Celebrating 15 Years of Emerging Visual Art in County Kildare

This landmark exhibition marks fifteen years of the Emerging Visual Artist Solo Exhibition Bursary Award, a partnership between Kildare County Council Arts Service and Riverbank Arts Centre. Pattern Recognition: Architectures of Seeing brings together the work of fifteen artists who have each shaped the visual landscape of County Kildare through their first major solo exhibitions. 

Curated as a living dialogue across time and media, Pattern Recognition is not a retrospective, but an unfolding exploration of how we see – shaped by memory, rhythm, and the quiet architectures of perception. In a world saturated with algorithms and imagery, the exhibition celebrates the human ability to find meaning, beauty, and bias in visual experience. It explores the tension between chaos and order, intuition and logic, and human and machine perception – challenging us to see not just more, but more deeply. 

Curated by Paula Barrett and featuring artwork from Martina McDonald, Noel Hensey, Brian Cregan, Mary-Jo Gilligan, Isobel Egan, Denis Kelly, Marta Golubowska, Brenda Kearney, Michelle McBride, Caoimhe McGuckin, Shane Hynan, Katie Whyte, Gavin Casey, Kym Tracey, and Fiyin Oluokun.

Official opening Saturday 1 November, 6pm. All welcome!

McKenna Gallery 
Saturday 1 November-Tuesday 23 December 
Monday-Friday 9:30am-5pm | Saturday 10am-3pm 
Admission Free

Image credit: Michelle McBride

Events which will take place as part of this exhibition include Kildare Artists Lightning Talks and Under the Banner Of workshop with Mary-Jo Gilligan.