Evan McKenna

My work explores rural life, memory, and observation through stained glass and sculptural installation. Rooted in time spent on my grandparents’ farm, this project focuses on the routines, conversations, and quiet moments that shape everyday life within a farming environment. Rather than presenting an idealised image of the Irish countryside, I am interested in the slower, and more repetitive realities of rural life, where weather, animals, and seasonal changes structure daily routines and ways of living.

The stained glass panel depicts cattle moving through a shed doorway, surrounded by rolling fields and familiar farm landscapes. Installed within a repurposed round cattle feeder, the work brings together the visual language of traditional stained glass with an object directly taken from the farm. The feeder acts both as a sculptural frame and as a continuation of the practical mentality often found within farming communities, where objects are constantly repaired, reused, and repurposed rather than discarded.

I am interested in how stained glass and farming both exist as traditional practices shaped by time, repetition, and manual labour. The processes of leading, cutting, and assembling glass mirrors the slower rhythms of work on the farm, where routines are repeated daily. By combining stained glass with a worn cattle feeder, I wanted to place these two worlds in conversation with one another, allowing the work to sit between personal memory, observation, and rural material culture.