BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Waterford Arts - ECPv6.17.3.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://waterfordarts.com X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Waterford Arts REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Paris BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:20250330T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:20251026T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:20260329T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:20261025T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:20270328T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:20271031T010000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20260715T000000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20260816T235959 DTSTAMP:20260715T152854Z CREATED:20260715T151912Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260715T152854Z UID:41724-1784073600-1786924799@waterfordarts.com SUMMARY:"MISE EN ABYME" - EXHIBITION BY SHARON MURPHY DESCRIPTION:  \nMise en Abyme \nSharon Murphy \n15th July – 16th August \nOfficial Launch 23rd of July\, 6-8pm \nGuest speaker – Cristín Leach \nCristín Leach is an Irish author\, radio and television presenter\, journalist and art critic \n  \nGOMA Gallery of Modern Art is delighted to present Mise en Abyme\, an art exhibition by Sharon Murphy. \nMurphy draws from her background in theatre and influences from psychoanalysis and magic realism. Delving into theatrical settings\, she captures moments of quiet and stillness. Through recurring symbols such as curtains\, deserted stages\, and performative environments\, she investigates the thin line between illusion and reality\, presence and absence. \nIn Western art history\, ‘mise en abyme’ is the technique of placing a copy of an image within itself. Murphy uses this concept as a metaphor to investigate the boundaries between real and fictive spaces\, concentrating on recurring motifs of theatre curtains\, outdoor carousels\, circus tents\, performative sites\, city parks and empty stages. This work addresses the essential nature of photographic seeing\, performance\, and Freud’s notion of the uncanny where the familiar becomes suddenly strange and disconcerting through a play between presence and absence\, evoking both enchantment and a pang of unease. \n“Within these spaces\, the boundaries between the authentic and the artificial become blurred. The settings I construct evoke an interplay between recollection and imagination\, raising questions about whether the images present a genuine memory or a fabricated vision. I am interested in how memory\, like a staged performance\, can be rehearsed\, revised\, and reshaped. The distorted prism of memory itself aligns with the constructed\, performative nature of these spaces. As viewers navigate these environments\, their sense of reality becomes destabilized\, mimicking the way memory falters and reconfigures itself over time. These sites are not simply backdrops\, but active participants in the exploration of perception\, narrative\, and the delicate threshold between truth and illusion.” \n– Sharon Murphy\, 2025 \n  \nAbout the artist: \nSharon Murphy is a visual artist whose practice encompasses photography\, video and installation. Drawing on a background in theatre and informed by psychoanalysis and magic realism\, her work provokes viewers to question what they are seeing\, bringing their own histories and narratives to ‘complete’ the meaning of the image. Balancing the theoretical and the experiential (including that of the viewer)\, Murphy is especially drawn to the inherent binary nature of photography – the tensions of the medium between its real/indexical nature and its unreal/constructed nature. The photograph is simultaneously both record/truth and constructed/staged subject to multiple interpretations\, perceptions and distortions by both maker and viewer. \nMurphy investigates the boundaries between real and fictive spaces within the pictorial frame: concentrating on recurring motifs of theatre curtains; outdoor carousels; circus tents; performative sites; city parks; and empty stages. These scenes become the point of departure for a wider exploration of the tension between hidden and revealed\, negative and positive\, illusion and disillusion\, the uncanny and the unremarkable. \nRecent exhibitions: Centre Culturel Irlandais\, Paris\, GOMA\, Waterford\, Limerick City Gallery\, Draíocht\, National Gallery of Ireland\, RHA\, Golden Thread Gallery Belfast\, Halftone\, PhotoIreland\, Loop Festival\, Barcelona. \nMurphy is a co-founding member of Shell/Ter Artist Collective (S/TAC). Her work is held is in private + public collections. She works between Dublin and Paris. \nMise en Abyme was originally commissioned by Nora Hickey M’Sichili\, Director Centre Culturel Irlandais\, Paris\, where it premiered in 2024. In association with Photo Museum Ireland and Golden Thread Gallery\, Belfast\, the exhibition toured in Ireland in 2025. \nSharing & Printing\n Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)\n Email\n \n Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)\n LinkedIn\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)\n WhatsApp\n \n Print (Opens in new window)\n