Elayne Adamczyk Harrington
Elayne Adamczyk Harrington
Elayne Adamczyk Harrington
Elayne Adamczyk Harrington
Elayne Adamczyk Harrington
Artist & Educator
Artist & Educator
Artist & Educator
Education / Background
Elayne Adamczyk Harrington is a practicing artist and educator whose work explores themes of faith, identity, and institutional critique. Born in Cabra and raised in Finglas, Dublin, Elayne’s working-class roots are central to her identity. Boxing, motorbikes, and hip-hop are key parts of her cultural landscape, which inform her artistic practice. These influences, along with the legacy of her father’s work as a musician and writer, her mother’s role in union leadership and women's rights, and her grandfather's faith, have shaped her ethos and creative journey. Throughout her entire career, Elayne has remained committed to education and youth and community intervention. Her journey in education, from secondary school in Finglas through PLC courses in Motor Vehicle Technology, Art and Drama, and a BA in Fine Art (Sculpture & Expanded Practice with Critical Cultures) from NCAD and the University of Arts in Poznań, to a Professional Master’s in Art & Design Education, has been a foundational part of who she is today. After enduring the challenges and rigor of her education, Elayne emerged as a teacher, artist, and community leader, further deepening her commitment to the process of learning and growth.
In her fine art practice, through corporeal performance, intermedia, and installation, Elayne’s actions, objects, and works often present a duplicitous nature, balancing playfulness and naivety with violence and unpredictability. She is currently developing 24 Movements in 2 Miscellaneous Flux, a dynamic series of artworks, two of which debuted at the recent Flux members' exhibition. Elayne’s broader hip-hop, poetry, and socially engaged practice includes the remastered rap LP Temperamental Miscellaneous, the socially engaged project Rhythms of Refuge, and Devotions, a second spoken word album with guitar accompaniment by Barry Bourke. As an art teacher and JCSP (Junior Certificate School Programme) coordinator at a DEIS school, she empowers students through critical engagement with their identities and the world around them. She also leads a school boxing club, using the discipline and strength of the sport to inspire her students.
A keen motorbiker, Elayne promotes safe riding within the community, reflecting her commitment to hands-on, engaged living. Her work balances a reverence for biblical principles with a radical critique of societal norms, creating space for creativity in dialogue with faith and societal structures. In both her creative practice and teaching, Elayne fosters spaces where students and viewers alike are encouraged to engage critically, explore their identities, and question societal norms. Rooted in Finglas, Elayne draws from the resilience and creativity of her local community. Her faith journey is central to her identity, and she finds inspiration through fellowship at Jamestown Road Baptist Church, where she serves and is actively involved. Committed to both the Finglas community and her church family, Elayne lives out her values with compassion and purpose. As a current student at the Irish Baptist College, Elayne is deepening her theological understanding, integrating her faith into all areas of her life and work. Her Christian faith shapes her creative and teaching practices, inviting others to engage with their own journeys of self- discovery and hope.
A Legacy of Community Engagement in Hip-hop, Poetry & Entertainment
Emerging as Temper-Mental MissElayneous in 2011, Elayne began her career as a bodhrán playing Irish ballad singer and rapper. She wrote her first poem at the age of nine and learned how to play drums at age 12. Inspired by the cultures of hip-hop, motown, jazz, metal and punk, she continuously wrote rap, poetry and song lyrics when, at 14, she adopted the name 'Temper- Mental' adding 'MissElayneous' at 19.
After several solo years on the circuit, having worked with DJs, producers and fellow rappers, the straight-edge punk rapper formed a duo with turntablist DJ FunkTom in 2014. Together, they are known as TMM, an anarcho-punk underground hip-hop duo. Elayne's career in Irish hip-hop reached a significant milestone during her work with Axis Ballymun. Her 2014 vinyl release, Heart Lose Tempo, produced by punk pioneer Stano and featuring sleeve art by renowned graffiti artist CISTO, was launched by poet Paula Meehan. This led to her invitation to contribute to the Irish Poetry Repository at UCD’s James Joyce Library, an ongoing initiative dedicated to archiving urban poetry and hip-hop culture for future generations. Elayne's poetry and literary contributions include Celebration of W.B. Yeats: Selected by Meehan for a poetic journey to The Lake Isle of Innisfree, reflecting on Yeats’ legacy followed by BBC Radio 4 Feature: 'We Will Arise and Go Now' broadcast highlighting adventures on Innisfree (2016).
