Bio

Natalie Dwyer

West Cork artist and designer Natalie Dwyer has enjoyed crafting models for as long as she can remember. Inspired at age nine by a visit to the Jim Henson puppet exhibition “Muppets, Monsters and Magic”, she then became hooked on modelmaking after the 1994 opening of the world-famous West Cork Model Railway Village in Clonakilty.

A graduate of design from the Dublin Institute of Technology, she furthered her study into Model Making & Design for Film & Media at IADT Dun Laoghaire.

Originally from Bandon, Natalie studied and worked in Dublin for many years as a graphic designer, before relocating back to her native West Cork where she lives near Clonakilty with her husband and four children.

Balancing digital graphic design work for clients with printmaking, painting, drawing, and crafting in self-directed practice, Natalie enjoys using a vast array of materials, resources, tools and techniques. While studying design at college, Natalie took as many classes in the printmaking and fine art departments as possible, to facilitate artistic expression and foster her creativity in a tactile way. Returning to the arts in a deeper way during recent years has been exciting. These days she loves to create with different media, notably wax, pencils, papers, acrylics, yarns, inks and textiles. Natalie’s current work is leading her to combine these in new and interesting ways to create visual texture and patterns. She enjoys experimenting in monoprints with “found” textures; household items or pieces from the recycling bin such as bubble wrap, plastic doilies, cookie cutters and tiling tools.

As an artist, she also creates ethereal encaustic wax landscapes, taking inspiration from the beautiful scenery in West Cork. Painting landscapes using encaustic wax in a modern way, she loves to draw the viewer into magical lands with a sense of awe. She often takes inspiration from the beautiful landscape in West Cork to create other-worldly scenes where trees sparkle with silver and fields glow with colours that defy nature and capture the imagination.