FISHERWOMAN, FISHERWOMAN: Camille Souter & Alberta Whittle
6 March – 13 September 2026
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin

Crawford Art Gallery is delighted to loan three paintings by Camille Souter from the collection to Fisherwoman, Fisherwoman at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA).

This exhibition brings together two distinct art practices – of painter Camille Souter (1929-2023) and contemporary artist Alberta Whittle (b.1980) – that insist upon working against the grain, unpicking urgencies of life and death, resistance and regeneration.

Spanning a period of 70 years across two generations, the works in this thematic exhibition range from painting, collage and watercolours, to immersive film, sculptural installation and live performance. One of the largest exhibitions of Souter’s work to date, it features works-on-paper from the 1950s as well as one of her final paintings, alongside previously unseen archival materials and sketches by the British-born Irish artist. Many of Whittle’s installation works have been specially reimagined and refabricated by the artist for IMMA’s galleries, in what is the first showing of the Barbadian-Scottish artist’s practice in Ireland.  

Where Souter and Whittle meet in Fisherwoman, Fisherwoman, we see layered intersections of ecological and humanitarian concerns. The artists call attention to urgent issues of extraction and land use, geology and climate, industrialisation and labour, and movement and migration. They each create work from their own personal and local experiences, yet it is shaped by an unerring global awareness. 

Crawford Art Gallery wishes to thank and congratulate Alberta Whittle, Annie Fletcher (Director), Rachael Gilbourne (Curator), and the IMMA team.

Featured artwork:

• Camille Souter, Achill, 1960.
• Camille Souter, Pelting Rain Near Ashford, County Wicklow, 1966.
• Camille Souter, Winter Evening, Calary, 1964.

TO LAND: Living Roots Awaken
23 May – 9 August 2026
Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, County Louth

Crawford Art Gallery and Highlanes Gallery proudly present a new strategic touring partnership, To Land: Living Roots Awaken, in collaboration with the Artist-Teacher-Researcher Curatorial Group.

Drawing from the rich collection of Crawford Art Gallery’s contemporary artworks, the exhibition explores how identity is shaped by our relationship with land, history, and memory. We are an island formed by rupture and renewal, rooted in ancient cultures yet continually re-forming in the wake of colonisation. The exhibition conveys the persistence oof history in the present, while themes of displacement and the urge to put down roots resonate quietly throughout the selected artworks.

Bringing together painting, printmaking, textile, drawing, ceramics, and sculpture, the exhibition considers our connection to nature and asks how we relate to the world around us.

To Land: Living Roots Awaken features artworks from Crawford Art Gallery’s collection by Karen Conway, Barrie Cooke, Dorothy Cross, Stephen Doyle, Anthony Haughey, Katie Holten, John Keating, Fiona Kelly, Anne Kiely and Mary Palmer, Elizabeth Magill, Alice Maher, Frieda Meaney, Nuala O’Donovan, and John Rainey. The exhibition also features the work of invited artists Dorota Borowa, Tom Climent, James Hayes, and Ciara O’Connor.

The Artist-Teacher-Researcher (ATR) Curatorial Group are Eileen Brennan, Kieran Gallagher, Bairbre Geraghty, Veronica Lavin, Roisin O’Sullivan, and Ciaran Power.

To Land: Living Roots Awaken opens at 3pm on Saturday 23 May 2026. Admission is free and the exhibition is supported by a programme of talks, tours, and workshops. See www.highlanes.ie for further information.

Crawford Art Gallery wishes to thank Aoife Ruane, Stephen Hodgins, Simon Colfer, and the Highlanes Gallery team.

Featured artworks:

• Karen Conway, Where’s the Map (1997)
• Barrie Cooke, Forest (c.1976)
• Dorothy Cross, Jellyfish Lake (2002)
• Stephen Doyle, Dylan Is Ainm Dom… (2018)
• Anthony Haughey, Famine Eviction Scene, Model World, Newtownmountkennedy (1996)
• Katie Holten, Irish Tree Alphabet (2020)
• John Keating, Girl and Dog (undated)
• John Keating, Girl in Shopping Trolley (undated)
• Fiona Kelly, Homing (2019)
• Anne Kiely and Mary Palmer, Who Will Tell the Bees (2018)
• Elizabeth Magill, Blue Constrictor (2006)
• Alice Maher, Irish Dancers (1992)
• Frieda Meaney, Map: Rabach’s Glen (2002)
• Frieda Meaney, Map Traces (2005)
• Nuala O’Donovan, Teasel – Grey Area (2018)
• John Rainey, Dazzle Disco (legs) (2022)
• John Rainey, Restoration Error Disco (2022)

CEILIÚRADH: Treasures of the Boyne Valley
8 May – 2 August 2026
Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, County Louth

Crawford Art Gallery is delighted to loan a painting by Drogheda-born artist Nathaniel Hill (1861-1930) to Highlanes Gallery for Ceiliúradh: Treasures of the Boyne Valley.