Elayne has over a decade of experience in the Irish hip-hop and poetry scenes, with multiple musical, poetry, and video releases, as well as involvement in live music and entertainment in TV, theatre, radio and film. Elayne's contributions to live performance extend to theatre, where she played a typecast role in Break at the Dublin Fringe Festival, written by Amy Conroy and directed by Veronica Coburn Gray. Elayne has engaged in a wide range of community-based and entertainment work including engaging in the festival circuit CastlePalooza, Electric Picnic, Life Festival, Vantastival, Hard Working Class Heroes and Vantastival, she also supported acts such as Mick Jones and Wu Tang Clan, featuring on the bill for events alongside the likes of Christy Moore, collaborating with numerous interesting figures such as GI (Working Class Records), Steve Ignorant & Paranoid Visions, Colm Querney and Dublin Gospel Choir, as well as Kevin Pluck (Blood or Whiskey) throughout the years. In the realm of youth and community Elayne began to use hip-hop and spoken word as vehicles for education and social connection, encouraging learners to explore rhythm, lyricism, performance, and social connection. Her experience includes facilitating special needs music and performance groups, collaborating on youth work initiatives, and serving as a rapper in residence for JCSP (Junior Certificate School Programme) Wrapparound (Writing Rapping and Performance Poetry) in collaboration with Poetry Ireland.
She has also participated in poetry residencies, commissions, and public discussion panels, engaging in social and political activism that addresses various community issues, for example the 2014 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty & International Day of the Girl included a performance and panel feature on the theme of feminine empowerment and another guest panelist for 'Made From Scratch’ for the Y Factor, NWCI (National Women’s Council of Ireland) 2013. Elayne was a student of Maroon Party for Liberation Billy Martin (spiritchild) and studied under his Black Panther radical social educational approach which influenced her research in the likes of school meals programmes and initiatives in Ireland which target poverty and increase retention and progression in schools. Prior to qualifying as a teacher, she worked as a workshop facilitator and instructor across primary to third-level settings since 2011, including notable placements at Mountjoy and Dóchas Education Centres, she has coordinated school-based reading initiatives and served as a mentor, exemplified by her project with young Dublin poet Carl Óg, for which she created spoken word videos for NCAD’s 2020 Change Lab, which led to vital research for her final PME year in 2022.
In that same year she carried out mural project at Rosary College Crumlin, leading a JCSP visual art initiative focusing on 'Wellbeing & Nature' (2022) alongside conducting workshops at Marino College, which involved songwriting and recording workshops, engaging students in musical creation, followed by Creative Places in Athy where she participated in community arts initiatives promoting creative engagement with marginalised youth groups. 4 Her community practice focuses on empowering individuals through creativity and fostering connections through the arts, culminating in her role as JCSP Coordinator and her current position at Cabra Community College. In film, Shimmy Marcus directed her first music video Dominoes, she provided the soundtrack for the Guinness Bursary advertisement in 2013, and in the short film Flow (2018), Elayne stars as Tink Mallon. The film is directed by Michael Lavelle and written by Gavin Ryan. It features Paul Alwright and Moe Dunford, with Tim Palmer as the producer. The story delves into themes of resilience and community challenges.
Currently, she is remastering her debut album, Temperamental Miscellaneous, to commemorate the 10th anniversary, featuring new tracks and videos dedicated to the late Frank Murray, her former manager. Additional current musical and poetry projects include Devotions, a spoken word album with guitar accompaniment by Barry Bourke, and other musical/lyrical collaborations Nostalgia De La Boue (punk poetry and noise art with miscellaneous artists) and Stall It, Jesus: Prayers from a Confessional Rapper (with Ciarán Wilde).
Educator
Elayne serves as the JCSP (Junior Certificate School Programme) Coordinator at a DEIS (Delivering Equality of Education in Schools) institution, teaching Visual Art at junior and senior levels. She currently teaches Personal Care in the Special Needs Unit and Childcare & Community Care for LCA (Leaving Certificate Applied).
She recently taught VPG (Vocational Preparation and Guidance) to her recent LCA graduates and current LCA1s, helping them achieve maximum credits through their innovative and exceptional task work. In her pastoral role as Tutor (Caomhnóir), she supports a cohort of first- year students. Elayne brings a dynamic, multidisciplinary approach to teaching, combining performance, socially engaged practices, and innovative differentiated models to inspire students in creative self-expression and autonomy in their academic and personal development. She fosters an inclusive and supportive classroom environment, helping students explore their identities and develop confidence, regardless of their individual needs and learning styles.
