Local Faces: Sharon Devlin

This week, we’re delighted to feature Tallaght native Sharon Devlin, Director of Tallaght Community Arts – who is an artist, an educator and a dynamo who has spread her love of Art to the people of Tallaght and beyond for more years than she’d probably care to remember, writes Ken Doyle.

A tremendously warm, witty and accomplished woman, Sharon has more qualifications than I can fit on these pages.

I’ll give it a go nonetheless to get it over with and to give you, dear readers, an idea of the calibre of citizen we’re talking about.

So, Sharon has diplomas, Degrees and Masters from Trinity, The Open University, NUI Maynooth and TUD Tallaght and The London Montessori School amongst others.

Actually Sharon is about as far from a poseuse as they come and will probably kill me for listing all of that but as I say, another phenomenally talented local head whether she likes it or not.

It’s just that Sharon has degrees and diplomas falling out of her pockets and as she will tell us later, any of us could do the same.

I mean obviously not a certified dunderhead like your faithful scribe but you, our dear readers. We aim to inspire here at Echo Towers.

So let’s go back to the start of what’s been quite the journey.

“I’m a proud Tallaght girl first and foremost. I went to Old Bawn Community School and I always loved to draw and my art classes.

‘I also had a friend as a kid who was Dutch, and her mother was the artist Greta Vegter. I loved to see her work and she was also a huge inspiration to me.”

“I didn’t pursue a career in the arts when I left school. I worked in Stewart’s Hospital and trained as a Montessori teacher which was a joy.

‘I’ve been a big cheerleader for the Montessori method ever since. It’s a holistic approach giving children an active learning experience. I’ve seen the results and would recommend it to anyone.”

It wasn’t long though before the art-bug well and truly bit and Sharon switched her focus into turning her passion into her career.

And as you’ll have surmised by now, she didn’t do it by halves.

“First of all, I decided to take the Open University diploma and through that and meeting my coursemates I started to get over a bit of imposter syndrome I’d been carrying around.

‘Through them and a special tutor and mentor named Ms Hayden I came through it well and just wanted to do more, and that led to me subsequently complete my BA and Masters.

‘My work is as a Freelance Art Practitioner these days. I’ve always had the thirst for knowledge and I always love encouraging aspiring artists to express themselves, no matter what their level.

‘We are all inherently artistic beings and it’s just a question of finding what strikes a chord with people.

‘We’re surrounded by art anyway, through Drawings, Paintings, Movies, TV and I love to challenge people to look at these things as artistic endeavours.”

I hate to ‘gloss over’ so many of Sharon’s achievements and adventures but I’m not Tolstoy and I’ve got to fit some pictures on these pages too so I tried to steer the conversation towards Tallaght Community Arts at this point.

Luckily Sharon was only too happy to wax lyrical on the subject.

“I first joined as Freelance Arts Practitioner in 2004 when Deborah Moone was Director.

‘I worked closely with John Carpenter who was teaching at the time and who would go on to be a great friend and mentor.

‘Also there was Ruth Clancy, who was a true all-rounder who gave 27 years of fantastic service to the group.”

“Luckily some years ago we moved into Rua Red and became Anchor Tenants there.

‘Please put in that we’re incredibly grateful to everyone at Rua Red.

‘They’re great to us in so many ways and we couldn’t possibly be in a better place.”

Tallaght Community Arts run numerous core projects and always have some form of exhibition or artistic venture going on.

It’s a participation based organisation and local people from all walks of life have connected with it in the almost thirty years of existence.

Sharon became TCA Director in 2024.

One project at TCA which is particularly close to Sharon’s heart is DoubleTAKE Supported Arts Studio in Rua Red.

Sharon is its co-ordinator and it offers a space for people living with all manner of disabilities to connect and work together in a professional studio environment with skilled Professional Artist Mentors.

“We started DoubleTAKE in 2010 and in the early days we’d barely get double figures turning up.

‘Now we have around 80 coming to us with new people joining all the time. We have a ‘sit down and have a seat’ policy where we talk to new members and help them achieve their objectives.”

“We’ve now added a music studio to Double Take’s people so if that’s their thing, we have the equipment and the people to fulfil their requirements.

‘We make Rua Red quite a lively place but it’s a place overrun with good vibes.

‘You can feel it as soon as you walk in the door.”

“We also host an Advocacy through the arts group. These people live in residential disability care.

‘They work as Advocates for themselves, their peers and all people who require additional support and care.

‘They produced a very powerful film, ‘We Will Not Sit Down and be Quiet,’ in 2023, and we have toured it throughout TUD universities, disability care centres, HIQA nationally and the Dáil last year.

‘They’ve now set their sights on bringing it to President Catherine Connelly.”

They’ve also managed to buy The Making Space – which is their creative hub and it’s located in Mountain Park, off the Old Bawn road. It’s a well-equipped artistic space which can be hired by groups in the area.

You can contact sharondoyle@tallaght-arts.ie for further details.

TCA have big plans for 2026, their 30th anniversary year and these include ‘The Chronicles of Tallaght, 769AD to the Present.’

The first iteration in October will celebrate the late 1970’s early 1980’s. “We spent last year interviewing many Tallaght residents, hearing their stories of how the came to be in Tallaght.

Watch this space,” Sharon tells me.

TCA will also be hosting a retrospective celebration of their creative connections, celebrations and adventures with the community of Tallaght and the wider South Dublin Area. This will be held in Rua Red Arts Centre 27th Nov – 5th Dec 2026.

They will also have what will no doubt be a show-stopping addition to the St Patrick’s Day Parade for the first time ever.

Sharon insists on heaping praise onto the people and organisations who have helped her and Tallaght Community Arts along the way.

South Dublin County Council, The Arts Council, Creative Ireland and An Cosán have been a great help she tells me.

“And then the gang who make the whole organisation run and I’m grateful to them all.

‘The team in the TCA office are Jennifer, Sharon, Sailí Áine, Dan, Gary, Leo and Conor.

‘The team in DoubleTAKE Supported Arts studio are: Caroline, Amy, Debora, Alanna, Michelle, Philip and Mark.

‘The DoubleTAKE Supported Music studio team are Domhnaill and John.

So we’ve established that Sharon is a woman of zeal and commitment but nothing rivals excitement in her voice when she talks about her children, Sarah who’s 24 and has completed a Degree in Art at Trinity and Conor who’s 19 and studying Bass Guitar (the most important musical instrument of them all, prove me wrong) at the renowned BIMM.

She now lives in exile up the road in Blessington happily shacked up with her partner of 16 years, Stephen (also a Tallaght man).

If you go on to Sharon’s website you’ll see some fabulous examples of her work, including a fascinating mixed-media exhibit called Quindara – Autumn’s Lonely Rose. Highly recommended.

Her work has been bought by the great and the good and she took great delight in informing me that David Kennedy, Earl of Echo Towers himself owns a Sharon Devlin original. Now if that isn’t success, I don’t know what is.

To see Sharon’s work, visit her website.

For more information on Tallaght Community Arts visit HERE.