BY DIONNE MEEHAN
DONEGAL artist and curator Daniel Nelis has been selected as the 2023 Early Career Curator-in-Residence for theEarly Career Curator-in-Residence and Glebe Gallery.
Daniel is an award winning visual artist, an art educator and an early stage curator.
Daniel, who is from Gartan, has been practising as a visual artist for over ten years, and has been teaching in St Eunan’s College in Letterkenny since 2018.
A recent graduate of the MA in Collections & Curating at UCD, Nelis was awarded the Michael McCarthy Medal for achieving the highest results in this course.
Painting for over a decade at this point, Daniel recalled one of his first art classes at the Glebe Gallery.
“Before leaving primary school I attended an art class along with a few classmates, which was primarily intended for adults.
“Being surrounded by people immersed in visual culture helped fuel and inspire my own interests.
“My painting practice is greatly inspired by the area in which I live and the people I know.
“My home place is just on the edge of miles of bog land, and what’s wonderful about the area is that things tend to operate at a slower pace.
“That slowing down is very important to my work, focusing on the still moments of quiet contemplation and reflection in the vivid reality of the present,” he said.
In 2011, Daniel was awarded the Derek Hill Foundation Award at the Glebe Gallery Annual Exhibition.
Daniel said as a young person, this was a massively confirming event.
“I was just out of secondary school, and the award was a significant factor in giving me the confidence to pursue a career in visual practice.
“Since then, I have received awards from the Royal Ulster Academy, the Royal Dublin Society, the Royal Hibernian Academy and most recently the Royal Scottish Academy, where I was awarded the W. Gordonsmith and Jay Gordonsmith Award in 2022,” he said.
When Daniel received the news that he was selected as the Regional Cultural Centre and the Glebe Gallery Early Career Curator-in-Residence, he said it was the most amazing news that came at a great time.
“After finishing the course at UCD, there was no certain path as to where I might go next.
“The curatorial residency is the most amazing opportunity to see through the theoretical learnings from the past year, and to put those learnings into practice.
“I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity,” he said.
Daniel will be working with the RCC and the Glebe Gallery on a number of exhibition projects over the next nine months.
This will include working with an artist to create a site-specific intervention in response to the collection of the Glebe Gallery, and a large scale exhibition at the RCC in December.
“Significantly, I will develop these exhibitions in conversation with established mentors, an invaluable asset to any aspiring professional,” he said.
For now, Daniel plans to concentrate on making the most of this amazing opportunity.
“I would like to extend a very sincere thanks to everyone at the respective venues in what has already been a massively rewarding experience,” he said.
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