Visual Art and Interdisciplinary Projects
Rooted in Fine Art praxis, Elayne is a multidisciplinary artist focusing on sculpture, performance, intermedia, and socially engaged practice. She is a recent resident at the IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) and DAS (Dean Art Studio) and a student of Jef Johnson, clown master and performance pedagogue. Her interdisciplinary practice is evident in her collaboration with Johnson, as she hosted him as a guest performer and lecturer during her final BA year. 5 Recently, through Fields of Play 2024—a retreat held at Patch Adams' Gesundheit Institute—Jef and Elayne produced a music video for her song Honeymoon, highlighting the interplay of music, storytelling, video, and performance art. As a visual artist, Elayne investigates class and institutional critique. She explores themes of humiliation, futility, naivety and aggression through vocal, verbal, sound/noise, abject and corporeal, durational, endurance, exhibiting through live, participatory and installation modes. She utilises found objects and engages in live performance and action as well as traditional sculptural, film or photographic approaches. Elayne documents her process through written and drawn records in physical and digital notebooks and portfolio.
In 2019, she participated in masterclasses and performance with John Court at the University of Fine Arts in Poznań as part of the Sculpture In Process conference, resulting in research and writing on the experiences. At the 9th Contexts International Festival of Ephemeral Art in Sokołowsko, Poland, she presented my performance Miscellaneous and collaborated with Roddy Hunter on the music video for 'Pie in the Sky' blending fine art and hip-hop elements.
Her ongoing projects include Rhythms of Refuge - From Vetting to Voice—a programme empowering asylum seekers through hip-hop and performance workshops—as well as Movements in Miscellaneous Flux, a series of artworks, two of which were recently exhibited at the FLUX members' exhibition, the private launch of which Elayne performed her piece 'Fakes and Manners' with bodhrán accompaniment.
See also: https://elayneharrington.com/flux-studio.
Research and Lifelong Learning
Elayne is committed to continuous professional development (CPD) to enhance her teaching career. She has recently engaged in training on Drama, Film, and Theatre Studies in the Classroom and LCA Visual Art. She is also involved in the OIDE Creativity - DesignCIRCLE programme for 2023-24, having secured a place for this year as well.
Personal Progression
Elayne is currently a student at the Irish Baptist College, where she is deeply invested in studying the Bible and enhancing her relationship with God. In her first module of this accredited course, Basic Christian Doctrine, taught by Martin Parker, she wrote her first essay titled “Our Relational and Relatable God—Shared Tears and His Saving Sacrifice.” This essay explores Christ's humanity, shared sorrows, and ultimate sacrifice as presented through His Word. She is currently undergoing the next module, Communicating the Gospel, led by Pastor Alan Neely from Jamestown Road Baptist Church. 6 Elayne is also engaged in an 8-week Creative Writing course with writer Aiden O'Reilly at Flux Studios, where she is writing a series of poems for a traditional poetry book beginning with ‘When I was a Bride’, an unconscious stream zine called ‘RATS Out’ which corresponds with one of her visual artworks in process and a collection of rhymes called ‘Diss No Diss’.
Education / Background
Elayne Adamczyk Harrington is a practicing artist and educator whose work explores themes of faith, identity, and institutional critique. Born in Cabra and raised in Finglas, Dublin, Elayne’s working-class roots are central to her identity. Boxing, motorbikes, and hip-hop are key parts of her cultural landscape, which inform her artistic practice. These influences, along with the legacy of her father’s work as a musician and writer, her mother’s role in union leadership and women's rights, and her grandfather's faith, have shaped her ethos and creative journey. Throughout her entire career, Elayne has remained committed to education and youth and community intervention. Her journey in education, from secondary school in Finglas through PLC courses in Motor Vehicle Technology, Art and Drama, and a BA in Fine Art (Sculpture & Expanded Practice with Critical Cultures) from NCAD and the University of Arts in Poznań, to a Professional Master’s in Art & Design Education, has been a foundational part of who she is today. After enduring the challenges and rigor of her education, Elayne emerged as a teacher, artist, and community leader, further deepening her commitment to the process of learning and growth.
