Mary V Mullin A Life in Art and Design

Mary V Mullin first participated in Clifden Arts Festival in 1978, we are honoured to welcome her back for a long overdue return visit. This event will celebrate the legacy of Kilkenny Design Workshops and its inspirational founder William H. Walsh. Mary V Mullin’s early involvement with the KDW offers us a distinctive  insight into this important period in Irish art and design history.

Mary V Mullin is a Founding Member of the Crafts Council of Ireland. She has been a UNIDO consultant in Latin America and was the National Chairman of the Design and Industries Association in the UK. She was a Director of the British Professional Conference Organisers Association. She worked on the Corporate Foundation of W R Grace & Co in New York and Kilkenny Design Workshops in Ireland. She was Founding Director of the National Centre of Culture and Arts in Dublin (now the Museum of Modern Art). She ran her consultancy practice in design and special event management in London from 1981 to 1998. This included working with the V&A’s ‘Boilerhouse ‘, the precursor to the Design Museum. Science Museum, Design Research Unit and other leading design practices and commercial clients.

In November 2011, she was awarded the Bi-Centenary Medal of the RSA (Royal Society of Arts) “for encouraging and Promoting Design Across Education and industry”. the first Irish person to receive this Medal.