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Gwen Stevenson is an Irish visual artist based in the border region and working across the island of Ireland.

Her practice explores relationships between people, place and responsive systems through interactive digital media, projection, immersive technologies and participation. She creates visual works in which images and environments respond in real time to human presence and interaction, exploring how individual actions can produce wider effects and consequences.

Stevenson’s practice is informed by a background spanning fine art, engineering, computer modelling and organisational behaviour and by a long-term interest in systems and how they shape human experience. She holds qualifications from Ulster University, Trinity College Dublin, the University of London and IADT Dublin, and has continued to develop her digital practice through study and experimentation in generative art, virtual production and media systems in Berlin, Belfast, Dublin and Belfast. She is also studying Mandarin (HSK4), reflecting an ongoing interest in cross-cultural research and exchange.

In 2026, Stevenson was awarded the Arts Council of Northern Ireland China Artist Residency at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Beijing, where she developed her practice within an international experimental art and technology context.

Alongside her studio practice, Stevenson has developed an extensive socially engaged practice over more than two decades, working across healthcare settings, youth programmes and communities affected by the legacy of conflict in Ireland. These projects explore collective memory, participation and shared experience through creative approaches.

She has exhibited across Ireland, the UK and internationally, including Belfast Exposed, Digital Arts Studios Belfast, Catalyst Arts Belfast, Project Arts Centre Dublin and Estudio Abierto Buenos Aires. She has also been selected for curated programmes including the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Digital Arts Showcase presented at The MAC Belfast.

Her awards and residencies include the Arts Council of Northern Ireland China Artist Residency Award, ACNI Digital Evolution Award, SIAP Awards, ACI Agility Award and the Narrative Futures Award (Future Screens NI).

Upcoming presentations include Kindred Ash, developed for Digital Arts Studios XR LAB. Stevenson is a board member of Blue Drum, an Irish community arts support organisation, a participant in the VOID Art Centre Fellowship Programme in collaboration with TAAS (The Alternative Art School), and a member of Digital Arts Studios Belfast and Visual Artists Ireland. Her practice continues to develop through research, experimentation, collaboration and international exchange.