In her fine art practice, through corporeal performance, intermedia, and installation, Elayne’s actions, objects, and works often present a duplicitous nature, balancing playfulness and naivety with violence and unpredictability. She is currently developing 24 Movements in 2 Miscellaneous Flux, a dynamic series of artworks, two of which debuted at the recent Flux members' exhibition. Elayne’s broader hip-hop, poetry, and socially engaged practice includes the remastered rap LP Temperamental Miscellaneous, the socially engaged project Rhythms of Refuge, and Devotions, a second spoken word album with guitar accompaniment by Barry Bourke. As an art teacher and JCSP (Junior Certificate School Programme) coordinator at a DEIS school, she empowers students through critical engagement with their identities and the world around them. She also leads a school boxing club, using the discipline and strength of the sport to inspire her students.
A keen motorbiker, Elayne promotes safe riding within the community, reflecting her commitment to hands-on, engaged living. Her work balances a reverence for biblical principles with a radical critique of societal norms, creating space for creativity in dialogue with faith and societal structures. In both her creative practice and teaching, Elayne fosters spaces where students and viewers alike are encouraged to engage critically, explore their identities, and question societal norms. Rooted in Finglas, Elayne draws from the resilience and creativity of her local community. Her faith journey is central to her identity, and she finds inspiration through fellowship at Jamestown Road Baptist Church, where she serves and is actively involved. Committed to both the Finglas community and her church family, Elayne lives out her values with compassion and purpose. As a current student at the Irish Baptist College, Elayne is deepening her theological understanding, integrating her faith into all areas of her life and work. Her Christian faith shapes her creative and teaching practices, inviting others to engage with their own journeys of self- discovery and hope.
A Legacy of Community Engagement in Hip-hop, Poetry & Entertainment
Emerging as Temper-Mental MissElayneous in 2011, Elayne began her career as a bodhrán playing Irish ballad singer and rapper. She wrote her first poem at the age of nine and learned how to play drums at age 12. Inspired by the cultures of hip-hop, motown, jazz, metal and punk, she continuously wrote rap, poetry and song lyrics when, at 14, she adopted the name 'Temper- Mental' adding 'MissElayneous' at 19.
After several solo years on the circuit, having worked with DJs, producers and fellow rappers, the straight-edge punk rapper formed a duo with turntablist DJ FunkTom in 2014. Together, they are known as TMM, an anarcho-punk underground hip-hop duo. Elayne's career in Irish hip-hop reached a significant milestone during her work with Axis Ballymun. Her 2014 vinyl release, Heart Lose Tempo, produced by punk pioneer Stano and featuring sleeve art by renowned graffiti artist CISTO, was launched by poet Paula Meehan. This led to her invitation to contribute to the Irish Poetry Repository at UCD’s James Joyce Library, an ongoing initiative dedicated to archiving urban poetry and hip-hop culture for future generations. Elayne's poetry and literary contributions include Celebration of W.B. Yeats: Selected by Meehan for a poetic journey to The Lake Isle of Innisfree, reflecting on Yeats’ legacy followed by BBC Radio 4 Feature: 'We Will Arise and Go Now' broadcast highlighting adventures on Innisfree (2016).
Elayne has over a decade of experience in the Irish hip-hop and poetry scenes, with multiple musical, poetry, and video releases, as well as involvement in live music and entertainment in TV, theatre, radio and film. Elayne's contributions to live performance extend to theatre, where she played a typecast role in Break at the Dublin Fringe Festival, written by Amy Conroy and directed by Veronica Coburn Gray. Elayne has engaged in a wide range of community-based and entertainment work including engaging in the festival circuit CastlePalooza, Electric Picnic, Life Festival, Vantastival, Hard Working Class Heroes and Vantastival, she also supported acts such as Mick Jones and Wu Tang Clan, featuring on the bill for events alongside the likes of Christy Moore, collaborating with numerous interesting figures such as GI (Working Class Records), Steve Ignorant & Paranoid Visions, Colm Querney and Dublin Gospel Choir, as well as Kevin Pluck (Blood or Whiskey) throughout the years. In the realm of youth and community Elayne began to use hip-hop and spoken word as vehicles for education and social connection, encouraging learners to explore rhythm, lyricism, performance, and social connection. Her experience includes facilitating special needs music and performance groups, collaborating on youth work initiatives, and serving as a rapper in residence for JCSP (Junior Certificate School Programme) Wrapparound (Writing Rapping and Performance Poetry) in collaboration with Poetry Ireland.
