Aoife Barrett is a multi-disciplinary artist and printmaker with a career that spans artistic creation, education, community engagement and entrepreneurship. She holds a BA (Honours) in Fine Art: Printmaking from the Limerick School of Art and Design and an MA in Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking from the University of the West of England.
Her socially engaged arts practice centres on printmaking and collaboration, which she actively promotes through her travelling print studio, Print Van Go. Print Van Go aims to make printmaking more accessible to a wider audience by bringing printmaking tools and facilities directly into communities. It is driven by a desire to connect with people and places, to spark dialogue on social issues and share the power of art in healing. From rural communities in Tipperary to hospital beds in Galway (Saolta Arts 2018-’20) and youth centres in Dublin (Core Youth Service,2022 & Clondalkin YS, 2020-‘21), Print Van Go is a laboratory for creative experiments; making space for the voices of others by co-creating artworks inspired by stories and experiences.
Aoife’s commitment to community engagement and sustainable practices is evident in the numerous community-based projects she has undertaken, such as “The People’s Garden” and "The Printmakers’ Garden Club" with Clonoulty Tidy Villages and Clonoulty N.S (Creative Irl, 2021 -24) "The Limerick Road Show" with communities across Limerick (BoI, 2023) and ‘Found Links’ with Local Link rural bus (Creative Irl, 2021).