Bernadette Kiely

Bernadette Kiely is an Irish visual artist based in Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny. She graduated from the College of Art and Design, Waterford (SETU) and the Slade School of Fine Art, UK. Known for her large-scale work engaging with the fragility of the natural world - the effects of flooding and decay on land and human lives has been an enduring theme in her practice for over 20 years. Bernadette is a member of Aosdána, the peer elected body of artists deemed to be making a significant contribution to the arts in Ireland.

Her work was included on the 2025 mock Leaving Certificate paper, featured in Landscape and Environment in Contemporary Irish Art by Dr. Yvonne Scott, (2023) and The Routledge Companion to Irish Art by Dr. Fiona Barber, Manchester University, UK (2025). Represented by Taylor Galleries, Dublin, Bernadette's work is included in both public and private collections in Ireland, UK and USA.

Recent exhibitions include Dreamtime Ireland, curated by Sean Lynch, VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, 2025; RA Summer Exhibition 2025, Royal Academy, London, UK; RHA Annual Exhibition 2025, RHA Gallery, Dublin; a glimmering arc, curated by Eamonn Maxwell, Taylor Galleries, Dublin, 2025; Ashes + Rain, Regional Cultural Centre, County Donegal, 2025; Source to Sea, curated by Dr. Michael Waldron, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, 2024; Don't Need No country, Don't Fly No Flag, Galway International Arts Festival, 2024; Cork or Venice (who cares, who can tell), Lavit Gallery, Cork, 2023; The Contemporary British Painting Prize 2022, UK; Zurich Portrait Awards, National Gallery of Ireland, 2022- to 2023; Imagine Life Without Art, Custom House Gallery and Studios, Co Mayo, September - October 2022.