Profiles
Board Profiles
Orla O’Byrne (Chairperson) is an award-winning visual artist and 2019 graduate of The Crawford College of Art and Design. She is currently based at Backwater Artists studio complex in Cork, where she works in a variety of media including drawing, photography and sculpture. Her recent funded projects include are research trip to the marble-quarrying region of Northern Italy and a residency at The Crawford Art Gallery. She completed an MA in Art & Process at MTU CCAD in 2022. Orla is also the co-founder and director of The Natural Foods Bakery, a thriving bakery and café business, which has been an integral part of foodie culture in Cork city for 20 years. Orla has been chair of the board of Backwater Artists Group since 2023. In 2025, Orla was appointed curator at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork, where her time is divided between pioneering a rolling arts programme and overseeing a conservation project.
Padraig Spillane is an artist, exhibition-maker, researcher, and lecturer at MTU Crawford College of Art and Design in Cork city. His practice explores desire through the intersections of imagery and mass-produced cultural forms using visual references from commercial display and collective imaginaries. He is a lecturer at MTU Crawford since 2018 teaching photography, image making, and narrative structures. He is a coordinator of MA Contemporary Art Practice and has had texts published in various journals. Exhibitions include: A R C H I P E L A G O, RHA, Dublin; Skin / Deep: Perspectives on the Body, Photo Museum Ireland, Dublin; Future Tense, FORMAT Photography Festival, Derby, UK; Saturation: the everyday transformed, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork; Silver-Tongued Seas, Jupiter Woods, London. He has curated exhibitions: Contradictory Senses for Lismore Castle Arts; Roseanne Lynch No Want of Eviden
Dyane Hanrahan is the Marketing and Communications Manager at Crawford Art Gallery, a prominent cultural institution in Cork City. With a degree in Business Studies and Languages, Dyane has cultivated a diverse career that bridging business and the arts, having worked with notable companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Corcadorca Theatre Company, Cork Opera House and Cork Midsummer Festival. Beyond her professional role, Dyane is deeply committed to community involvement. She participates in the Night-Time Economy Steering Group for Cork City, collaborating with various stakeholders to improve the vibrancy and accessibility of the city’s nighttime offerings. Additionally, she leads The Jingle Belles, a choir of singers dedicated to raising funds for Cork Penny Dinners.
Roger Buckley is an entrepreneur who has founded and built businesses across several jurisdictions in sectors such as accounting, finance, family offices and fiduciary services. Roger is the founding partner of Confido Trustees, a corporate services provider and trust company licensed and regulated by the Department of Justice in Ireland. Roger holds a B.Comm Degree, two masters degrees and various professional qualifications in finance, anti-money laundering and governance. Roger is an associate member of the Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland. Roger is also the founder of Cork Antiques Ltd, a business focused on the provision of European decorative art and antiques with an emphasis on Grand Tour, Neoclassicism and Cabinet of Curiosity.
Fiona Kelly is a Visual Artist and Educator who holds a MA from Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork and a PhD candidate at NCAD, Dublin (2021-2026). Recent exhibitions include Radical Archaeologies: Unearthing Landscape in Contemporary Irish Art, GLUCKSMAN Gallery, Cork; A Demarcation of Time, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (Solo); The point of truth, knowledge & beauty, Künstlerhaus Dormund, Germany; The Space We Occupy, Solas Nuá, Washington DC & IAC, New York, USA; A Temporary Iteration, (Solo) Sirius Arts Centre, Cork; Botanica; The Art of Plants, Crawford Art Gallery; New Perspectives. Acquisitions 2011– 2020, National Gallery of Ireland and The Mouth of a Shark, Edinburgh Printmakers Gallery, UK. Kelly’s work is housed in the public collections of the National Gallery of Ireland, the Crawford Art Gallery, and the Jyväskylä Art Museum, Finland. Her current research is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland (2025).
Dermot Harrington is Director/Owner of Cook Architects, and through this practice have developed a strong network of contacts both private and local authority. He is an RIAI registered Architect with Grade 3 Conservation, he studied in both Bolton St DIT & Oxford Brookes and has the best part of 30 years practice experience in both Cork & Dublin. He co-founded the Cork Architectural Association Exhibition and curated this annual exhibition in City Hall for 4 years pre Covid organising the event with guest speakers, sponsors, media partners, sponsors and exhibition booklets. He was also commissioned by Design POP to collaborate with Ballymaloe Foods on the delivery of a pavilion at Elizabeth Fort during last year’s Design POP Festival in Cork City. He has been involved in MTU Cork as a visiting examiner to the Architectural Technology programme and is currently a part-time lecturer in CCAE (School of Architecture). He also recently concluded his position on the RIAI (South) Committee after a 3-year term.
Lynn-Marie Dennehy is a visual artist and educator based in Cork City, Ireland. She is an assistant lecturer on the Fine Art and Contemporary Applied Art programmes at MTU Crawford College of Art and Design where she received a first-class honours MA in Art and Process and a first-class honours BA in Fine Art. She is a full-time studio member of both Backwater Artists Group and Cork Printmakers and is an associate member of the National Sculpture Factory and Sample Studios. Her research-based practice investigates the ongoing colonial legacies that exist within our cultural subconscious and navigates the generational legacies that reside in our built environment. Through the lens of Greek mythology, neoclassical architecture, and the history of museums, she creates playful but pointed installation works and experimental exhibitions that serve as test sites for her research. She has exhibited nationally and internationally.
Evelyn Mitchell has worked as a planner for over 30 years having graduated with a Masters of Regional and Urban Planning from U.C.D. in 1994. In 2010 Evelyn graduated from U.C.D. with an M.Sc. in Urban Design. She has a wide range of experience having commenced her work experience in the Dublin Regional Authority and subsequently gaining experience in a number of rural local authorities including Limerick County Council, Kildare County Council and Cork County Council. She has been employed by Cork City Council as a Senior Executive Planner since 2001. She worked within the Planning Policy Section during 2001-2002 where she was responsible for the Certification of the Living Over the Shop and Integrated Area Plan schemes. Evelyn was also involved in the preparatory stages of the Cork City Development Plan, 2004. From 2002 – 2005 she worked within the Development Management Section as the senior planner for the South City Centre and South Suburbs, dealing with the major planning applications in these areas such as high-density residential schemes, student apartment schemes, large scale retailing applications and educational developments.