Twayblade introduces a new way of presenting and engaging with contemporary art at Herman’s Auctioneers. The exhibition marks the first iteration of a new concept for Herman’s, pairing a solo gallery show with a timed online auction.

Exhibition Details: Twayblade – Liam Murray
Location: Herman’s Auctioneers Gallery, 161 Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin 6
Exhibition: 8–22 May 2026
Opening Night/Drinks Reception: 8 May, 6:30–8:30pm

Saturday, 9 May: 11:00am – 5pm |
Sunday, 10 May: 2:00pm – 5:00pm |
Herman’s Business Hours: 11 – 22 May

Timed Auction: 8 – 22 May 2026 (closing 7:00pm, 22 May)
Curated by Bill McHugh and Liam Murray

Basic Space is delighted to present PATHOS for our May BASIC TALK – 1pm on Friday the 8th of May 2026, Harry Clarke Lecture Theatre, NCAD.

Proximity, Policy and Practice.

with Ailbhe McDaid (PATHOS Principal Investigator), Chloe Brenan(Visual Artist) & Paul McKinley (Visual Artist).

Visit website linked for tickets, or drop-in on the day. All welcome.

Inspired by 19th century artist Hokusai’s celebrated wood block prints of Mount Fuji and early Japanese poetry, this collaboration between poet Nell Regan and late artist Cathy Henderson offers images of the iconic Wicklow mountain by Henderson, with letterpress prints of Regan’s words by Mary Plunkett. This also marks the publication of Regan’s new poetry collection, Thirty-Six Views of the Sugarloaf (Arlen House, 2026). Join us for this reception to mark the opening of the exhibition with guest speaker Catherine Marshall. Nell Regan’s new poetry collection will be launched by poet Moya Cannon. All welcome.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is delighted to present Lifework, an exhibition of artworks by seven artists who work at the Kilkenny Collective for Arts Talent (KCAT) Studio. The exhibition opens at the Municipal Gallery, dlr Lexicon in Dún Laoghaire on Saturday 9 May and runs until Wednesday 26 August 2026. Admission is free.
The artists featured are Thomas Barron, Declan Byrne, Lorna Corrigan, Sinéad Fahey, Fergus Fitzgerald, Andrew Pike, Jason Turner. Lifework presents examples of each artist’s earliest artwork beside examples of recent artwork.

The Tea Houses is delighted to invite you to ‘Castalia: An Unfolding Story’, an exhibition by visual artist Brianna Hurley, opening Saturday the 9th of May at 3.00pm.
Hurley’s vivid paintings conjure an imagined planet of hot red earth, lush and towering forests. Working with acrylic paint, pencil and acrylic marker, the artist constructs landscapes of striking chromatic intensity, alive with oases of colour and calm. Look closely and you’ll find the artist herself painted into the landscape, absorbed into an environment far larger than herself. Curated by Shannon Carroll, as part of the Kilkenny County Council Arts Office Programme.

The House of Atreus is a collaborative project by Emma Brennan and Thomas Wells exploring how working-class architecture reflects contemporary social and moral systems. This partnering of experiences intersects gendered labour practices, working-class identity, and the entanglement of domestic and industrial spaces.

Using site and time as materials, this iteration of The House of Atreus incorporates modes of facilitation, discussion, performative/sculptural elements, and residue from past iterations to build a framework on which the project can evolve over the 3-week exhibition timeline.

Come to our vibrant open studio event on Sunday, May 10th at La Catedral Studios, in association with Culture Date with Dublin 8. (No booking needed!).

This hidden gem off Thomas Street is home to more than 40 creatives including painters, illustrators, photographers, musicians, textile artists and performers, many of whom will be present at this event to show their works. Wander through a maze of unique workspaces, and don’t miss the chance to spot Ophelia, our beloved art studio cat!

Accessibility note: the studios are accessible via stairs only, apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Exhibition continues from 03/03/2026 to 08/05/2026.

