14 May – 9 September | Recent works by stone sculptor Jason Ellis and ceramicist Eleanor Wheeler will be displayed at Hillsborough Castle. This is the first time contemporary artworks have been included as part of the visitor experience at Hillsborough. The Castle and grounds are open to the public via guided tours throughout most of the summer. Entrance fee applies. |  www.discovernorthernireland.com/Hillsborough-Castle-and-Gardens-Hillsborough-P3186 | www.jasonellis.ie | www.elfireceramics.co.uk

18 May – 23 June | Opening Thurs 17 May, 7-9pm | Eddie Rafferty: ‘Priest Made Me Black!’| Narrative, storytelling and personal connections are central to this exhibition by Eddie Rafferty – the work has been informed by conversations and everyday encounters, in streets, shops and hospitals, during artist residencies in South Africa since 2002. Amongst the installation are paintings but also found objects and ephemera from streets and dumps, these present fragments of the stories and recollections from Rafferty’s travels across South Africa. | www.millenniumcourt.org

19th May 2012 – 10th June 2012 | Opening 19th May at 2pm | Castle Espie Gallery, one of Northern Ireland’s premier environmental art spaces, will be opening the doors to ‘Natural Forms’, an exhibition by the Ulster Society of Women Artists (U.S.W.A.). The U.S.W.A. was founded in 1957 by the artist Gladys Maccabe. Today it has a thriving membership of over one hundred and twenty professional and semi professional artists, representing a wide variety of styles and media by painters, sculptors and other visual artists. All have shown exceptional skills over a period of time, and have been awarded “Diploma” status | www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/castle-espie/things-to-see-and-do/events-calendar/2012/05/19/ulster-society-of-women-artists-natural-images-exhibiton

18 May – 23 June | Opening Thurs 17 May, 7 – 9pm | Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh’s untitled series of paintings considers the intervening or liminal space between objects and forms. Dramatic use of colour contrasts against varying degrees of density within the new works, which explore the complexities of looking and examine the differences between how an image is made and what the image is. We thank the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda for their kind assistance in bringing the exhibition together | www.millenniumcourt.org

12 May – 13 October 2012 | Featuring over forty paintings, chosen by the artist from throughout his career, this exhibition coincides with Blackshaw’s eightieth birthday and promises to be one of the artistic highlights of 2012. The exhibition is accompanied by a hardback catalogue with forty colour reproductions and essays by Colin Davidson, Dr S.B.Kennedy, Dr Fionna Barber and Dr Riann Coulter | www.femcwilliam.com

1 May – 10 June 2012 | 31 Castle Street Omagh, County Tyrone | Spring Exhibition : New Works By Kenny McKendry. The Spring Exhibition will feature a selection of Kenny’s Landscape, Still life and figurative works in oil. Two portrait paintings are for sale in aid of Save The Children Charity. Kenny spent two years painting 24 portraits of prominent figures who have made a difference to Northern Ireland in the last decade. Those who have sat for the Artist include politicians, sports personalities, writers, musicians and heads of business. His works hang in prestigious galleries and collections across the world including that of Brian P Burns, the American philanthropist who owns the largest collection of Irish art outside Ireland including pieces by Sir John Lavery, Roderic O’Connor and JB Yeats | www.mckennagallery.com

5 – 19 May | Opening May 4th at 7 – 10 pm : Introduction of the exhibition by curator Monika Szewczyk and Marek Wasilewski, Professor at the University of Arts, Poznań, at 7 pm | 5-7 Artillery Street Derry-Londonderry BT48 6RG | Artists : Paweł Althamer, Kuba Bąkowski, Łukasz Gronowski, Jacek Malinowski, Kobas Laksa, Piotr Żyliński, and Józef Robakowski. Curated by Monika Szewczyk. CCA is pleased to present The Games Poles Play, a selection of video works from the collections of the Podlasie Association for the Encouragement of Fine Arts and Arsenal Gallery in Białystok. These works illustrate Polish conditions – a country where the process of political transformation, which started over 20 years ago, still remains open. A place where political arguments are alive and bitter and the question of identity causes more and more emotional responses. The Games Poles Play is part of VI Polish Cultural Week | www.cca-derry-londonderry.org

26 April – 31 July | Opening Thurs 26 April at 6pm | ‘Transformation’ is an exhibition of new work by Belfast and Seoul-based sculptor Ralf Sander. His aluminium sculptures are three dimensional riddles which play with human perception and expectation. The image seen depends on the position of the viewer. For example, ‘In The Man who Became an Aeroplane’, a portrait of the famous German artist Jospeh Beuys is transformed into an aeroplane | www.femcwilliam.com

Sat 21st April – 13th May | Ireland’s only environmental art space, will be opening the doors to the watercolour exhibition ‘Feather and Fin’. This is the inspired title of an exhibition by artist, Barbara Allen who highlights, ‘I like using watercolour because it gives instant results. When watercolour is used in the true sense of the medium it gives spontaneous and fluid results. The trick is to create the illusion of detail and capture only the essence of any subject.’
Barbara Allen was born in Belfast in the 1950’s and graduated with a B.A Honours Degree in Graphic Design in 1982 and a Post Graduate Advanced Diploma in 1984. Four times winner of the John Ross Watercolour Prize at the RUA Barbara is best known for her rendering of vernacular architecture. However, in very recent years a chance visit to Portmore Harbour at Malin Head inspired Barbara’s quest to diversify | www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/castle-espie/things-to-see-and-do/events-calendar/2012/04/21/castle-espie-gallery-feather-and-fin | T: 028 9174 146 | Follow us on Twitter @WWTcastleespie

5 April – 7 May 2012 | Opening speech will be by Noelle McAlinden Arts Council of Northern Ireland Board of Directors. The Arts Office this year received a huge response with close to 100 visual artists responding to an open call for exhibitors in January that invited artists to submit between 1 – 4 works for public exhibition. The show has attracted a very diverse selection of new, established, amateur, emerging & professional art from both Ireland, England + the USA, including many artists from County Fermanagh. In times that opportunities for artists to showcase and sell work are few and far between exhibitions such as this one are of great importance not only as a catalyst through which work can be sold but also it creates a platform through which the arts community can participate and exhibit together in a high profile gallery. Further info contact E: diane.henshaw@fermanagh.gov.uk | T: 028 6634 280 | www.fermanagh.gov.uk