Touring & Sharing

GRÁ

12 July – 20 September 2025
Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, County Cork

Love is in the air this summer in West Cork!

We are delighted to partner with Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre and Salt & Pepper (West Cork's elder LGBTQI+ arts collective) on a major summer exhibition selected from the National Collection at Crawford Art Gallery.

GRÁ celebrates love in all its forms and features more than 50 artworks from Crawford Art Gallery and responses from 30 people from Salt & Pepper. 

Facilitated by artist and activist Toma McCullim, with guidance from Ann Davoren (Director, Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre) and Michael Waldron (Curator of Collections & Special Projects, Crawford Art Gallery), Salt & Pepper has explored the collection to shape a diverse, inclusive showcase for Uillinn, accompanied by a rich programme of talks, tours, workshops, and events. 

GRÁ features key works from 1888 through to 2022, including the iconic Portrait of Fiona Shaw by Victoria Russell, John Lavery’s The Red Rose, Patrick Hennessy's Self Portrait and Cat, and the photographic series Hi, Vis by Dragana Jurišić.

This project introduces new audiences to Crawford Art Gallery’s collection, providing various access points to a range of works and artists for visitors and local communities.

Featured artworks:

• Aphrodite from Melos (Venus de Milo)
• Sara Baume, So Sick and Tired (2020)
• Brian Bourke, Mother and Child (undated)
• Regina Carbayo, Portrait of Kate O’Brien (2015)
• Margaret Clarke, Portrait of Lennox Robinson (1926)
• Tom Climent, Eden (2019)
• William Crozier, The River Boundary (Lough Hyne) (1988)
• Gerard Dillon, Cut Out, Drop Out (1968)
• Mollie Douthit, Lisa and I (2021)
• Stephen Doyle, Meditating Tongqui (2020)
• Rita Duffy, Guantanamo amas amat (2009)
• John ffrench, Ceramics (c.1950s)
• Mags Geaney, Irresistible Force (2019)
• Patrick Hennessy, Self Portrait and Cat (1978)
• Mainie Jellett, Abstract Composition (c.1929)
• Dragana Jurišić, Hi, Vis (2020-21)
• Dragana Jurišić, Paula Meehan (2018)
• Harry Kernoff, The Forty Foot, Sandycove (1940)
• Paul La Rocque, In Her Own Garden (1998)
• John Lavery, The Red Rose (1923)
• John Minihan, Grave Stones of Somerville and Ross, Novelists, Castletownshend, Co. Cork (1998)
• Cormac Moore, The Emigrant (son and father) (c.1995)
• Janet Mullarney, Drawing from Memory (2010)
• Janet Mullarney, Rishabadeva Again (2010)
• Norah Brigid Ní Chuill, Game of Cards (1959)
• Íde Ní Shúilleabháin, Tools Series (Sewing Machine) (undated)
• Isabel Nolan, The Light Poured Out of You (2016)
• John Rainey, Dazzle Disco (legs) (2022)
• Victoria Russell, Portrait of Fiona Shaw (2002)
• Patrick Scott, Meditation Painting 33 (c.2006)
• Edith Somerville, A Holy Place of the Druids or Grave of a Chieftain (undated)
• Edith Somerville, Sketch of Head for ‘The Goose Girl’ (c.1888)
• Niamh Swanton, I’ve Always Been Rather Shy (2022)
• Mary Swanzy, Samoan Scene (1924)
• Jennifer Trouton, Mater Natura: The Abortionist’s Garden [Embroideries] (2020-21)

Screenings

Aideen Barry, Not to be Known (2015) 
Friday 1 August, 10.00 – 16.30, Free Entry

Clare Langan, The Heart of a Tree (2020) 
Saturday 23 August, 10.00 – 15.30, Free Entry

Events

Grá Gallery Talk and Tour with Dr Michael Waldron (Curator of Collections & Special Projects at Crawford Art Gallery)
Thursday 24 July and Thursday 18 September
13:00 – 14:00
Free to attend, no booking required

Seen - Unseen
Friday 18 July
15:30
Free, but booking essential, please contact Clare McLaughlin:
claremclaughlinemail@gmail.com