Meath County Council Arts Office presents ‘Wildlife Encounters Through the Lens’ an exhibition of work by award winning photographer Tom Ormond.
Wildlife Encounters Through the Lens showcases the variety and beauty of some of the birds and animals that award-winning photographer Tom Ormond has encountered along his way.
Tom Ormond took up nature photography a few years ago, and since then he has had some of the most amazing experiences both observing and photographing wildlife.
Half of the images in this exhibition were photographed in his garden in Meath and the other half further afield in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands.

Inspired by 19th century artist Hokusai’s celebrated wood block prints of Mount Fuji and early Japanese poetry, this collaboration between poet Nell Regan and late artist Cathy Henderson offers images of the iconic Wicklow mountain by Henderson, with letterpress prints of Regan’s words by Mary Plunkett. This also marks the publication of Regan’s new poetry collection, Thirty-Six Views of the Sugarloaf (Arlen House, 2026). Join us for this reception to mark the opening of the exhibition with guest speaker Catherine Marshall. Nell Regan’s new poetry collection will be launched by poet Moya Cannon. All welcome.

Basic Space is delighted to present PATHOS for our May BASIC TALK – 1pm on Friday the 8th of May 2026, Harry Clarke Lecture Theatre, NCAD.

Proximity, Policy and Practice.

with Ailbhe McDaid (PATHOS Principal Investigator), Chloe Brenan(Visual Artist) & Paul McKinley (Visual Artist).

Visit website linked for tickets, or drop-in on the day. All welcome.

A major solo exhibition by internationally recognised photographer Jackie Nickerson, Stateside draws on a decade of travel across the United States. Through layered photographic compositions, the exhibition explores patterns of sameness across different American landscapes, offering a nuanced reflection on the systems that shape everyday life.

Exhibition continues from 11/04/2026 to 09/05/2026.

Wandering Star is a reference to the physics of light and celestial mechanics, and also a nod to an artistic journey over the decades through the indeterminacy of painting. Joyce uses an arc motif, an elemental unit of human invention and expression, with oblique reference to early human structures, manuscripts and notations, or, as the artist likes to say, ‘stuff holding stuff up’. From a rhythmic and mechanical foundation, a bending of the light, familiar, like the Rings of Saturn, or the passing lights on the nearby orbital motorway, errors accumulate, an entropic unspooling, fragmenting towards chaos and disorder.

A lavish ceramic banquet arrives in The Liberties. A Libertine Feast is a large-scale installation by Dublin 8 artist Camilla Hanney – a love letter to the neighbourhood that raised her. Returning through the 2026 Clay City Residency, Hanney transforms local history into an opulent, surreal feast in clay. Overflowing Guinness and whiskey bottles, Jacob’s biscuit piles, a ceramic suckling pig, gold-lustre platters and glowing candelabras – each piece draws on folklore, domestic ritual and shared memory.

The Liberties Weavers Pop Up Textile Museum is a community led celebration of Dublin 8’s rich textile heritage. Set in the Deanery Mews at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, it explores the stories, skills, and social history of the Liberties’ weaving tradition.
Open:
Thurs 7 May, 1–8pm
Fri 8 May, 12–7pm
Sat 9 May, 10–5pm
Featuring artefacts and photographs, the exhibition offers insight into the lives of weavers and their community. Open to all.

VISUAL is pleased to present DRILL, newly commissioned exhibition of moving image and sound installation by Naomi Sex. Working with both professional and non-actors, Sex has written and directed a series of scripted performances. These vignettes consider language, social interaction, absurdity and the limits of understanding. DRILL comprises a series of monitors, speakers and projectors, which present each piece as distinct but interrelated episodes, linked to each other in an installation that places the viewer in the centre of the work.

VISUAL is pleased to present Interloper, the first project by Anne Hardy in Ireland. For this exhibition of existing and newly commissioned works, Hardy has responded to the distinct architecture of VISUAL; the concrete and glass of the Link Gallery and its connection to the ornamental pond seen through the large windows, and the blank canvas of the Studio Gallery’s white cube design and its heavily patinated floor. Interloper marks a continued evolution in Hardy’s practice.