Print\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://waterfordarts.com/event/mise-en-abyme-exhibition-by-sharon-murphy/ LOCATION:GOMA\, 6 Lombard St\,\, Waterford\,\, Waterford\, X91 F2XP\, Ireland CATEGORIES:Art.,Artist's Gallery,Arts Council,Arts Office,Goma Gallery of Modern Art ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://waterfordarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mise-en-Abyme-GOMA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20260718T100000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20261010T170000 DTSTAMP:20260728T133159Z CREATED:20260728T132854Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260728T133159Z UID:41779-1784368800-1791651600@waterfordarts.com SUMMARY:AIB PORTRAIT PRIZE & AIB YOUNG PORTRIAT PRIZE DESCRIPTION:AIB Portrait Prize and AIB Young Portrait Prize 2025 at Waterford Gallery of Art. \nMake sure to catch this must see exhibition showcasing artwork from artists across Ireland. \nFree entry\,\n10am-5pm\,\nTuesday-Saturday \nExhibition will run from 18 July – 10 October 2026 \nAn exhibition supported by AIB\, organised by National Gallery of Ireland \nImage by @dgmphotographic \nSharing & Printing\n Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)\n Email\n \n Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)\n LinkedIn\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)\n WhatsApp\n \n Print (Opens in new window)\n Print\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://waterfordarts.com/event/41779/ LOCATION:Waterford Gallery of Art\, Waterford Gallery of Art 31-32 O’Connell St\,\, Waterford\, X91 RR2R\, Ireland CATEGORIES:Art.,Exhibition,Waterford Gallery of Art ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://waterfordarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/12A7404569DGM.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20260804T080000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20260820T170000 DTSTAMP:20260728T131924Z CREATED:20260728T131924Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260728T131924Z UID:41771-1785830400-1787245200@waterfordarts.com SUMMARY:Exhibition – The Story of Us Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census DESCRIPTION:The 1926 census has been an amazing new resource that allows people to discover their family stories and the stories of their communities since its release online by the National Archives of Ireland on the 18th of April. Now\, Waterford City and County Archives and Waterford Libraries Service in partnership with the National Archives of Ireland will be launching an exhibition on the 1926 Census at Waterford Central Library\, Lady Lane on Wednesday 5th August at 6.30pm. This exhibition from the National Archives of Ireland will allow visitors to the exhibition to explore the Ireland of 1926 and discover the stories told by the census about the newly independent Ireland and its people. \nIn addition to viewing the exhibition itself visitors will be able to search the census online at laptops made available to accompany the exhibition. Visitors to the exhibition will also find a selection of documents from Waterford City and County Archives providing a glimpse into life in Waterford City and County in the 1920s. Waterford Libraries Service will also have a display of books on Ireland and Waterford in the 1920s. \nMayor of Waterford Cllr. Liam Brazil will open the exhibition on Wednesday 5th August and Zoe Reid\, Keeper of Manuscripts at the National Archives will speak about the work that was carried out by the National Archives to make the census available. Fin Dwyer from the Irish History Podcast will talk at the launch about items of Waterford interest in the 1926 census. \nAll are welcome to attend the launch of the exhibition but please RSVP on Eventbrite at https://bit.ly/4frzmfe or contact Waterford Central Library on 051 849975. \nThe exhibition will be open to visitors at the Index Gallery\, Waterford Central Library from 4th-20th August. There will also be more talks on Waterford in the 1926 Census during Heritage Week so keep an eye out on http://www.heritageweek.ie for further updates. \nIf you can’t wait to explore the 1926 Census don’t forget you can access it at any time online at www.nationalarchives.ie \nSharing & Printing\n Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)\n Email\n \n Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)\n LinkedIn\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)\n WhatsApp\n \n Print (Opens in new window)\n Print\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://waterfordarts.com/event/exhibition-the-story-of-us-independent-ireland-and-the-1926-census/ LOCATION:Waterford Central Library\, Lady Lane\, Waterford Central Library\, Lady Lane\, Waterford\, Ireland END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20260818T000000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20260831T235959 DTSTAMP:20260818T131154Z CREATED:20260818T131154Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260818T131154Z UID:41901-1787011200-1788220799@waterfordarts.com SUMMARY:Waterford Artist Group Mentoring Scheme 2026 DESCRIPTION:Waterford Artist Group Mentoring Scheme 2026\n  \nThe Arts Office\, Waterford City and County Council is pleased to announce details of the ‘Waterford Artist Group Mentoring Scheme 2026’. This programme helps emerging visual