Michael Wann Irish, b. 1969

Michael Wann was born in Dublin in 1969, and lives and works in Sligo. He studied under Sean McSweeney at Sligo IT, graduating with a Diploma in Fine Art in 1992, and a Bachelor in Fine Art in 2003.

Michael has exhibited his drawing-based work widely in Ireland, including solo exhibitions with the Ashford Gallery, RHA, Cross Gallery, Dublin, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo, The Model, Sligo, Custom House, Westport, Solstice, Navan, Draiocht, Dublin, and Claremorris Gallery, Co. Mayo.  His drawings have been selected for the Royal Hibernian Academy's Annual Exhibition every year since 2004, and he was awarded the AXA Insurance Drawing Prize at the RHA in 2006, and the ESB Sean Keating Prize and RHA Silver Medal in 2016. Michael is a Fellow of the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, and has held residencies at Cill Rialig, Co. Kerry and the Heinrich Böll Cottage on Achill, Co. Mayo. In 2010 Hughie O'Donoghue selected Michael's work for the Tom Caldwell Drawing Prize and the Inaugural Rowel Friers Perpetual Trophy at the Royal Ulster Academy's Annual Exhibition, and in 2012 he was awarded a Merit Prize from the Trustees of The Golden Fleece.

In 2022 the National Gallery of Ireland acquired one of his drawings for their permanent collection.  His work also is held in numerous Irish public collections including Boyle Civic Collection, Waterford Municipal Collection, Office of Public Works, Mayo County Council, Fingal County Council, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, AXA Insurance, and the Ballinglen Archive, as well as private collections in Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.