“Now now” by Andy Fitz uses language to record a passing moment in time. An out-of-date present is rearranged in minute detail as though the process might reveal something. Time remains static – the food never grows mouldy. Unremarkable domestic objects are balanced across the gallery in precarious abstraction from their usual surroundings. “Now now” is also a phrase whose function and meaning is dependent on tone; it can be understood as a warning, or a consolation. The sculptures build on these unresolved tensions; the personal in the political, the present in light of the past.

Exhibition continues from 27/03/2026 to 10/05/2026.

Before I Go: Vanishing Dublin, gathers over fifty characteristically Dublin cityscapes by Gerard Byrne — Georgian terraces, Victorian facades, charming pubs, and beloved corners that continue to define his practice. Working en plein air in both oil and charcoal, Byrne captures architecture and atmosphere in equal measure, incidentally continuing the work of Harry Kernoff and Flora Mitchell, exemplified in her book Vanishing Dublin (1966). 60 years on, he faces the same conviction that what is not recorded is lost forever.

Before I go, before you go, I’ll make sure someone remembers.

Come to our vibrant open studio event on Sunday, May 10th at La Catedral Studios, in association with Culture Date with Dublin 8. (No booking needed!).

This hidden gem off Thomas Street is home to more than 40 creatives including painters, illustrators, photographers, musicians, textile artists and performers, many of whom will be present at this event to show their works. Wander through a maze of unique workspaces, and don’t miss the chance to spot Ophelia, our beloved art studio cat!

Accessibility note: the studios are accessible via stairs only, apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Signal Arts Centre is thrilled to announce Annette Smyth’s “Yesterday I Saw The Earth Beautiful, Work In Progress” exhibition of paintings. Smyth is based in Meath and has exhibited nationally and internationally in many group shows and Signal Arts is delighted to host a new body of work in her debut solo show.

Inspired by Patrick Kavanagh’s poem Yesterday I Saw The Earth Beautiful, Smyth’s work questions our sense of reality. Where does one reality start and another begin? With shifting layers, Annette places the viewer in between moments. In space or time.

Dublin 8–based artist Duc Van Pham presents a new exhibition as part of Culture Date with Dublin 8, a heartfelt celebration of life in the Liberties. Living in the area for over fifteen years, Duc reflects on a deep sense of belonging, drawing parallels between his upbringing in Ho Chi Minh City and the everyday rhythms of Dublin 8. Through expressive, atmospheric paintings, he captures the spirit of the neighbourhood, its people, places and quiet moments of connection. Blending memory, observation and feeling, the work offers a warm and personal portrait of a community that has shaped his life.
Opening 4 May 6-8pm, continues 5 -10 May 10-6pm.

Valerie Gannon has lived in Pimlico in the Liberties for over 40 years, where her connection to community, literature and everyday life has shaped a distinctive artistic voice. Now in her sixties, she presents her first solo exhibition, Imaginationism — bold, text-driven paintings rooted in world events, local landmarks and personal experience.

Curated by Paul Dunne from the collection of Noel Fleming, this rare exhibition brings together work long embedded in the fabric of the Liberties.

Opening night Monday 4 May, 6–8pm with special guest Brent Pope
Exhibition continues 5–10 May, 10am–6pm daily

Opening reception Thursday 7th May. 6pm. Exhibition continues until Wednesday 13th May. 12 – 6pm. Sat/Sun 1 – 7pm. Artists Emanuela Carvisiglia and Lily Kassab come together for a two person exhibition at Reds Gallery Dublin in May. Parallel Visions is the work of two artists who, through different languages, explore the relationship between presence and transformation. Carvisiglia was born in Naples and now lives in County Wicklow. Kassab is a Syrian born artist based in Dublin.

Following the success of Art Evolve, we are delighted to announce What Happens Next, a compelling new group exhibition bringing together a dynamic selection of contemporary artists.

IMMA Collection: Art as Agency is a major three-year display celebrating IMMA’s Permanent Collection as a source of agency and knowledge. Featuring over 100 artists, from the 1960s to the present, it highlights key works, including many recent acquisitions. This ambitious exhibition invites engagement and research over time, allowing for a rich durational experience of Ireland’s Modern and Contemporary Art Collection.

