The Irish Times - Dress Portraits - Turning Clothing into a Work of Art.

The Evening Echo - Cork based Artist uses Wedding Dresses as her canvas

Nationwide - National Tv

Art -

• Professional Member Visual Artists Ireland

• Recipient of Agility Award, Art Council of Ireland

• Art Processes - Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art & Technology (Adult Ed)

• Drawing - 18 months with mentor Heike Silbernagel Artist, Berlin

• Portrait Photography - Art House, Temple Bar, Dublin

• Drawing - St John’s College, Cork

• Ai Secret Society - Midjourney, Photoshop, etc.

• Academic

• BA English Literature & Sociology in University College Dublin

• HDip Social Policy, University College Cork

• Masters in Social Work, University College Cork (1st Class Honours Thesis ‘The Reenchantment of Social Work - Using Creativity with boys at risk of dropping out of school)

• Social Work - Community Drug Team, Dublin, Residential Care, Teenage Girls, Cork

• 2 Year Diploma in Intentional Healing

• Les Petits Freres des Pauvres (Friends of the Elderly), Dublin, Paris, Berlin

• Charity Work - Simon Community, Cork - Homelessness

• Aware Helpline (Depression Helpline)

• Work Experience - Green Group/Allianz 90 (The Green Party) in German Parliament, Berlin, Office of European and Foreign Affairs. (3 months)

Miscellaneous work & Training

• Ireland.com (The Irish Times Online Section) - Online Marketing and Advertising.

• Introductory Counselling

• Conflict Management

• Theme Centred Interaction (Group Facilitation)

• Non-violent Communication

Please talk to me for details

One of the most unique Artworks which I have found in my Art career is that of Kerstin Walsh. The medium and material she uses are entirely different and personal.

Kerstin calls her Artwork “Dress Portrait ” but to me they are “dress landscapes”. She portrays the person and her life with symbols that are familiar and exist around us all, such as boats, butterflies, leaves, clouds, water, fish, balloons, autumn, birds, stars/starfish, guitars, moons, and these elements are sensitive like emotions.

Each dress which she creates is entirely different, personalised and rich, with a variety of motives and symbols. The large surface of the dress is mostly covered with the pastelish colourful tones; but to my surprise they do not lose the core dominating white (or surface) colours. Like an expert portrait painter who always tries not to lose the flesh tone from the face for her portrait.

The dresses are fragments, signifiers of the time and space where once the people have taken their breath. They are not only the portrait but are the melting down of time, emotions, and life. And then preserving it.

The child-like treatment emphasises this sensitivity and fills these symbols with a purity and fragility that always demands great care. To me Kerstin’s Dress Portraits are like Wordsworth’s “Solitary Reaper”, in a landscape which is full of life, the Artist experiences her subject as a question: “Will no one tell me what she sings?”

Kerstin succeeds in taking her subject first, and then the viewer on this magical introspective and retrospective journey.

Amna Walayat, Artist
29,09,2020 (CORK, IRELAND)

"I know few people who have made such a wholehearted commitment to living their creative dream in all its aspects. Kerstin is a uniquely alive and inspiring woman - wise beyond her years and an eternal divine child. Blessed are all those who share in her light."  Tessa Gibson, Psychologist & Creative Writing Teacher 

"I was lucky enough to work alongside Kerstin for a number of years when we were starting out on our careers and developing our ideas about life, art and how to make a place for ourselves in the world. She inspired and challenged me everyday we worked together and those years were so important in allowing me to get to where I am today. Kerstin has the very special and rare gift of infusing everything she does with creativity, courage, honesty and humility, and it is a joy to work in the environment she creates. If you have the opportunity to work with Kerstin in any capacity my advice is very simple; take it!"  Ivan M., Psychotherapist, Midland Psychotherapy

"I spent three years on a training course in Intentional Healing (facilitated by Ira Greenberg) with Kerstin. All course participants got to know each other very well due to the many intense and personal workshops that we did together. I experienced Kerstin as a very lively, engaged and highly creative person who is empathetic to others as well as resourceful, imaginative and constructive in her outlook on life. Giving courses that foster creativity and ‘the art of living’ will give her the opportunity to further those skills in others. Since Kerstin has worked many years as a social worker as well as a practicing artist it will also give her the opportunity to combine her social, interpersonal skills with her creative experience. I wish Kerstin good luck with this (ad)venture and hope many people will take advantage and enjoy the many opportunities that Kerstin will open up this way".   Dr. Stefanie Dinkelbach, independent artist, filmmaker and scholar

"I attended The Artists Way course that Kerstin organised and I cannot recommend her highly enough.She is an extremely talented group facilitator and wonderfully creative. I thoroughly enjoyed, and benefited from, my time with her".   Sarah L. 