She has also participated in poetry residencies, commissions, and public discussion panels, engaging in social and political activism that addresses various community issues, for example the 2014 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty & International Day of the Girl included a performance and panel feature on the theme of feminine empowerment and another guest panelist for 'Made From Scratch’ for the Y Factor, NWCI (National Women’s Council of Ireland) 2013. Elayne was a student of Maroon Party for Liberation Billy Martin (spiritchild) and studied under his Black Panther radical social educational approach which influenced her research in the likes of school meals programmes and initiatives in Ireland which target poverty and increase retention and progression in schools. Prior to qualifying as a teacher, she worked as a workshop facilitator and instructor across primary to third-level settings since 2011, including notable placements at Mountjoy and Dóchas Education Centres, she has coordinated school-based reading initiatives and served as a mentor, exemplified by her project with young Dublin poet Carl Óg, for which she created spoken word videos for NCAD’s 2020 Change Lab, which led to vital research for her final PME year in 2022.
In that same year she carried out mural project at Rosary College Crumlin, leading a JCSP visual art initiative focusing on 'Wellbeing & Nature' (2022) alongside conducting workshops at Marino College, which involved songwriting and recording workshops, engaging students in musical creation, followed by Creative Places in Athy where she participated in community arts initiatives promoting creative engagement with marginalised youth groups. 4 Her community practice focuses on empowering individuals through creativity and fostering connections through the arts, culminating in her role as JCSP Coordinator and her current position at Cabra Community College. In film, Shimmy Marcus directed her first music video Dominoes, she provided the soundtrack for the Guinness Bursary advertisement in 2013, and in the short film Flow (2018), Elayne stars as Tink Mallon. The film is directed by Michael Lavelle and written by Gavin Ryan. It features Paul Alwright and Moe Dunford, with Tim Palmer as the producer. The story delves into themes of resilience and community challenges.
Currently, she is remastering her debut album, Temperamental Miscellaneous, to commemorate the 10th anniversary, featuring new tracks and videos dedicated to the late Frank Murray, her former manager. Additional current musical and poetry projects include Devotions, a spoken word album with guitar accompaniment by Barry Bourke, and other musical/lyrical collaborations Nostalgia De La Boue (punk poetry and noise art with miscellaneous artists) and Stall It, Jesus: Prayers from a Confessional Rapper (with Ciarán Wilde).
Educator
Elayne serves as the JCSP (Junior Certificate School Programme) Coordinator at a DEIS (Delivering Equality of Education in Schools) institution, teaching Visual Art at junior and senior levels. She currently teaches Personal Care in the Special Needs Unit and Childcare & Community Care for LCA (Leaving Certificate Applied).
She recently taught VPG (Vocational Preparation and Guidance) to her recent LCA graduates and current LCA1s, helping them achieve maximum credits through their innovative and exceptional task work. In her pastoral role as Tutor (Caomhnóir), she supports a cohort of first- year students. Elayne brings a dynamic, multidisciplinary approach to teaching, combining performance, socially engaged practices, and innovative differentiated models to inspire students in creative self-expression and autonomy in their academic and personal development. She fosters an inclusive and supportive classroom environment, helping students explore their identities and develop confidence, regardless of their individual needs and learning styles.
Visual Art and Interdisciplinary Projects
Rooted in Fine Art praxis, Elayne is a multidisciplinary artist focusing on sculpture, performance, intermedia, and socially engaged practice. She is a recent resident at the IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) and DAS (Dean Art Studio) and a student of Jef Johnson, clown master and performance pedagogue. Her interdisciplinary practice is evident in her collaboration with Johnson, as she hosted him as a guest performer and lecturer during her final BA year. 5 Recently, through Fields of Play 2024—a retreat held at Patch Adams' Gesundheit Institute—Jef and Elayne produced a music video for her song Honeymoon, highlighting the interplay of music, storytelling, video, and performance art. As a visual artist, Elayne investigates class and institutional critique. She explores themes of humiliation, futility, naivety and aggression through vocal, verbal, sound/noise, abject and corporeal, durational, endurance, exhibiting through live, participatory and installation modes. She utilises found objects and engages in live performance and action as well as traditional sculptural, film or photographic approaches. Elayne documents her process through written and drawn records in physical and digital notebooks and portfolio.
In 2019, she participated in masterclasses and performance with John Court at the University of Fine Arts in Poznań as part of the Sculpture In Process conference, resulting in research and writing on the experiences. At the 9th Contexts International Festival of Ephemeral Art in Sokołowsko, Poland, she presented my performance Miscellaneous and collaborated with Roddy Hunter on the music video for 'Pie in the Sky' blending fine art and hip-hop elements.
