possibilities." Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times (from his introduction to Irish Impressions BASF in Schwarzheide, Germany 2005).



Biography

1948 Born in Dublin

1965-1970 Studied Fine Art, National College of Art & Design

1970 Graduated, National College of Art & Design
Awarded scholarship to Paris by the Department of Education

1971 First solo exhibition

1976 Awarded MacAuley Fellowship in Painting by the Arts Council

1980 Nominated for Mont Kavanagh Award for Environmental Art

1981 Awarded prize in "Sport in Art" competition in Tulfarris Gallery

1983 Commended in Mont Kavanagh Award for Environmental Art
Commended in Church Art Competition organised by Dublin Diocese

1984 Appointed to Board of National College of Art and Design by Minister for Education

1993 Work used in Junior Certificate textbook

1998 Appointed to Cultural Relations Committee (to promote Irish Art abroad) by the Minister for Foreign Affairs
Batik "2000" used as millennium symbol by the Diocese of Dublin

1999 "St. John" batik presented to his Holiness Pope John Paul II by President Mary McAleese

2000 Re-appointed to Cultural Relations Committee

2003 Three batiks used in new Junior Certificate textbook

2005 "St.Benedict" wall hanging presented by An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

2009 Self portrait aquired by the National Portrait Collection in Limerick University

2010 Selected as one of two hundred artists in Robert O Byrne's Dictionary of Irish Artists.