September 2019: Mick O’Dea

September 2019: Mick O’Dea

Mick O’ Dea was born in Ennis Co Clare in 1958. He studied at the National College of Art and Design Dublin, The University of Massachusetts Amherst, Winchester School of Art in Barcelona and Winchester where he was awarded a Masters in European Fine Art. He lectured at NCAD for sixteen years up to 1999 and has acted as an external assessor and lecturer in Art Colleges and Universities in the USA, UK an Ireland.

O’Dea has had numerous exhibitions and has participated in a wide range of artists residencies in Ireland, the USA and Europe.

The recipient of many awards, his most recent include The Ireland US council / Irish Arts       Review Portraiture Award in Dublin and The Royal Ulster Academy Portrait Prize in Belfast.

O’ Dea was elected ARHA in 1993, RHA in 1996 and PRHA in 2014. He was elected to Aosdána in 1996 and elected as a Fellow of the Anatomical Society in 2015 for his contribution to       reviving Anatomy as a subject for artists at the newly established RHA School where he was appointed School Principal in 2006.

O’ Dea has served as a member of The Board of Governors of the National Gallery of Ireland, acting as chairperson of the Acquisitions and Exhibition Committee from 2014 to 2018.

He is chairperson of the Stamp Design advisory committee and a member of the Philatelic                Advisory Committee of An Post.

O’ Dea continues his practice as a full time artist since 1999 in Dublin, Mayo and wherever else his work may take him.

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