Her ongoing projects include Rhythms of Refuge - From Vetting to Voice—a programme empowering asylum seekers through hip-hop and performance workshops—as well as Movements in Miscellaneous Flux, a series of artworks, two of which were recently exhibited at the FLUX members' exhibition, the private launch of which Elayne performed her piece 'Fakes and Manners' with bodhrán accompaniment.
See also: https://elayneharrington.com/flux-studio.
Research and Lifelong Learning
Elayne is committed to continuous professional development (CPD) to enhance her teaching career. She has recently engaged in training on Drama, Film, and Theatre Studies in the Classroom and LCA Visual Art. She is also involved in the OIDE Creativity - DesignCIRCLE programme for 2023-24, having secured a place for this year as well.
Personal Progression
Elayne is currently a student at the Irish Baptist College, where she is deeply invested in studying the Bible and enhancing her relationship with God. In her first module of this accredited course, Basic Christian Doctrine, taught by Martin Parker, she wrote her first essay titled “Our Relational and Relatable God—Shared Tears and His Saving Sacrifice.” This essay explores Christ's humanity, shared sorrows, and ultimate sacrifice as presented through His Word. She is currently undergoing the next module, Communicating the Gospel, led by Pastor Alan Neely from Jamestown Road Baptist Church. 6 Elayne is also engaged in an 8-week Creative Writing course with writer Aiden O'Reilly at Flux Studios, where she is writing a series of poems for a traditional poetry book beginning with ‘When I was a Bride’, an unconscious stream zine called ‘RATS Out’ which corresponds with one of her visual artworks in process and a collection of rhymes called ‘Diss No Diss’.
Education / Background
Elayne Adamczyk Harrington is a practicing artist and educator whose work explores themes of faith, identity, and institutional critique. Born in Cabra and raised in Finglas, Dublin, Elayne’s working-class roots are central to her identity. Boxing, motorbikes, and hip-hop are key parts of her cultural landscape, which inform her artistic practice. These influences, along with the legacy of her father’s work as a musician and writer, her mother’s role in union leadership and women's rights, and her grandfather's faith, have shaped her ethos and creative journey. Throughout her entire career, Elayne has remained committed to education and youth and community intervention. Her journey in education, from secondary school in Finglas through PLC courses in Motor Vehicle Technology, Art and Drama, and a BA in Fine Art (Sculpture & Expanded Practice with Critical Cultures) from NCAD and the University of Arts in Poznań, to a Professional Master’s in Art & Design Education, has been a foundational part of who she is today. After enduring the challenges and rigor of her education, Elayne emerged as a teacher, artist, and community leader, further deepening her commitment to the process of learning and growth.
In her fine art practice, through corporeal performance, intermedia, and installation, Elayne’s actions, objects, and works often present a duplicitous nature, balancing playfulness and naivety with violence and unpredictability. She is currently developing 24 Movements in 2 Miscellaneous Flux, a dynamic series of artworks, two of which debuted at the recent Flux members' exhibition. Elayne’s broader hip-hop, poetry, and socially engaged practice includes the remastered rap LP Temperamental Miscellaneous, the socially engaged project Rhythms of Refuge, and Devotions, a second spoken word album with guitar accompaniment by Barry Bourke. As an art teacher and JCSP (Junior Certificate School Programme) coordinator at a DEIS school, she empowers students through critical engagement with their identities and the world around them. She also leads a school boxing club, using the discipline and strength of the sport to inspire her students.
A keen motorbiker, Elayne promotes safe riding within the community, reflecting her commitment to hands-on, engaged living. Her work balances a reverence for biblical principles with a radical critique of societal norms, creating space for creativity in dialogue with faith and societal structures. In both her creative practice and teaching, Elayne fosters spaces where students and viewers alike are encouraged to engage critically, explore their identities, and question societal norms. Rooted in Finglas, Elayne draws from the resilience and creativity of her local community. Her faith journey is central to her identity, and she finds inspiration through fellowship at Jamestown Road Baptist Church, where she serves and is actively involved. Committed to both the Finglas community and her church family, Elayne lives out her values with compassion and purpose. As a current student at the Irish Baptist College, Elayne is deepening her theological understanding, integrating her faith into all areas of her life and work. Her Christian faith shapes her creative and teaching practices, inviting others to engage with their own journeys of self- discovery and hope.