Marking the twentieth anniversary of Highlanes Gallery, home of the Drogheda Municipal Art Collection, the exhibition is inspired by the Boyne Valley and draws attention to the built environment, rurality, richness of nature, and ideas around climate change/action and sustainability.

Goose Girl in a Breton Farmyard (1884) was painted by Nathaniel Hill during a period the artist spent in Brittany with fellow Irishmen, Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) and Walter Osborne (1859-1903), following their studies in Antwerp. Typical of his Realist style, Hill depicts the courtyard of La Ferme de Keranperchec at Pont-Aven in this small canvas, presenting a rural peasant scene which made for popular subject matter at that time.

Crawford Art Gallery wishes to thank Aoife Ruane, Stephen Hodgins, Simon Colfer, and the Highlanes Gallery team.

The exhibition coincides with To Land: Living Roots Awaken (23 May – 9 August 2026), a strategic touring partnership between Crawford Art Gallery and Highlanes Gallery, in collaboration with the Artist-Teacher-Researcher Curatorial Group.

Featured artwork:

• Nathaniel Hill, Goose Girl in a Breton Farmyard (1884)

CONSTELLATIONS: Selected Work from Crawford Art Gallery
14 February – 2 May 2026
F.E. McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge, County Down

We are delighted to collaborate with F.E. McWilliam Gallery on a new exhibition of contemporary Irish art.

Constellations: Selected Work from Crawford Art Gallery brings artworks from the collection to the F.E. McWilliam Gallery in Northern Ireland.

Featuring the work of 14 artists based on the island of Ireland, Constellations highlights the depth and richness of Crawford Art Gallery’s contemporary holdings within Ireland’s National Collection.

Linked by the artists’ use of bold colour and shared themes of nature, domestic life and identity, the artworks in this exhibition range from film and photography to drawing, painting, and sculpture. Several of these were acquired by Crawford Art Gallery during the COVID-19 lockdowns as part of the Government of Ireland’s investment in visual artists and the National Collection. All made within the past 21 years, a number of these are also multi-part works and reflect key moments within their respective artists’ practices. 

Constellations is the latest instalment in an ongoing cross-border relationship between F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Crawford Art Gallery, which began in 2013.

The exhibition features the work of Aideen Barry, Declan Byrne, Tom Climent, Amanda Coogan, Laura Fitzgerald, Michael Hanna, Katie Holten, Ronnie Hughes, Dragana Jurišić, Nick Miller, Isabel Nolan, Niamh Swanton, Jennifer Trouton, and Corban Walker.

Crawford Art Gallery wishes to thank Riann Coulter and the F.E. McWilliam Gallery team in realising such an energising and hopeful exhibition.

Constellations: Selected Work from Crawford Art Gallery opens from 3pm Saturday 14 February and runs until Saturday 2 May. F.E. McWilliam Gallery is open weekly, Monday-Saturday, and admission is free.

Featured artworks:

• Aideen Barry, Not to be Known (2015)
• Declan Byrne, Encrusted Dog (2019)
• Tom Climent, Eden (2019)
• Amanda Coogan, Molly Blooms (2005)
• Laura Fitzgerald, News From Back the Road (2021)
• Laura Fitzgerald, News From Over the Road (2021)
• Laura Fitzgerald, Shelter for Visitors (2021)
• Laura Fitzgerald, Transport for Visitors (2021)
• Michael Hanna, A Living Colour Index (2020)
• Katie Holten, Irish Tree Alphabet (2020)
• Ronnie Hughes, Columns (2022)
• Dragana Jurišić, Hi, Vis (2020-21)
• Nick Miller, Branching and Fragmenting: Tikkun Olam (2019-20)
• Isabel Nolan, Desert Mother (Saint Paula) and Lion (2022)
• Niamh Swanton, I’ve Always Been Rather Shy (2022)
• Niamh Swanton, Nothing to Worry About (2022)
• Niamh Swanton, There Are No Perks to Being a Wallflower (2022)
• Jennifer Trouton, Mater Natura: The Abortionist Garden (2020-21)
• Corban Walker, Ambidextrous Drawing 3 (2013)