Deirdre Shanley grew up in Johnstown Bridge, a small village near Enfield, Co. Kildare, Ireland. She first studied printmaking as part of a Postgraduate Diploma in Art Education at Birmingham College of Art and Design and she is a founder member of the Leinster Print Studio. She won the prize for Best Emerging Artist at Eigse in 2002.
Deirdre likes the experimental nature of Printmaking and the combining of different techniques to achieve the final image. She especially favours carborundum for it's closeness to painting and the richness of colour obtained from the process.
The Collaboration with Alison Craig has opened Deirdre up to many new ideas and new ways of working. She has found it a very good learning experience. It has been an uncertain journey at times, made up of different stages , all the while work being posted over and back between the two artists and the sketchbook being a very important part of the dialogue.