About the Artist

Emma O’Toole

Emma O’Toole is a Galway-based ceramic and mixed-media artist working under the name a little piece of my heART. She founded the brand in 2018 as a way to share her work and hold herself creatively accountable. What began as a small personal project has grown into a thoughtful, evolving practice rooted in material exploration, emotional reflection, and connection.

Emma has been a member of The Forge Clay Studios since 2018 and became its voluntary Studio Director at the end of 2024. She is also an orbital member of Engage Art Studios. She works primarily from The Forge in Galway City, where she develops both sculptural and functional ceramic pieces.

She graduated with a First-Class Honours BA in Ceramics from Atlantic Technological University (ATU) in 2015. In 2022, she returned to education to complete a Master’s in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Trinity College Dublin. Alongside her studio practice, Emma works as an arts administrator, facilitator, and educator, and regularly delivers creative workshops.

Emma’s work explores the complexities of the human mind, heart, and emotional landscape. Her practice reflects on the paradoxes of human existence, particularly the interplay between fragility and strength, vulnerability and resilience. These themes often emerge through tactile ceramic forms that invite reflection and quiet connection.

Guided by an intuitive, process-led approach, Emma experiments with form, texture, and material, blending traditional ceramic techniques with contemporary elements such as copper and mixed media. Her pieces embody a tension between exposure and protection, and celebrate the beauty found in imperfection and endurance.

Rooted in Irish culture and identity, her recent work revisits themes of heritage, language, and memory as a way to rediscover and reimagine belonging. Through a little piece of my heART, Emma continues to explore how material, process, and emotion intersect to create meaningful, contemplative work.

Thank you so much for being here and taking the time to learn a little about me and my work.

With love,
Emma