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Testimonials
"I worked with Gwen Stevenson on her amazing exhibition "Infinite Mass". The work was an installation-based sound and sculpture work. Exhibited in 2008, Stevenson created a multi-channel sound installation of seven suspended spherical forms with each form acted as an individual sound source. The entire exhibition space was filled with sounds and the forms moved with human movement. An example of early work and the ideas of audience engagement, this work was visionary in Ireland because the installation was one of the first to consider how the viewer would directly interact with the artwork and the space that surrounds via both their visual and audio senses. I will also add that as a curator, I found Stevenson to be a dream to work with--hard working, receptive and her integrity and commement to working with audiences and others is inspiring. Dr Megan Arney Johnston, Independent curator, museum specialist, and author of "Slow Curating: A Handbook for Socially Engaged Curating", to be published by Routledge UK Museum & Heritage in 2024.
Dr. Megan Arney Johnston, Independent curator, museum specialist, and author of "Slow Curating: A Handbook for Socially Engaged Curating", to be published by Routledge UK Museum & Heritage in 2024.
"I’ve worked with Gwen for over 5 years on the Heart of Living and Dying group process, helping members of the public begin their own advance care planning conversations. Gwen made herself available to the work from inception through implementation and evaluation. Her talent has been evident from the beginning. Her sensitivity within and around the group helped create the emotional safety people need for such delicate conversations and the artwork Gwen created, honoured the stories people shared and provided a beautiful keepsake of their experience. Gwen has been an exceptionally talented, respectful, committed and capable partner in this important work."
Deirdre McKenna, Social Work Consultant, Northern Ireland
"Gwen Stevenson, one of Arts Cares incredibly talented, super innovative and down-right impressive Artists in Residence, has spent 11 years as an Artist in Residence in the Southern Health and Social Care Trust in the Newry and Mourne Area. Gwen is a brilliant visual artist who can work across many mediums and is known at Arts Care for her innovation and experimentation with Digital Arts and Virtual Reality. Some of her most recent projects include “Landscapes of Hope” a relaxing zoom project for healthcare staff to create landscapes by ‘painting with wool’, reinstating Arts Care Arts Club a Mental Health Programme of Care and “Gathering” a memory collage for a service user diagnosed with early onset dementia. Gwen has also been a project artist with the Twilight Zone Festival, creating artworks with young people in care and Arts Care’s annual Older People’s Here and Now Festival.” #welovegwen
Stephanie McKervill, Arts Care Arts and Business Manager
我很荣幸曾在“莉莲·布兰德（Lilian Bland）项目”中与Gwen Stevenson合作。Gwen的工作使莉莲·布兰德的故事在北爱尔兰及其他地区的一代年轻人中焕发了新的生命力，并成为艺术与工程领域跨界合作的典范，有效挑战了负面刻板印象，同时教育并激励下一代女性设计师、创新者与创业者。
Prof M Morgan, Associate Head of School & Athena SWAN Champion, School of Engineering, Ulster University
“Gwen Stevenson, has a wide range of skills allowing her to offer different forms of arts though which healthcare environments can be enhanced and clients can engage and express themselves through a medium of their choice. Gwen’s pragmatic, problem-solving approach affirms my view that the arts should not be viewed as peripheral, something to be enjoyed in our leisure time. Rather it can be woven into the fabric of our everyday working lives to find creative approaches to the challenges we meet on an everyday basis. We look forward to another year of creativity in action!”
Noreen McComiskey. Specialist Services Manager (Forensic, Epilepsy, Crisis Response and Transition)
Gwen为青年艺术小组以及机构工作人员团队提供艺术活动支持，并为两类群体都提供了高质量的服务。 针对工作人员的课程旨在支持其自我关怀与身心调适，这些活动反响非常好，深受参与者欢迎并获得一致好评。与此同时，她也与青年群体开展合作，围绕多种艺术媒介组织不同形式的工作坊。参与的年轻人从她的耐心指导与专业经验中获益良多，这些活动始终参与度高，并对所有参与者产生了积极影响。
Stephanie Wilson, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service
“When I was Mayor of Craigavon, I opened an art exhibition entitled ‘Roses, Lace & Lingerie’ as part of Portadown 400. Portadown boasts a rich history and, the Garvaghy Road in particular, was famous for its textiles manufacturing as well as the McCredy Roses which originated there and had international status. McGredy's Roses, Ulster Lace and the Mayfair textiles factory employed thousands of local residents. This exhibition was a celebration the town’s heritage and a fantastic opportunity to look at the shared history of this time. It was also the first time I met artist, Gwen Stevenson, whose socially engaged art practice, includes any artform involving people and communities in debate, collaboration or social interaction. Gwen continues to work creatively and skilfully with so many groups across Craigavon, often in very challenging circumstances, always bringing her own special magic to make a difference in people’s lives and communities. Gwen has a way of creating safe spaces and giving people confidence to step outside their comfort zones to try something new. Gwen shows us that art and creativity is for everyone, not just the few, and has the potential to be a powerful catalyst for change.”
Carla Lockharte, Member of Parliament
“At Brain Injury Matters we use the Arts and Sports in rehabilitation and long-term support. It is about people exploring who they are, what their interests are, expressing it and engaging in wider society. During lockdown, Gwen responded by finding innovative and engaging ways to make our participants’ worlds became bigger with endless possibilities. She introduced them to a range of digital technologies including VR, AR, Animation and Podcasting which are now hosted online or will be screened / exhibited at exhibitions and arts festivals in the future.”
Dr. Jonathan McCrea, Head of Service Delivery at Brain Injury Matters
“Gwen has facilitated socially-engaged, participatory and public arts programs and projects across Mid-Ulster Council for almost 20 years addressing difficult issues of disability, disadvantage, division, public health, and inequality. She is one of our most versatile and inventive artists responding to every situation with great skill across a range of media from traditional arts & crafts to digital arts & new media, including augmented and virtual realities. Fundamentally, she is a storyteller or story gatherer and the outcome of her processes with groups and participants is always excellent. From our point of view, we know that when we give Gwen a job to do, it will be done exceptionally well, on time and within budget. ”
Christine McGowan, Arts & Development Officer, Mid-Ulster Council, Northern Ireland
“"Gwen is a truly generous soul who selflessly works so hard that others can shine but doesn't stand in the spotlight herself. ”
Malachy Barry, Participant, Arts Care Art Club, Newry
我和我的妻子与Gwen Stevenson相识已久，能够在多个公共空间艺术项目中与她并肩合作是一种荣幸。 与这样一位富有启发性且才华横溢的艺术家与个人合作，不仅令人倍感荣幸，Gwen还为我们@DevlinInDesign提供了一个重要平台，使我们得以迈向更广阔的国际艺术领域。 我们对Gwen在过去给予我们的无数机会始终心怀感激，并非常珍视与她之间的友谊与专业合作关系。 如果要用10分来评价Gwen作为一位杰出人才的表现，我会给她11分。
Enda Devlin, Owner, Devlin in Design
“Wildlife Memories afforded a microscopic opportunity to look at the rich diversity of our customs and the flora and fauna. For me, it showed how our landscape and environment influences our lifestyle choices. That book and the new book will undoubtedly act as an teaching aid on the importance of protecting our environment and unique biodiversity against the ravages of climate change. Kate, Kathryn, Roy and Gwen have made an invaluable contribution to local communities throughout N Ireland through encouraging people on a cross community basis to provide interesting stories from their childhood and that of their families about the importance of protecting our natural heritage and wildlife. Such work is invaluable as we emerge from the COvid-19 pandemic. It also informs this and future generations about the inter-connectedness and inter dependence of all our communities – thus making a valuable contribution to all of us in society in N Ireland. Gwen’s own story, ‘The Three Sisters’, really resonates with me, telling as it does how the landscape of our childhoods shape us and though we may leave it, it never leaves us.”
Margaret Ritchie, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick
"Our immigrant population has enriched us our lives in many ways, not least in seeing our ourselves, our history and our shared place through a different lens. I cannot think of a more beautiful encapsulation of that ‘different lens’ than the collection of personal photographs contained in this book. Gao Ningu came to Dungannon to teach. Her photographs focus on the particular beauty within the moment of the ordinary present which we all share without reference to a past which is not her history. She teaches us to look twice, mindfully with an open heart. Gao also has exceptional talent which did not escape the eye of local artist Gwen Stevenson, who encouraged and supported Gao by contributing her own considerable art and design skills and experience to publish the photographs. Small actions of solidarity have enabled a work of enduring beauty of shared place to be shared, and it has been a joy to have been able to help make it happen".
Bernadette McAliskey, CEO, South Tyrone Empowerment Program (STEP)