artists with an existing practice in painting and/or drawing to make breakthroughs in their artistic practice by placing them into a cohort of peers and connecting them to established artists. The scheme is open to artists who are resident in Waterford city and County Council administrative area and provides successful applicants support through a structured programme of online group sessions and on-location meetups over the course of 12 weeks from September 2026. Learn more and apply here: https://www.biglook.art/pages/waterford-group-mentoring-scheme \nThe deadline for receipt of online applications is 31st August 2026. \nSharing & Printing\n Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)\n Email\n \n Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)\n LinkedIn\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)\n WhatsApp\n \n Print (Opens in new window)\n Print\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://waterfordarts.com/event/waterford-artist-group-mentoring-scheme-2026/ LOCATION:Waterford ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://waterfordarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/promo-banner.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20260820T000000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20260909T235959 DTSTAMP:20260806T094451Z CREATED:20260806T094451Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260806T094451Z UID:41855-1787184000-1788998399@waterfordarts.com SUMMARY:EXHIBITION: At Night the Hens Stand and Dream DESCRIPTION:At Night the Hens Stand and Dream\nNiamh Coffey\n20 August – 9 September 2026\nGOMA Gallery of Modern Art is delighted to present At Night the Hens Stand and Dream\, an art exhibition by Niamh Coffey. \n………….Enter under intertwined necks of birds in love. Please don’t let the PDA make you queasy. A hungry and disembodied mouth looms over you\, sputtering frantic toads and teeth out onto the floor. You step back to avoid them and bump into a small and ugly spiked creature. It scuttles past\, leaving a trail of juicy\, bespittled blackberries behind. Please do not be tempted to snack right now. A ladder tumbles down from the moon\, droplets of milk following. Two conjoined eggs whisper as you pass by. You didn’t catch the words but the tone seemed ominous\, especially in this duplicitous Gemini season. You go to leave and a sweaty hand presses something conspiratorially into your palm………………… \nThis exhibition combines two bodies of work\, Siúnta (2023-25) and Clodhoppers (2025-ongoing). Taking its name from the Irish for a seam or joint\, Siúnta weaves together past narratives to imagine new ecological relationships. Clodhoppers takes its name from how the celestial characters\, Sphinx\, Moon and Godwoman\, refer to the earthbound subjects in Marina Carr’s play The Boy. Clodhoppers widens these imagined relationships to include cosmic connections. In this exhibition\, forms of flesh\, fur\, flower and feather mingle and merge. Subjects create symbiotic and antagonistic relationships\, exhibit absurd actions and explore neoteric habits together. \nIn 1937-39\, the Irish Folklore Commission asked primary school children to collect local history from their relatives and neighbours. Nestled in exercise copies\, between thousands of stories detailed in meticulous handwriting\, lie their tales of metamorphosis and binary-blurring. Hares become milk-hungry witches\, needy children are turned to stone\, gooseberries transform sore eyes\, tadpoles swirl in boggy bellies. Siúnta uses these instances of metamorphosis as departure points to wriggle further into absurd and imaginary realms. These archives show that in an earlier Irish imaginary world\, the boundaries that separate us from nature and other entities were not so separate and fixed\, but porous and blurred. \nThe exhibition was made by gathering these stories of binary-blurring between humans and non-humans and making drawings based on them. These drawings then played together\, created links and found connections\, they were collaged together\, their elements were extended and emphasised\, their actions sped up and slowed down\, their beginnings swapped with their ends\, subjects up and left one story for another. Narratives eventually emerged from this process and were brought into a textile world\, a medium used because of its rich history with collaborative story-telling\, connotations to gender and queerness and ability to physically join separate elements together. \nIn Clodhoppers\, wider historical\, alchemical and folkloric beliefs of human connection to the universe inspire and mix with these narratives. In the textile collage To Fix in a Waxy State\, disembodied leatherette hands diligently knit\, sew and prepare skin suits from kneeling wool donors as animal eyes wait from a star-lit sea. Soft swollen constellations of blackberries spit\, gurgle and glisten. Worms wriggle in wonder among glittering moon rays. In The Twirlers\, a hand-drawn wallpaper\, subjects twist into wheels and perpetually spin from the sky\, down and down a dug path\, trowels and watering cans in hand and foot as they whirl through peeping cow-trodden piles of upturned earth. \nThese imagined narratives offer a humorous invitation to envisage new ways of interacting with and existing within the larger matrix of nature and the earth. This work is guided by the concept of queer ecology\, which asks us to abandon ideas of human exceptionalism and anthropomorphism and instead asks us to see humans as part of a complex and interwoven system\, whose patterns and processes are different from our own. \nThis work was kindly supported by a Laois Co. Council Arts Act Grant\, Bród na Gaeltachta’s Ceangal residency and GOMA’s Ten Year Anniversary residency. \n  \nAbout the artist: \nNiamh Coffey is a Dublin-based visual artist from Stradbally\, Co. 