Through thematic, chronological, geographical, and media-based approaches, the exhibition examines how artworks connect across time and contexts, fostering new interpretations and relevance. Works from the 1960s to the 1980s evoke the foundational story of the Irish art world. While acknowledging the context of the modernist, predominantly male dominance of that era, the exhibition also spotlights the material innovation and socially engaged practices of others who persisted despite the relatively conservative status quo.

The exhibition also presents more recent practice that explores urgent global themes such as gender, hybridity, cultural histories, de-colonialism, diaspora, migration, food injustice, climate, and ecological change. Memory, imagination, and storytelling play pivotal roles in these works, offering generative ways to process fragmentation, dislocation, and survival in unfamiliar spaces. New and existing works in the IMMA grounds will extend these themes.

The exhibition includes a specially created ‘white cube’ gallery space inspired by Brian O’Doherty’s renowned series of essays Inside the White Cube – The Ideology of the Gallery Space (1976), that critiques the auratic, market-driven effects of the white cube gallery format. Likewise the choice of works curated for this space pushes back by highlighting works by Post-War American women, pioneering conceptualist artworks by Marcel Duchamp and Brian O’Doherty as well as a contemporary feminist response by Andrea Geyer.

By interweaving historical and contemporary narratives, Art as Agency invites audiences to reflect on the evolving meanings and possibilities of art in shaping our understanding of and action in the world.

This is the first solo exhibition by renowned artist, poet and activist Cecilia Vicuña in Ireland. For this exhibition Vicuña’s delves into themes of ancestry, ecological urgency, and the interconnectedness of humanity inspired by the discovery of her ancient ties to Ireland.

Pallas Projects/Studios are delighted to announce the participating artists in our Arts Council funded programme of Artist-Initiated Projects 2026. The series will be part of a programme celebrating 30 years of Pallas Projects/Studios. Between January–December 2026 we will present 8 x 3-week exhibitions of new work by:

Paddy Critchley, Fiona Marron, Finn Nichol, Emma Brennan and Thomas Wells, Ciara Rodgers, Struàn Bell, Christopher Mahon, neonatus.exe

VISUAL is pleased to present DRILL, newly commissioned exhibition of moving image and sound installation by Naomi Sex. Working with both professional and non-actors, Sex has written and directed a series of scripted performances. These vignettes consider language, social interaction, absurdity and the limits of understanding. DRILL comprises a series of monitors, speakers and projectors, which present each piece as distinct but interrelated episodes, linked to each other in an installation that places the viewer in the centre of the work.

VISUAL is pleased to present Interloper, the first project by Anne Hardy in Ireland. For this exhibition of existing and newly commissioned works, Hardy has responded to the distinct architecture of VISUAL; the concrete and glass of the Link Gallery and its connection to the ornamental pond seen through the large windows, and the blank canvas of the Studio Gallery’s white cube design and its heavily patinated floor. Interloper marks a continued evolution in Hardy’s practice.

“Now now” by Andy Fitz uses language to record a passing moment in time. An out-of-date present is rearranged in minute detail as though the process might reveal something. Time remains static – the food never grows mouldy. Unremarkable domestic objects are balanced across the gallery in precarious abstraction from their usual surroundings. “Now now” is also a phrase whose function and meaning is dependent on tone; it can be understood as a warning, or a consolation. The sculptures build on these unresolved tensions; the personal in the political, the present in light of the past.

Exhibition continues from 03/03/2026 to 08/05/2026.

Meath County Council Arts Office presents ‘Wildlife Encounters Through the Lens’ an exhibition of work by award winning photographer Tom Ormond.
Wildlife Encounters Through the Lens showcases the variety and beauty of some of the birds and animals that award-winning photographer Tom Ormond has encountered along his way.
Tom Ormond took up nature photography a few years ago, and since then he has had some of the most amazing experiences both observing and photographing wildlife.
Half of the images in this exhibition were photographed in his garden in Meath and the other half further afield in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands.

A major solo exhibition by internationally recognised photographer Jackie Nickerson, Stateside draws on a decade of travel across the United States. Through layered photographic compositions, the exhibition explores patterns of sameness across different American landscapes, offering a nuanced reflection on the systems that shape everyday life.

Exhibition continues from 27/03/2026 to 10/05/2026.

Before I Go: Vanishing Dublin, gathers over fifty characteristically Dublin cityscapes by Gerard Byrne — Georgian terraces, Victorian facades, charming pubs, and beloved corners that continue to define his practice. Working en plein air in both oil and charcoal, Byrne captures architecture and atmosphere in equal measure, incidentally continuing the work of Harry Kernoff and Flora Mitchell, exemplified in her book Vanishing Dublin (1966). 60 years on, he faces the same conviction that what is not recorded is lost forever.

Before I go, before you go, I’ll make sure someone remembers.

Official opening Saturday 4th April at 3pm by Carmel Duffy, Athlone Arts & Tourism Manager

Pause is a body of work by Hilary Kinahan, a visual artist based in the Midlands working from her home studio. The exhibition responds to recent bog fires and their impact on the local landscape, documenting the scorched land through painting and printmaking.

Created as a meditative series, the works invite viewers to slow down and reflect. The series includes sonographs of birdsong, signalling renewal and the gradual return of life to the damaged boglands.

Runs until Saturday 27th June

Curated by Benjamin Stafford

Official Reception Friday 1st May, 2.30pm

KCAT is a multi-disciplinary arts centre located in Callan, Co. Kilkenny, supporting inclusive arts practices, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2025.
Here, things are not easily categorised or separated from each other; common songbirds sit alongside five-legged cats, which sit alongside distant countries, rural landscapes, intimate portraits, and science-fiction worlds. These exist in the minds of some of the artists, but the ongoing success and resilience of KCAT shows that with work, dedication, and care, sometimes other worlds can become real.

Boy Dancer is a Solstice commissioned collaboration between poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin and artist Niamh McCann. Blending poetry, drawing, sound and sculpture. It reflects on grief, ritual and remembrance, inspired by Ní Churreáin’s foster brother. Accompanying the exhibition, Solstice Arts Centre is hosting an opening event on April 11th at 2.30 PM, a special public conversation featuring Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Niamh McCann, and poet and critic Gerard Smyth. This event offers audiences a rare opportunity to hear directly from the collaborators about the creative process behind Boy Dancer.

Exhibition continues from 07/04/2026 to 31/05/2026.

We are delighted to have Daniel Chester exhibit in our Easter Snow Gallery. Daniel is a visual artist based in County Leitrim. His exhibition “Bog To Bloom” is a body of paintings that are inspired by the landscapes of rural Leitrim, Fermanagh, Sligo and Donegal. The Artist invites viewers into these spaces to engage with the works. The artist is highly influenced by the ecology of these wetlands and how they are vital carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots, yet, these places are often undervalued and threatened. This exhibition can be viewed in full online at www.tseac.ie or at our gallery.

Exhibition continues from 11/04/2026 to 09/05/2026.

Wandering Star is a reference to the physics of light and celestial mechanics, and also a nod to an artistic journey over the decades through the indeterminacy of painting. Joyce uses an arc motif, an elemental unit of human invention and expression, with oblique reference to early human structures, manuscripts and notations, or, as the artist likes to say, ‘stuff holding stuff up’. From a rhythmic and mechanical foundation, a bending of the light, familiar, like the Rings of Saturn, or the passing lights on the nearby orbital motorway, errors accumulate, an entropic unspooling, fragmenting towards chaos and disorder.

Following the success of Art Evolve, we are delighted to announce What Happens Next, a compelling new group exhibition bringing together a dynamic selection of contemporary artists.

“Of the Earth” – A Three-Person Exhibition at Glass Attic Gallery, Jerpoint Glasss Studios, Kilkenny Of the Earth, a three-person exhibition featuring the paintings of Debra Bowden, Ross Stewart, and Krisztina Rozanich, opening on Friday, April 17th at 6pm at the Glass Attic Gallery, Glenmore, Stonyford, Co. Kilkenny (R95 WN67). The exhibition will be opened by Sue Nunn and runs Monday to Saturday, 10am–5pm.
Of the Earth brings together three distinct yet deeply interconnected artistic practices, each grounded in a shared engagement with landscape, material, and the passage of time.

Exhibition continues from 03/04/2026 to 14/06/2026.

Visit the Spring Exhibitions at The Douglas Hyde by artists Abbas Zahedi and Bushra Mustafa Dunne, on now until Sunday 14 June 2026. ⁠EX/IT: LIFT is the first solo exhibition in Ireland by artist Abbas Zahedi whose work centres on reciprocity, renewal, social connection, and care. With a background in medicine and training in psychiatry, Zahedi brings scientific, philosophical, and poetic insights to bear on fixed narratives around art, history, and institutional life.⁠ In this instalment of The Artist’s Eye series, Zahedi has invited poet Bushra Mustafa Dunne to write and record a new text.⁠

Luan Gallery presents Divergent Lines, a multidisciplinary group exhibition featuring new and existing work by Brian Fay, Felicity Clear, Lelia Henry, Kiera O’Toole, Mary-Ruth Walsh and Michael Wann.
Opens to the public on 22 April, with the official launch taking place on Saturday, 25 April at 3pm with guest speaker Sarah Searson, Curator.
Divergent Lines is a multidisciplinary group exhibition exploring the potential of drawing across a diverse range of artistic practices and mediums, with a focus on abstracted methods of mark-making and the phenomenological exploration of line in space. The exhibition will run until 21 June.

UNDERGROUND is a recognition and celebration of existence beneath the surface. Informed by Irish Vampiric Mythologies, this exhibition entangles underground cultures, Queer infrastructures, and the quiet, regenerating presence of the vampire.

Paying homage to Drag as a resilient political power, the exhibition features a performative film set within soil; the living, renewing, connective tissue, humanised and tenderised by processes of decay.

This exhibition is the culmination of work produced by Kat Lalor during their artist residency as part of our We Only Want the Earth Programme.

Signal Arts Centre is thrilled to announce Annette Smyth’s “Yesterday I Saw The Earth Beautiful, Work In Progress” exhibition of paintings. Smyth is based in Meath and has exhibited nationally and internationally in many group shows and Signal Arts is delighted to host a new body of work in her debut solo show.

Inspired by Patrick Kavanagh’s poem Yesterday I Saw The Earth Beautiful, Smyth’s work questions our sense of reality. Where does one reality start and another begin? With shifting layers, Annette places the viewer in between moments. In space or time.

Exhibition continues from 23/04/2026 to 07/06/2026.

From the Forest to the Ocean by Mary Moynihan is now open at the Smashing Times Gallery, 30 Sandycove Road, Dublin, A96V9P1, running from Sunday 8 March to Sunday 7 June 2026, Wednesday to Friday 1-6pm, Sat + Sun 10am-6pm. All welcome.
From the Forest to the Ocean is a powerful solo exhibition featuring the work of Irish artist Mary Moynihan. Bringing together photography, poetry, and film, this multidisciplinary exhibition draws inspiration from the physical landscapes of nature and the deep interconnectedness of life — from forests to the ocean.

UNDERGROUND is a recognition and celebration of existence beneath the surface. Informed by Irish Vampiric Mythologies, this exhibition entangles underground cultures, Queer infrastructures, and the quiet, regenerating presence of the vampire. Paying homage to Drag as a resilient political power, the exhibition features a performative film set within soil; the living, renewing, connective tissue, humanised and tenderised by processes of decay.

Opening Times
Mon & Tue: Closed
Wed – Fri: 2pm – 7pm
Sat: 1pm – 6pm
Sun: 1pm – 6pm

Axis Ballymun is delighted to announce the upcoming exhibition of paintings by Aisling Coughlan called We Are Her Continuation. The exhibition traces the slow disappearance of her mother through dementia. Working across painting, film, and sound, this body of work bears witness to love, loss, and the subtle erosion of identity over time. Rather than depicting illness directly, the works hold space for slowness, tenderness, and grief. The title draws on a Buddhist understanding of continuation: that we carry forward those who have shaped us, not only biologically, but through care, teaching, humour, and love. 