"I remember going to a lovely creative workshop that Kerstin facilitated in Cork in her apartment full of paintings and drawings. When I look at the drawings I did that night I see the freedom and fun that Kerstin nourishes in her work. "   Lisa F., Artist

"Kerstin is a warm and generous guide to take you on your creative journey. With her help and encouragement you will find yourself growing, showing, and flowing!"  Toma M., Artist 

"I participated in The Artist Way and took a drawing class with Kerstin. On both courses she was a pleasure to work with, and brought a great energy to the space and her students. She also provides a great variety to tasks, and her love of the creative arts is second to none. No doubt. Kerstin is a good one."  Stanley N., Writer

"I have known Ms. Walsh for 20 years, in which time she has saved me from homelessness, and the raging waters of the Atlantic, among other things. She has shared her home, family, and some of the happiest moments of my life with me. I will never recover from the trauma of missing her wedding. I love her Mommy almost as much as my own. I haven't spoken to her in approximately 2 years. I was unaware, until this evening, that she had a blog. I have no idea what she does on her courses, but I'd say she's brilliant, based on the many enjoyable conversations we have had over the years, deep into the night, with other brilliant people like her sister, on a wide range of topics that I cannot immediately recall. This is due to the fact that my children and I are involved in a parasitic relationship whereby they grow more vibrant, and beautiful, and intelligent every day by feeding on my energy while I fail, and forget all the details of my life... I can, however attest to Kerstin's capacity for connecting people through the immensity of her spirit, curiosity, and compassion, and to her vision of the world, which is always open, and joyful. She is the best, and I love her."

Maureen

"Kerstin is one of those beautiful people whom you feel enriched by just through being in their company.  She is a refreshingly sincere, honest, real, warm hearted, earthy soul with ready laughter and good humour.  

"I met Kerstin at an Artist's Way Course she was running several years ago which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I was going through a challenging time in my life and the course provided a safe, encouraging, comforting, uplifting, sharing, light, fun space with much laughter where I felt supported and nurtured.  I resonated easily with Kerstin on a soul level and it felt like finding a kindred spirit and still feels this way whenever we meet.  I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Kerstin to anyone or to do another course with her at some point as I know it would be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. To my mind, Kerstin is a very rare and beautiful jewel".  Margret M.

"I worked through the course “Learn to Draw and Make Friends with your Finances” and am intrigued to be rethinking my approach to money and this may have saved me a fortune before starting my business a number of years ago. I have been inspired to call the dreaded and dreary folders and boxes of my accounts and unopened letters from the bank – my atelier and suddenly I feel quite protective of them and treat the information in them with more respect, appreciating the possibilities within it.  I know Kerstin from our Thursday kiddies disco and Unplugged sessions. And aswell as appreciating her fun, playful, inclusive and calm nature, I also appreciate that she listens, is interested and tunes in. She’s  innovative, intuitive and articulate and thinks outside the box. I think she has a unique approach to things and is very supportive".  Carol Doyle  - www.belleetik.com

"Is it too late to e-mail you and tell you how WONDERFUL and FABULOUS I think you are?? Well, I do think those things. You have a beautiful feeling about you ... I always felt so calm in your presence ... You feel wise. 
Also, your words about helping Artists and Writers rang a bell with me ... I've recently started a huge writing project ... taking seriously an internal call to write a book based on my 2009 travels in Nepal and India. So it's nice to remember that there's loads of others out there, that are braving the elements too with their own creative hopes and dreams."  Brenda

See Dress Portraits

1. I generate images using Midjourney, a programme developed by a small independent research lab (60 people), which specializes in the generation with an artistic aesthetic (as opposed to deepfakes). The goal of the people in the lab is to increase creativity.

2. I am very careful about using any other AI, I don’t use ChatGPT, or OpenAi if I can help it, however many apps have integrated AI so many of us use it daily passively.

3. I plant trees and am very conscious of the environment. I also use MJ in moderation.

4. I have myself contributed 1000’s of photos and artworks to the internet, which is where Midjourney and AI in general sources their images.

5. I have not interest in copying any other Artist’s style. MJ is very good for honing one’s own style.

6. I use the images I generate to inspire. I make the impossible visible. Visualization is very important in creation and manifestation, and Artists and Visionaries can be hugely supported by using new technologies.

7. I believe in the collective consciousness. I believe that we all have access to the collective consciousness and the ideas held within it. I think of AI as a rudimentary and flawed model of how our consciousness can link up. Like with so many things the quality of the person dictates the quality of the use of the technology.

8. I make images in order to visualize, I use them for shadow work, self-expression, self-questioning, expanding my limited vision, inspiration, consideration of possibilities, I use them also for coaching.

9. I believe we are moving into a golden era of creativity and peace.