A Legacy of Community Engagement in Hip-hop, Poetry & Entertainment
Emerging as Temper-Mental MissElayneous in 2011, Elayne began her career as a bodhrán playing Irish ballad singer and rapper. She wrote her first poem at the age of nine and learned how to play drums at age 12. Inspired by the cultures of hip-hop, motown, jazz, metal and punk, she continuously wrote rap, poetry and song lyrics when, at 14, she adopted the name 'Temper- Mental' adding 'MissElayneous' at 19.
After several solo years on the circuit, having worked with DJs, producers and fellow rappers, the straight-edge punk rapper formed a duo with turntablist DJ FunkTom in 2014. Together, they are known as TMM, an anarcho-punk underground hip-hop duo. Elayne's career in Irish hip-hop reached a significant milestone during her work with Axis Ballymun. Her 2014 vinyl release, Heart Lose Tempo, produced by punk pioneer Stano and featuring sleeve art by renowned graffiti artist CISTO, was launched by poet Paula Meehan. This led to her invitation to contribute to the Irish Poetry Repository at UCD’s James Joyce Library, an ongoing initiative dedicated to archiving urban poetry and hip-hop culture for future generations. Elayne's poetry and literary contributions include Celebration of W.B. Yeats: Selected by Meehan for a poetic journey to The Lake Isle of Innisfree, reflecting on Yeats’ legacy followed by BBC Radio 4 Feature: 'We Will Arise and Go Now' broadcast highlighting adventures on Innisfree (2016).
Elayne has over a decade of experience in the Irish hip-hop and poetry scenes, with multiple musical, poetry, and video releases, as well as involvement in live music and entertainment in TV, theatre, radio and film. Elayne's contributions to live performance extend to theatre, where she played a typecast role in Break at the Dublin Fringe Festival, written by Amy Conroy and directed by Veronica Coburn Gray. Elayne has engaged in a wide range of community-based and entertainment work including engaging in the festival circuit CastlePalooza, Electric Picnic, Life Festival, Vantastival, Hard Working Class Heroes and Vantastival, she also supported acts such as Mick Jones and Wu Tang Clan, featuring on the bill for events alongside the likes of Christy Moore, collaborating with numerous interesting figures such as GI (Working Class Records), Steve Ignorant & Paranoid Visions, Colm Querney and Dublin Gospel Choir, as well as Kevin Pluck (Blood or Whiskey) throughout the years. In the realm of youth and community Elayne began to use hip-hop and spoken word as vehicles for education and social connection, encouraging learners to explore rhythm, lyricism, performance, and social connection. Her experience includes facilitating special needs music and performance groups, collaborating on youth work initiatives, and serving as a rapper in residence for JCSP (Junior Certificate School Programme) Wrapparound (Writing Rapping and Performance Poetry) in collaboration with Poetry Ireland.
She has also participated in poetry residencies, commissions, and public discussion panels, engaging in social and political activism that addresses various community issues, for example the 2014 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty & International Day of the Girl included a performance and panel feature on the theme of feminine empowerment and another guest panelist for 'Made From Scratch’ for the Y Factor, NWCI (National Women’s Council of Ireland) 2013. Elayne was a student of Maroon Party for Liberation Billy Martin (spiritchild) and studied under his Black Panther radical social educational approach which influenced her research in the likes of school meals programmes and initiatives in Ireland which target poverty and increase retention and progression in schools. Prior to qualifying as a teacher, she worked as a workshop facilitator and instructor across primary to third-level settings since 2011, including notable placements at Mountjoy and Dóchas Education Centres, she has coordinated school-based reading initiatives and served as a mentor, exemplified by her project with young Dublin poet Carl Óg, for which she created spoken word videos for NCAD’s 2020 Change Lab, which led to vital research for her final PME year in 2022.
In that same year she carried out mural project at Rosary College Crumlin, leading a JCSP visual art initiative focusing on 'Wellbeing & Nature' (2022) alongside conducting workshops at Marino College, which involved songwriting and recording workshops, engaging students in musical creation, followed by Creative Places in Athy where she participated in community arts initiatives promoting creative engagement with marginalised youth groups. 4 Her community practice focuses on empowering individuals through creativity and fostering connections through the arts, culminating in her role as JCSP Coordinator and her current position at Cabra Community College. In film, Shimmy Marcus directed her first music video Dominoes, she provided the soundtrack for the Guinness Bursary advertisement in 2013, and in the short film Flow (2018), Elayne stars as Tink Mallon. The film is directed by Michael Lavelle and written by Gavin Ryan. It features Paul Alwright and Moe Dunford, with Tim Palmer as the producer. The story delves into themes of resilience and community challenges.
