sonia shiel
Sonia Shiel is an Irish visual artist, whose work spans painting, installation, script-writing, and performance. Her hyper-objects bear sentient qualities, and deliver shape-shifting, time-traveling forms of extraordinary encounter.
She is a Spring 2026 Artist-in-Residence at the International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York, sponsored by Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin, and the Arts Council of Ireland.
Selected recent shows include the Irish Museum of Modern Art (2025); VISUAL, Carlow,(2024, 23); Kunstverein Aughrim (2023); Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin,(2023,21); and VOID, Derry (2019).
Shiel was awarded a full-membership studio from Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin, in 2022, and has received a number of Arts Council Project and Bursary awards, the Hennessy Craig and Tony O’Malley Awards for painting, Culture Ireland support, and other residency opportunities.
Her live events are often collaborative, generative, multi-disciplinary, and performance-based.
Recent projects include the development and presentation of a series of Pulse Events at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios; a collaboration with Kunstverein Aughrim; and live technical performances at VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art.
Shiel has worked on other expansive projects including a residency at the UCD School of Drama; the NCAD Incubation Residency; and The Art and Law Fellowship Program.
She is a member of the research forum Justice in Fiction at UCD, and founding member of Round Table and Vase, a script and staging workshop for visual artists.
She has produced a number of publications - with UCD, House Projects, FOUR Gallery, Roscommon Arts Centre, and the RHA.
ISCP, New York, April 2026
International Studios and Curatorial Program, sponsored by Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Open Studios and Pageant
IMMA, Dublin, June 2026
The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Summer Performance Program
Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, August 2026
Cherry Street Pier, a contemporary curatorial initiative project with curator Leah Triplett
Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin, October 2026
Solo Exhibition, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery
City-Wide, Dublin, November 2026
Dublin Gallery Weekend, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios’ Dublin Art Book Fair, and Publication Launch
Kunstverein Aughrim, Wicklow, ongoing 2026
House Of Kunst, Kunstverein Aughrim Artist Editions
Sonia Shiel lives in Dublin. She holds a BA in Fine Art, from NCAD, Dublin; an MA in Visual Art Practice, from IADT, Dublin, and in her capacity as Artist in Residence, she completed the MA in Play-writing at UCD, Dublin.
Her work is held in various private and public collections, including: the Arts Council of Ireland; The Glucksman Collection; The Office of Public Works; Trinity College, Dublin; The City of Frankfurt; DLR Municipal Collection; and the CCI, Paris.
Evolving editions of her work feature in House of Kunst at Kunstverein Aughrim, and she is represented by the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery.