What’s on in Connaught

Exhibition launch 18th September 5-8pm at Leitrim Sculpture Centre.

Matters of Process is a new exhibition series exploring the work of artists who completed a Technical Development Research Residency (TDR) at the Centre the previous year. During their residencies, artists experimented with a range of materials, objects and ideas investigating the often-hidden processes and energies embedded in their making. The exhibition brings these processes into view, revealing how they shaped the emergence of new work.
Artists – Brenda Kearney, Vanessa Donoso-Lopez, Margo McNulty, Anna Spearman, David Spence.

The exhibition takes its name from the Irish for a seam or joint, Siúnta weaves together separate narratives into imagined ecological relationships. Forms of flesh, fur, flower and feather mingle and merge. Subjects develop symbiotic and antagonistic relationships, display unfamiliar actions and establish new habits together.

Niamh Coffey is a Dublin-based visual artist from Laois, whose practice encompasses textiles, drawings and sculpture. Their work uses ideas from ecology, queer theory and Irish folklore to create imagined ecological relationships. Niamh graduated from NCAD in 2016 with a degree in Sculpture and Expanded Practices.

Opening by Geraldine Mitchell at 6pm 17 September.

The Faraway Nearby, a solo exhibition of new paintings of remembered geographies and stories that question the uncertainty of what is real and what is imagined and how stories can become something else in the retelling,

Mags Duffy is based in the Custom House Studios. She works across painting, textiles, photography and text. Drawing on her experience of living in a rural coastal environment in the West of Ireland, she creates real and imagined landscapes that explore inner and outer worlds and the fragility of living in these places. She has exhibited nationally and internationally.

As part of Baboró International Arts Festival for Children 2026
Launching 09 October, 6pm

Step into the rain forests of Borneo and the wilds of Connemara and Clare in an exhibition celebrating these unique landscapes, traditions and cultures. Captivating photographic portraits by Karen Cox and David Metcalf of forest school students with their tribal creations give us a glimpse into both worlds. This unique exhibition also includes tactile elements such as beautiful Dayak beaded jewellery, headdresses, masks and weaving. Curated by Melanie Lynch.
Photo: Karen Cox

Come on a fantastical visual journey through other worlds of myth, folktale, poetry and wonder created by Shona Shirley Macdonald. An award-winning illustrator/author based in Co. Waterford, Shona creates unique characters and mystical worlds that fire the imaginations of children and adults alike.
The exhibition includes illustrations from Shona’s new picture book The Amazing Jam as well as The Pooka Party. Also featured are Cluasa Capaill ar an Rí by Bridget Bhreathnach, Girls Who Slay Monsters by Ellen Ryan, The Moon Spun Round by W. B. Yeats, Noreen Doody and An Féileacán agus an Rí by Máire Zepf.

Click here for opening times.

The Embassy of Ireland, The Netherlands, in collaboration with Hamilton Gallery Sligo and Pulchri Studio, The Hague, invited submissions for an exhibition of new paintings by artists resident either on the island of Ireland or in The Netherlands.
Artists were asked to create and submit up to 2 original artworks themed on this poem. The response and resulting exhibition features 285 original artworks of which 204 were Irish artists
Hamilton Gallery is pleased to present the artwork by the artists resident on the island of Ireland included in the exhibition in The Hague. Carrying the Songs runs from Saturday October 3rd to Saturday October 24th.

The exhibition takes its name from the Irish for a seam or joint, Siúnta weaves together separate narratives into imagined ecological relationships. Forms of flesh, fur, flower and feather mingle and merge. Subjects develop symbiotic and antagonistic relationships, display unfamiliar actions and establish new habits together.

Niamh Coffey is a Dublin-based visual artist from Laois, whose practice encompasses textiles, drawings and sculpture. Their work uses ideas from ecology, queer theory and Irish folklore to create imagined ecological relationships. Niamh graduated from NCAD in 2016 with a degree in Sculpture and Expanded Practices.

Opening by Geraldine Mitchell at 6pm 17 September.

The Faraway Nearby, a solo exhibition of new paintings of remembered geographies and stories that question the uncertainty of what is real and what is imagined and how stories can become something else in the retelling,

Mags Duffy is based in the Custom House Studios. She works across painting, textiles, photography and text. Drawing on her experience of living in a rural coastal environment in the West of Ireland, she creates real and imagined landscapes that explore inner and outer worlds and the fragility of living in these places. She has exhibited nationally and internationally.

Exhibition launch 18th September 5-8pm at Leitrim Sculpture Centre.

Matters of Process is a new exhibition series exploring the work of artists who completed a Technical Development Research Residency (TDR) at the Centre the previous year. During their residencies, artists experimented with a range of materials, objects and ideas investigating the often-hidden processes and energies embedded in their making. The exhibition brings these processes into view, revealing how they shaped the emergence of new work.
Artists – Brenda Kearney, Vanessa Donoso-Lopez, Margo McNulty, Anna Spearman, David Spence.

Exhibition runs 18/09/26-15/11/26.

Desire Lines is aemi’s 2026 touring programme, an annual selection of artist and experimental film that brings together a range of voices from Irish and international contemporary practice.

Featuring films by Chloe Brenan, Collectif Faire Part, Eóin Heaney, Olivia Normile and Basma al-Sharif, ‘Desire Lines’ premiered at the Irish Film Institute in January and has since screened in Belfast and Galway with further dates also confirmed to take place later in 2026 in Wicklow, Louth and Offaly.

Exhibition runs 13/09/26-17/01/26.

Cathy Wilkes grew up in a working-class area of East Belfast and moved to Glasgow aged 19, in 1985. After returning to Ireland for four years, she has lived in Scotland since 1994. Her art and writing are introspective, and sometimes at the edge of legibility. At the same time, out of Wilkes’ non-dualist world emerge figures and objects which are potently direct and seditious. The exhibition includes three Untitled installations from 2026, 2024 and 2019 together with paintings and sculpture from the same period. Cathy Wilkes represented Britain at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019 and Scotland at the 51st Venice Biennial in 2005.

The Embassy of Ireland, The Netherlands, in collaboration with Hamilton Gallery Sligo and Pulchri Studio, The Hague, invited submissions for an exhibition of new paintings by artists resident either on the island of Ireland or in The Netherlands.
Artists were asked to create and submit up to 2 original artworks themed on this poem. The response and resulting exhibition features 285 original artworks of which 204 were Irish artists
Hamilton Gallery is pleased to present the artwork by the artists resident on the island of Ireland included in the exhibition in The Hague. Carrying the Songs runs from Saturday October 3rd to Saturday October 24th.

Anthony D Kelly in collaboration with the University of Galway Art Gallery and Project RARE, is excited to announce the launch of an upcoming exhibition of ‘The Lexicon of Wonder’ project. Opening on Thursday the 8th of October at 6pm and running until Friday the 6th of November.

This project featuring an exhibition, workshops, discussions and an artist talk is inspired by recent research into the emotions of Wonder & Awe and into the arts as a deep technology for evoking these states in both practitioner and audience.

Come join us to encounter artworks which instill a viewer with a sense of wonder and boundless curiosity.

As part of Baboró International Arts Festival for Children 2026
Launching 09 October, 6pm

Step into the rain forests of Borneo and the wilds of Connemara and Clare in an exhibition celebrating these unique landscapes, traditions and cultures. Captivating photographic portraits by Karen Cox and David Metcalf of forest school students with their tribal creations give us a glimpse into both worlds. This unique exhibition also includes tactile elements such as beautiful Dayak beaded jewellery, headdresses, masks and weaving. Curated by Melanie Lynch.
Photo: Karen Cox

Come on a fantastical visual journey through other worlds of myth, folktale, poetry and wonder created by Shona Shirley Macdonald. An award-winning illustrator/author based in Co. Waterford, Shona creates unique characters and mystical worlds that fire the imaginations of children and adults alike.
The exhibition includes illustrations from Shona’s new picture book The Amazing Jam as well as The Pooka Party. Also featured are Cluasa Capaill ar an Rí by Bridget Bhreathnach, Girls Who Slay Monsters by Ellen Ryan, The Moon Spun Round by W. B. Yeats, Noreen Doody and An Féileacán agus an Rí by Máire Zepf.

Click here for opening times.