Currently, she is remastering her debut album, Temperamental Miscellaneous, to commemorate the 10th anniversary, featuring new tracks and videos dedicated to the late Frank Murray, her former manager. Additional current musical and poetry projects include Devotions, a spoken word album with guitar accompaniment by Barry Bourke, and other musical/lyrical collaborations Nostalgia De La Boue (punk poetry and noise art with miscellaneous artists) and Stall It, Jesus: Prayers from a Confessional Rapper (with Ciarán Wilde).
Educator
Elayne serves as the JCSP (Junior Certificate School Programme) Coordinator at a DEIS (Delivering Equality of Education in Schools) institution, teaching Visual Art at junior and senior levels. She currently teaches Personal Care in the Special Needs Unit and Childcare & Community Care for LCA (Leaving Certificate Applied).
She recently taught VPG (Vocational Preparation and Guidance) to her recent LCA graduates and current LCA1s, helping them achieve maximum credits through their innovative and exceptional task work. In her pastoral role as Tutor (Caomhnóir), she supports a cohort of first- year students. Elayne brings a dynamic, multidisciplinary approach to teaching, combining performance, socially engaged practices, and innovative differentiated models to inspire students in creative self-expression and autonomy in their academic and personal development. She fosters an inclusive and supportive classroom environment, helping students explore their identities and develop confidence, regardless of their individual needs and learning styles.
Visual Art and Interdisciplinary Projects
Rooted in Fine Art praxis, Elayne is a multidisciplinary artist focusing on sculpture, performance, intermedia, and socially engaged practice. She is a recent resident at the IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) and DAS (Dean Art Studio) and a student of Jef Johnson, clown master and performance pedagogue. Her interdisciplinary practice is evident in her collaboration with Johnson, as she hosted him as a guest performer and lecturer during her final BA year. 5 Recently, through Fields of Play 2024—a retreat held at Patch Adams' Gesundheit Institute—Jef and Elayne produced a music video for her song Honeymoon, highlighting the interplay of music, storytelling, video, and performance art. As a visual artist, Elayne investigates class and institutional critique. She explores themes of humiliation, futility, naivety and aggression through vocal, verbal, sound/noise, abject and corporeal, durational, endurance, exhibiting through live, participatory and installation modes. She utilises found objects and engages in live performance and action as well as traditional sculptural, film or photographic approaches. Elayne documents her process through written and drawn records in physical and digital notebooks and portfolio.
In 2019, she participated in masterclasses and performance with John Court at the University of Fine Arts in Poznań as part of the Sculpture In Process conference, resulting in research and writing on the experiences. At the 9th Contexts International Festival of Ephemeral Art in Sokołowsko, Poland, she presented my performance Miscellaneous and collaborated with Roddy Hunter on the music video for 'Pie in the Sky' blending fine art and hip-hop elements.
Her ongoing projects include Rhythms of Refuge - From Vetting to Voice—a programme empowering asylum seekers through hip-hop and performance workshops—as well as Movements in Miscellaneous Flux, a series of artworks, two of which were recently exhibited at the FLUX members' exhibition, the private launch of which Elayne performed her piece 'Fakes and Manners' with bodhrán accompaniment.
See also: https://elayneharrington.com/flux-studio.
Research and Lifelong Learning
Elayne is committed to continuous professional development (CPD) to enhance her teaching career. She has recently engaged in training on Drama, Film, and Theatre Studies in the Classroom and LCA Visual Art. She is also involved in the OIDE Creativity - DesignCIRCLE programme for 2023-24, having secured a place for this year as well.
Personal Progression
Elayne is currently a student at the Irish Baptist College, where she is deeply invested in studying the Bible and enhancing her relationship with God. In her first module of this accredited course, Basic Christian Doctrine, taught by Martin Parker, she wrote her first essay titled “Our Relational and Relatable God—Shared Tears and His Saving Sacrifice.” This essay explores Christ's humanity, shared sorrows, and ultimate sacrifice as presented through His Word. She is currently undergoing the next module, Communicating the Gospel, led by Pastor Alan Neely from Jamestown Road Baptist Church. 6 Elayne is also engaged in an 8-week Creative Writing course with writer Aiden O'Reilly at Flux Studios, where she is writing a series of poems for a traditional poetry book beginning with ‘When I was a Bride’, an unconscious stream zine called ‘RATS Out’ which corresponds with one of her visual artworks in process and a collection of rhymes called ‘Diss No Diss’.
