My name is Ailbhe Wheatley and I am a writer and visual artist based in East Clare.

My background in yoga teaching, literature and philosophy informs my artistic practice, which explores themes of interrelationship and embodiment.

Inspired by journeys both inner and outer, figures of speech and creatures of all kinds, my art reflects my love of play. It is influenced by my childhood growing up in rural Ireland, and a series of adventures (and misadventures) whilst living abroad.

I am currently working on a collection of paintings, essays and poems centred around the heartspace — the quiet unknown that sits between mind and body, past and present, self and other, time and timelessness, becoming undone and being made whole. These ‘picture stories’ are observations of an eternal landscape – that inner, open field as imaginary as it is real and felt.

artist statement:

When I paint I am poised, swept into the colours, waiting for that tiny moment of affirmation when the world makes sense again. My visual practice is a way to dream up or reimagine an ideal, but it is never too far away from the senses.

When I write, I am feeling it all, rummaging my way through a flurry of thoughts and feelings.

I write to release. I make art to step out of my current experience, if only very briefly.

The basis of my practice is storytelling. This is a multidimensional practice which incorporates poetry, drawing, movement, photography, performance and.. listening. It is, in its essence, a conversation with the world.

Creation becomes a means of peeling back the layers, an inner experience drawn through the imagination.

All is rooted in the wild - in the wild home of the heart, or the mystery of a feather.