Art Exhibition called ‘In The Garden’ will be held on the 30th April-22nd May in the Atrium, Civic Centre in Athlone, Co. Westmeath. The launch is on Thursday 30th April starting at 5:30pm to 7:00pm. This is my first solo show. Entry is free. It is a collection of paintings inspired by the garden capturing the beauty of the plants in our gardens and focusing attention on nature. All Are Welcome!

“Raise Your Spear is about voices, and making visible in the public domain something often a private fight, borne in silence.” – Dani Gill, Artist.

Raise Your Spear is a poem from Dani Gill’s second collection Lessons in Kindness (Salmon Poetry, April 2023), exploring LGBTQ experiences in Ireland, both personal and public.

Dani created a bespoke workshop series (2025/26) exploring identity, community, and advocacy. Participants customised spears, now exhibited in Droichead’s gallery this May with reflections.

Participating schools: Drogheda Grammar School; St. Marys Diocesan School; St. Oliver’s Community College; Coláiste na hInse.

This is LJ Phelan’s first solo exhibition, marking a move from digital art into acrylic painting. With a background in animation, children’s media and graphic design, LJ creates bold, colourful interpretations of Irish landscapes.

Running from 2 – 31 May 2026 at Ardgillan Castle Gallery, with an opening reception on 2 May from 2 – 4pm, all are welcome.

The exhibition features paintings of locations across Fingal, inspired by its varied landscapes, light and atmosphere, and a strong sense of place.

A lavish ceramic banquet arrives in The Liberties. A Libertine Feast is a large-scale installation by Dublin 8 artist Camilla Hanney – a love letter to the neighbourhood that raised her. Returning through the 2026 Clay City Residency, Hanney transforms local history into an opulent, surreal feast in clay. Overflowing Guinness and whiskey bottles, Jacob’s biscuit piles, a ceramic suckling pig, gold-lustre platters and glowing candelabras – each piece draws on folklore, domestic ritual and shared memory.

Dublin 8–based artist Duc Van Pham presents a new exhibition as part of Culture Date with Dublin 8, a heartfelt celebration of life in the Liberties. Living in the area for over fifteen years, Duc reflects on a deep sense of belonging, drawing parallels between his upbringing in Ho Chi Minh City and the everyday rhythms of Dublin 8. Through expressive, atmospheric paintings, he captures the spirit of the neighbourhood, its people, places and quiet moments of connection. Blending memory, observation and feeling, the work offers a warm and personal portrait of a community that has shaped his life.
Opening 4 May 6-8pm, continues 5 -10 May 10-6pm.

Valerie Gannon has lived in Pimlico in the Liberties for over 40 years, where her connection to community, literature and everyday life has shaped a distinctive artistic voice. Now in her sixties, she presents her first solo exhibition, Imaginationism — bold, text-driven paintings rooted in world events, local landmarks and personal experience.

Curated by Paul Dunne from the collection of Noel Fleming, this rare exhibition brings together work long embedded in the fabric of the Liberties.

Opening night Monday 4 May, 6–8pm with special guest Brent Pope
Exhibition continues 5–10 May, 10am–6pm daily

Opening reception Thursday 7th May. 6pm. Exhibition continues until Wednesday 13th May. 12 – 6pm. Sat/Sun 1 – 7pm. Artists Emanuela Carvisiglia and Lily Kassab come together for a two person exhibition at Reds Gallery Dublin in May. Parallel Visions is the work of two artists who, through different languages, explore the relationship between presence and transformation. Carvisiglia was born in Naples and now lives in County Wicklow. Kassab is a Syrian born artist based in Dublin.

The Liberties Weavers Pop Up Textile Museum is a community led celebration of Dublin 8’s rich textile heritage. Set in the Deanery Mews at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, it explores the stories, skills, and social history of the Liberties’ weaving tradition.
Open:
Thurs 7 May, 1–8pm
Fri 8 May, 12–7pm
Sat 9 May, 10–5pm
Featuring artefacts and photographs, the exhibition offers insight into the lives of weavers and their community. Open to all.