Wild Wisdom from a Grúagach’s Lair
New solo exhibition by Rayleen Clancy
3–31 October 2026
Opening: Saturday 3 October 2026, 6–8PM
GOMA 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.
Bringing 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.
The 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.
At 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.
Rayleen 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.
Wild Wisdom from a Grúagach’s Lair is supported by the Arts Council Project Award 2026, Waterford Arts Practice Grant and ArtLinks.
Website: http://www.rayleenclancy.com
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