Patricia Hurl

Patricia Hurl (born 1943) is an Irish artist.

Background

Hurl was born in 1943 in Dublin. Hurl's father, born in 1894, was a Catholic from a farming background who grew up along the Derry-Antrim border. He worked as a primary school teacher and was politically active, becoming involved in the Ulster Troubles. Hurls parents moved to Charleston Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin, where they bought their first house. They lived frugally and the family prioritised education.

Career

Hurl attended the National College of Art and Design in 1975 and at the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology in 1984. Her first solo exhibition, Living Room Myths and Legends, was shown at the Temple Bar Gallery and Studios in 1988. It included works based on the Kerry babies case. Major themes of her work include loss, pain, frustration, and loneliness. Her work has been included in the The Great Book of Ireland.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she was a committee member of Women Artists Action Group, a feminist group which promoted women artists from Ireland.

Before becoming an artist, Hurl got a job with Williams and Woods, a Dublin confectionery factory. She worked as a Comptometer operator. From 1984 to 1989, Hurl was a lecturer in fine art at Dublin Institute of Technology College of Art and Design.

Hurl established and co-directed the Damer House Gallery in Roscrea, County Tipperary. Hurl is a founder member of Na Cailleacha (Irish for witches or hags), a group of older female Irish artists.

In 2023, the Irish Museum of Modern Art held a major retrospective exhibition of Hurl's work. Parts of the collection toured Ireland as the Irish Gothic exhibition, including venues such as The Souce and South Tipperary Arts Centre.

Awards

Hurl was named one of Irish Tatler's Women of the Year 2023. In 1984, she won the Norah McGuinness Award for painting and in 2023 she won a Pollock Krasner Award.

Personal life

Hurl married at the age of 20. Her husband worked as a cooper at the Guinness brewery.