Amy Mc Andrew
**Abounding in Shells** consists of observing the derelict buildings/houses around the county of Sligo and treasuring their looming presence. Countryside loneliness and rural exodus play a large part in my work, as people move away from the countryside to bigger towns and cities, leaving homes and other buildings abandoned. This movement of people can be due to lack of facilities, shops and transport services. It can be very hard living in such rural areas, especially if you do not own a car, and this burdens the ‘idyllic’ image of the countryside. I want to draw attention to these homes, now decaying in a country with a housing crisis, destined to decay within time to come.
Using both aquatint and embossing in my work, I combine the two methods in order to enhance each other and the viewing experience. The embossing feature gives a very important addition to the print, as you can only properly view it by looking at it with your own eyes, just like how seeing these buildings in person truly makes one feel emotion by being there. I have embossed some elements from the area beside these homes, enhancing the ghostly feeling of a home fading away. The remnants of these buildings are emphasised through features of nature reclaim. Trees and plants work their way through and over these structures, reoccupying areas forgotten by humans. Many of the buildings I have sourced from my own images, have been taken over by the natural elements of the surrounding areas, leaving trees to grow within these homes and ivy to smother the stone walls. I am always drawn to trees specifically, constantly in admiration of their journey through growth in the space available to them. Their asymmetrical forms are often woven into my work and their natural desire to reclaim abandoned surfaces is fascinating to me.
This thesis explores the purpose of the archive and its transformation over the years, continuing to change and gain new meaning. Memory and nostalgia are two crucial factors that influence people to create and store memories, whether they are their own or not. Storing memories has become a collective mindset, with people recording memories every day. Nostalgia as a concept can be explored in various ways, and our connection to the past can be strengthened through physical objects and images.
The main source material of the archive - printed media - has been dwindling, and observations must be made on this issue. This thesis explores various effects the loss of printed material and reduction in physical media will have on artists, limiting their source material and reducing the consumption of media and information. With collage artists’ exceptional use of printed material and other artists using archives in their work, this decline in material printed, or fit for archives, will have lasting effects on the art form. The artists mentioned challenge the institutional archive’s rules and regulations, where some documents are chosen as valuable and others are forgotten.
Amy McAndrew is an artist based in both Dublin and Sligo. She specialises in the print making method intaglio, and acrylic/oil painting. Copper plate etchings have become a field she is expanding on, through aquatint, chine collé and embossing. Her work involves imagery of landscapes and nature, taking inspiration from the area around her home in Sligo. The themes of longing and homesickness frequently surround her work. Amy has exhibited in the IADT student shows **The Place Project**, IMMA Studios (2023) and **Down the road, around the corner**, Pallas Projects/Studios (2026) and also in **Emerging Perspectives**, Reynold’s Gallery (2025).
