Biography
Susan Mannion is a full-time visual artist and curator originally from Omagh, working between Boyle in the west of Ireland and an exhibiting circuit that spans the Royal Academy (RA), the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), and the Royal Ulster Academy (RUA). Her primary practice is wood engraving and copper enamelling, with lino, woodcut, and mokuhanga (Japanese water-based woodblock printing) running as parallel strands. She holds a BSc, an MSSc, and a PhD with various certificates and diplomas, and her academic background is in archaeology — specifically the medieval architecture of the Cistercian and Friary order of Connacht — which informs the architectural-form motifs that recur through her enamel and wood-engraving series.
Mannion has been a member of Graphic Studio Dublin since 2012 and is one of four GSD members who have studied mokuhanga in Japan at the internationally recognised centre of excellence MI-Lab (Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory at Lake Kawaguchi). Awarded residencies have included The Dock, Cill Rialaig, the Valerie Earley Award, the Tyrone Guthrie Residency Award, and the MI-Lab six-week mokuhanga residency in Japan. She is a former museum curator (Mayo County Council and Craigavon Borough Council) and a former teaching assistant at Queen's University, Belfast.
Her mokuhanga 'Transition' (26 × 34 cm, edition of 10) was selected for the Kanreki exhibition mounted by Graphic Studio Dublin to mark its 60th anniversary, the cohort organised around a brief that all participating artists incorporate the colour red. The exhibition was shown at The Model, Sligo (2020), Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin (April 2021), and travelled to the 9th International Mokuhanga Conference satellite event at Nara Prefectural Cultural Hall (30 November to 4 December 2021). Additional mokuhanga works in her catalogue include 'The White Pebble' (24.5 × 17 cm, unique), 'The Days Mount Up' (18 × 13 cm, unique), and 'Creativity Waxes and Wanes' (18 × 13 cm, unique).
Mannion's broader catalogue runs across wood engraving (the Lacunae cycle at 100 × 100 cm and 12.5 × 12.5 cm scales, plus 'Summer Rain' and 'Frost Line'), screened-and-sifted enamel on copper (the Architectural Form series, 15 × 15 cm), and archival digital mixed media print ('The Black Pool — Dublin Lives Reflected'). Her work draws from landscape and patterns in nature and is described as creating a sense of place, time, and memory through intricate thread-like lines and fine textural incisions, producing atmospheric and surreal aesthetics. Collaborations with musicians, poets, and writers have produced album covers and book illustrations.
For Hanga's purposes, Mannion qualifies as a verified Irish print artist with GSD membership since 2012, MI-LAB-certified mokuhanga training, Kanreki-cohort selection, and an established cross-medium practice combining wood engraving, mokuhanga, and copper enamel.
Key Facts
- Nationality
- 🇮🇪Ireland
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
- Works Indexed
- 2
Frequently Asked Questions
Susan Mannion is a full-time visual artist and curator originally from Omagh, working between Boyle in the west of Ireland and an exhibiting circuit that spans the Royal Academy (RA), the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), and the Royal Ulster Academy (RUA). Her primary practice is wood engraving and copper enamelling, with lino, woodcut, and mokuhanga (Japanese water-based woodblock printing) running as parallel strands. She holds a BSc, an MSSc, and a PhD with various certificates and diplomas, and her academic background is in archaeology — specifically the medieval architecture of the Cistercian and Friary order of Connacht — which informs the architectural-form motifs that recur through her enamel and wood-engraving series.
Susan Mannion's work was shaped by the Contemporary Mokuhanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Contemporary Mokuhanga: Contemporary mokuhanga (literally "wood-block print") encompasses artists working from approximately 1970 to the present who continue or reinvent traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques.
