Mick O’Dea (b. Co Clare 1958) studied at the National College of Art and Design, Ireland and the University of Massachusetts from 1976 to 1981. He later completed an MFA at Winchester School of Art Barcelona and Winchester in European Fine Art (1997). He has lectured at NCAD (1981-1999) in addition to Portlaoise Prison, Wheatfield Prison, The Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Trinity College Dublin, Falmouth College of Art, Canterbury Christ Church University, Lyme Academy of Fine Art Connecticut, and the National Gallery of Ireland in addition to numerous other third level institutions. He was appointed as the first School Principal of the recently reopened RHA School and Studios (2006-2011). He was elected ARHA in 1993, and in 1996 RHA and a member of Aosdána. In 2014 he was elected PRHA and was appointed to the Board of the National Gallery of Ireland. In 2014 he was made an Honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy and in 2015 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Anatomical Society in Madelene College Cambridge. In 2016 he was appointed chair of the Stamp Design Advisory Committee and a member of the Philatelic Advisory Committee of An Post. O’ Dea has exhibited and participated in residencies in Ireland and abroad. His most recent awards include The Ireland US Council/Irish Arts Review Portraiture Award and the Royal Ulster Academy Portraiture Award (2013).