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. Their debut solo exhibition Siúnta was shown in 2025 in Cultúrlann\, Belfast\, in Pallas Projects as part of their Artist-Initiated Projects and in Súil Gallery\, Co. Clare. Previous group exhibitions in which their work has featured include: Borders at Rua Red; Work/Force/Field/ at A4 Sounds and; Atelier Páipéar at Workhouse Union. Upcoming shows in 2026 include solo exhibitions at The Arthouse in Stradbally and Custom House Gallery in Westport. In 2022\, Niamh received an Arts Council Agility Award. Between 2024-2026\, Niamh was awarded Laois County Council’s Tyrone Guthrie Centre Residency Bursary and two Arts Act Grants. Niamh’s website is niamhcoffey.ie. \nCurated by Jenna Whelan. \nSharing & Printing\n Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)\n Email\n \n Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)\n LinkedIn\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)\n WhatsApp\n \n Print (Opens in new window)\n Print\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://waterfordarts.com/event/exhibition-at-night-the-hens-stand-and-dream/ LOCATION:GOMA\, 6 Lombard St\,\, Waterford\,\, Waterford\, X91 F2XP\, Ireland ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://waterfordarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GOMA-Niamh-Coffey-Web-Poster-e1786008540693.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20261003T180000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20261031T170000 DTSTAMP:20260825T092226Z CREATED:20260825T092226Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260825T092226Z UID:41954-1791050400-1793466000@waterfordarts.com SUMMARY:WILD WISDOM FROM A GRÚAGACH'S LAIR - RAYLEEN CLANCY SOLO EXHIBITION DESCRIPTION:Wild Wisdom from a Grúagach’s Lair \nNew solo exhibition by Rayleen Clancy \n3–31 October 2026 \nOpening: Saturday 3 October 2026\, 6–8PM \n  \nGOMA Gallery of Modern Art\, Waterford\, is pleased to present Wild Wisdom from a Grúagach’s Lair\, a new solo exhibition by multidisciplinary visual artist Rayleen Clancy. \n  \nBringing together stained glass\, moving image\, sculpture\, costume\, light and sound\, the exhibition transforms the gallery into a luminous\, handmade world of altered furniture\, hybrid beings and hidden habitats. Drawing on Irish folklore\, coastal caves\, ecological thinking and feminist storytelling\, Clancy reimagines the Grúagach — a shapeshifting “hairy woman” — as a guardian of wild wisdom\, care and transformation. \n  \nThe exhibition reclaims the domestic space from sanitised consumer culture and turns it into a living\, unruly habitat. In this world\, the monstrous is protective\, everyday objects become creaturely\, and hidden forms of knowledge emerge from the margins. Plants\, animals\, fungi\, spirits\, furniture and mythical figures form new kinds of kinship. \n  \nAt the centre of the installation\, a sofa covered in soft\, tentacular limbs wraps the sitter in a gentle embrace. An illuminated stained glass coffee table depicts an entangled woodland where plant\, animal and human forms overlap. Sculptural works suggest portals\, shrines and hybrid organisms. Humour\, folklore and the handmade sit alongside questions of ecological crisis\, adaptation and care. \n  \nRayleen Clancy is a visual artist based in Ring\, Co. Waterford. Her multidisciplinary practice includes stained glass\, installation\, film\, sculpture\, costume and sound. Her work is held in the Waterford Municipal Art Collection\, the Office of Public Works and Glasmuseum Lette\, Germany. She was selected for New Glass Review 46 by The Corning Museum of Glass\, USA\, and has been featured in Glass Ireland\, the annual publication of the Glass Society of Ireland\, and Glas – Magazine voor Glaskunst\, published by the Vereniging Vrienden van Modern Glas in the Netherlands. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally\, including at Ireland Glass Biennale\, Dublin Castle; LOOP Film Festival Barcelona\, Spain; Rua Red\, Dublin; and Pallas Projects/Studios\, Dublin. \n  \nWild Wisdom from a Grúagach’s Lair is supported by the Arts Council Project Award 2026\, Waterford Arts Practice Grant and ArtLinks. \n  \n  \nWebsite: http://www.rayleenclancy.com \nSharing & Printing\n Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)\n Email\n \n Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)\n LinkedIn\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)\n WhatsApp\n \n Print (Opens in new window)\n Print\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://waterfordarts.com/event/wild-wisdom-from-a-gruagachs-lair-rayleen-clancy-solo-exhibition/ LOCATION:GOMA\, 6 Lombard St\,\, Waterford\,\, Waterford\, X91 F2XP\, Ireland END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR