This exhibition is made up of a collection of 19 colourful quilts designed and made by 41 children (some as young as seven years old!), as part of Creative Sewing classes with Kildare designer Aideen Cross. The quilts come in all shapes and sizes. Included in this exhibition is an impressive 3D quilt creation entitled Tree of Life, which depicts the life cycle of a tree from a tiny seed. The Free to Dream quilt is a large quilted parasol…

This exhibition provides opportunities for exploring children’s creative and imaginative potential in Visual Art with a particular emphasis on Visual Art and Science education (STEAM). Four interactive prototype helmets are on display as part of this exhibition, which are a combination of students and children’s ideas coming together to solve a particular problem, in this case how to construct an optical device exploring the art of perception. Come and try on these helmets to see how a bee, a jumping…

Blazing a Trail: Irish Women Who Changed the World Curated by award-winning writer, Sarah Webb and Illustrated by Lauren O’Neill The women in this vibrant exhibition have excelled in the arts and entertainment, science and medicine, politics, sports, aviation and adventure. Find out about some of Ireland’s most remarkable women who changed or are changing history including: Eileen Gray (1878-1986),  Designer and Architect Dame Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971), Newbridge-born Scientist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell (b. 1943),  Astrophysicist Mary Robinson (b. 1944),…

Following great success with a pop-up exhibition at JuneFest 2018, Kildare Art Collective present Boundaries, a group exhibition of contemporary art that that explores the notions of the places and spaces we observe and engage with in our daily lives. Through a diverse range of media including textile, photography, painting and sculpture this collaboration is an expansive exploration addressing each artist's individual experience and unique relationship with the county. Consideration is given to the idea that constant engagement with the…

Photos by Harald Hauswald Text/Curation by Stefan Wolle Remembering the 30th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, this photography exhibition powerfully portrays everyday situations in the GDR. Harald Hauswald images feature run-down façades, punks and ordinary workers, he simply wanted to document everyday life — without knowing that the Berlin Wall would one day come down. This exhibition gives a unique view into East German life using QR codes that link to short video interviews on YouTube, in…

From lines on maps to drinking coffee, knowledge and power are integral to this work. The State of RoY, the first solo exhibition by Michelle McBride, explores entrenched notions of history, tradition and destruction. What is now the Republic of Yemen has had a long and changeable history. Yemen borders the entrance of ‘The Gates of Tears’, the route from the Arabian Sea, through the Red Sea and onto the Suez Canal. Beginning with the region’s tumultuous and rich history,…

The Faerie Tailor exhibition is a journey into tiny, magical worlds created by artist, Emily Bazeley. The artwork in this exhibition has been crafted from natural materials which have been found on forest floors, in gardens, on beaches, and also in places where you would not expect to find faerie inspiration, including city streets and car parks. There is an abundance of detail in work - the more you look, the more you will see - prepare to be enchanted…

An exhibition exploring paper folding. The art of paper folding, generally known as origami, allows us to form a bridge between our 2D and our 3D understanding of the world, with all sorts of applications from space travel to medicine. One fold and we move from the flat surface to the world of objects. Folding can be free form or structured, and the results can be both aesthetically pleasing and intellectually intriguing. Come visit this intriguing exhibition, curated with young…

Kildare Art Collective & Friends present a collaborative project developed as a platform to process and document our lives throughout these strange times, while creating an opportunity for communication, conversation and crossover between disciplines. Participating artists worked collaboratively exchanging ideas and working together using alternative methods of communication such as email, letter, carrier pigeon, phone calls, telepathy, video calls and text. The diverse work created during this project is an eclectic mix with interesting themes and details arising as we…

McKenna Gallery  - reopens 8th June Open Monday - Friday, 10am-2pm ADMISSION FREE Tina Claffey loves to get 'lost' in the bogs, eskers and wetlands of Ireland with her macro lens. Her latest solo show takes the viewer through a portal to other wondrous worlds that co-exist with us through her macro lens. Lichens become enchanted forests, mystical goblets appear that are fit for otherworldly kings and queens. Tentacles of carnivorous sundews poise like a cobra ready to strike, while…

This exhibition is a record of artist Olga Anacka's experience of the last 18 months, a time when when she returned to her regular art practice. In this body of work, the artist expresses feelings and thoughts about experiencing the real. Perception is limited by the intellectual associations built upon societal codes and values. Olga Anacka attempts to establish such visual codes distinct to her, and the work is infused with references to nature and her Slavic heritage. The artist…

Beneath | Beofhód is a long term photographic series observing the raised bogs of the Irish midlands and the culture around them. Beofhód; an Irish word translating as 'life beneath the sod', allows modern excavations on bogs to be re-imagined as an archaeology of history and legacy, adding a vital layer of symbolism and metaphor to the project. Although the visual enquiry into the topography and architecture of bogs is an important element within the series, it is also used…

Join Shane Hynan for an informal tour of his photographic series Beneath | Beofhód at the McKenna Gallery. Shane will be available to discuss his work, what it’s about and the wider context in which it was made. Beneath | Beofhód is a long term photographic series observing the raised bogs of the Irish midlands and the culture around them. Beofhód; an Irish word translating as 'life beneath the sod', allows our excavations on bogs, to be re-imagined as an…

Join Shane Hynan for an informal tour of his photographic series Beneath | Beofhód at the McKenna Gallery. Shane will be available to discuss his work, what it’s about and the wider context in which it was made. Beneath | Beofhód is a long term photographic series observing the raised bogs of the Irish midlands and the culture around them. Beofhód; an Irish word translating as 'life beneath the sod', allows our excavations on bogs, to be re-imagined as an…

Join Shane Hynan for an informal tour of his photographic series Beneath | Beofhód at the McKenna Gallery. Shane will be available to discuss his work, what it’s about and the wider context in which it was made. Beneath | Beofhód is a long term photographic series observing the raised bogs of the Irish midlands and the culture around them. Beofhód; an Irish word translating as 'life beneath the sod', allows our excavations on bogs, to be re-imagined as an…

Exquisite Portraits is a beast of a project, created during the first lockdown of 2020. Instigated by illustrator Margaret Anne Suggs, and author Juliette Saumande, it involves 26 illustrators from or living in Ireland and 20 children’s writers and poets. It is both individual and collective. It is fun, it is moving; it looks huge, it chronicles the tiny. It is the very definition of ‘together apart’. The visual exhibition is a series of giant images (each one 1 metre high!) representing an…

'Invisible Cords' is a collection of artwork developed by Kildare based Visual Artist Clodagh Kelly over the last ten years.  Clodagh uses drawing, mixed media and natural materials to explore health, landscape, healing and form in space.  This exhibition draws from three bodies of artwork 'Scratched Room', 'Cruel Nature' and 'Boundaries' allowing the underlying invisible cords that resonate between the different series to emerge. SEE ALSO Short video introduction to Invisible Cords  4th Feb - PANEL DISCUSSION - Scared Conversations…

This exhibition is an immersive installation inviting you to “get lost in art” and to enter an illuminated space filled with rich colour and light. The pieces are inspired by the beauty of nature and made with discarded ‘rubbish’ of our wasteful society.  The exhibition combines new and re-invented creations. Some sculptures invite the visitors to feel and explore them and to discover their own creativity. This multi-sensory experience is made for all age groups. Holographic rainbow glasses are provided…

This combined exhibition offers a glimpse into the work of artists Della Cowper-Gray and Brad Gray -  Daughter and Dad - and features a small selection of their recent work. Della Cowper Gray’s portrait of her Dad recently won the ‘Overall winner’ category in the Zurich prize held at the National Gallery of Ireland and the Crawford gallery in Cork. Her favoured medium is Prisma colour pencil which she builds in subtle layers of colour and tone to a high…

A visual art and audio installation by Kildare artist John Conway, translated from his innovative theatre work of the same name, The Ballad of a Care Centre weaves together the life stories of older men and women from the Naas area to form a new narrative which is presented under both a nostalgic and critical lens. This reimagining of the theatre work is presented in a unique listening and viewing experience in the McKenna Gallery at the Riverbank Arts Centre.…

D W E L L I N G S  is a new print exhibition in our Foyer Gallery, by artist Gráinne Bath Enright. Gráinne's artwork explores a sense of place and the natural world, urban landscapes and the connections we have to these places, pulling on their history, folklore and the environment. "From the streets to the sky, I’ve always been interested in the spaces we dwell, the places that we create stories around, and the symbolism they hold. Birds have…

Riverbank Arts Centre is delighted to welcome Newbridge Youth Training & Development Centre to our Foyer Gallery with their end of year Art Exhibition. "As art is currently taught in education, it leaves a lot to be desired. It is stringent, uninspiring, yet demanding. The students of NYTDC have been given free reign of a variety of materials, to create and explore outside of standardised testing. Whatever materials interested them was fair game, no holds barred. The evidence of this…

Riverbank Arts Centre welcomes a new exhibition for children, showcasing the breadth of talent in contemporary Irish illustration, while retelling the story of Samhain (Halloween) for a new generation. Two siblings get lost in the woods. There they meet a mysterious traveller and embark on an adventure that sees them encountering a cheeky púca, some lost souls, and a choir of banshees… This is a story of Halloween as told by children’s writer Olivia Hope. A Way Home / An…

Riverbank Arts Centre welcomes artist Caoimhe McGuckin to the McKenna Gallery with her first solo exhibition Fathom. "Measurement is an ordering principle we use to understand and orient ourselves in time and space. We need dimensions to help us make sense of an otherwise chaotic existence. Tools of measurement serve as reliable objects that keep us in line and on the straight & narrow. The sense of authority bestowed by reliable objects can provide a place of solace & support in the face of…

Dētrīmentum is a video and photographic installation by Kildare artist Katie Whyte. A Latin word meaning harm, loss, or damage, Dētrīmentum is an exploration of the journey of an object from an intact historical/archival piece, to an object that has fallen into disrepair and out of the collective memory. This installation focuses on presenting hidden and lost historical narratives in photographic form. Using new media glitching techniques, the detached narrative histories of these objects are interlaced with the code of…

Tamzen Lundy’s colourful exhibition FIBRE Felted introduces young people to the wonders and possibilities of felt making, the oldest textile making process in the world. Using 100% wool (and sometimes other natural fibres), soap and water plus rubbing, rolling and a little magic, the artist creates intriguing 2D and 3D objects and many familiar characters inspired by much-loved children’s books. The woollen textiles in FIBRE Felted are playful and experimental, the only tools required to create them are the artist’s…

In 2022 artist Clodagh Kelly led an artist residence programme at Riverbank Arts Centre, supported by the Kildare County Council Arts Service First Fortnight Award, in partnership with First Fortnight. Women of diverse ages, arts experiences and social backgrounds participated in the residency which resulted in Freedom of Choice - a body of work which gives a glimpse into these women’s lives. The artwork created shows their personalised take on health/wellbeing and journeys of healing whilst world politics, Covid and…