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Clare O Hagan is an award‑winning visual artist, printmaker and filmmaker, originally from Northern Ireland and now based in Derbyshire . Her artistic perspective was shaped by her upbringing in a small linen‑mill village near the border with the Republic of Ireland, a childhood spent amid political and social upheaval that fostered a deep sense of observation and a desire to create beauty in the midst of chaos.
O Hagan’s bond with the dramatic Donegal coastline stretches back to her earliest years and remains a central source of inspiration today . As part of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, its monumental landscapes and seascapes offer her both solace and creative energy, which she describes as having a mythic, almost otherworldly quality. The cliffs with their extraordinary colours and twisted forms, the vast wild beaches, and the ever‑changing light and weather continue to shape her artistic expression, reflecting both the grandeur of the landscape and the quiet solitude she once sought in the mountains during her years in London.
O Hagan’s journey into printmaking began in childhood with a simple John Bull Printing Set — she fondly recalls the “small rubber letters bouncing across the floor,” a playful moment that sparked a lifelong passion for the medium. Her commitment to learning has taken her through Morley College, Slaughterhaus Print Studio in London, and now the Leicester Print Workshop, where she continues to refine and expand her practice.
Her approach to printmaking is both experimental and deeply considered. She blends traditional techniques — linocut, woodcut and etching — with contemporary digital processes such as paper lithography, photogravure and digital manipulation . This inventive fusion of old and new results in work that is dynamic, beautiful and at times challenging, reflecting her relentless exploration of subject and form.