EXHIBITIONS IN THE IRISH WORKHOUSE CENTRE
6 - 20 September from 11am to 5pm daily
In the Gallery at the Workhouse, in the Double Gallery, and in the Court Yard, we will show the work of  our invited artists,
 Janet Graham, Dee Ci, Thomasina Early, Avia Gurman Murphy and Silvia of Jandy Jewellery

Local artists will be welcome to display their work in the Long Gallery.

Most of the work is for sale and because our commission is modest, you will find high quality work at great prices.
INVITED ARTISTS IN THE DOUBLE GALLERY AND COURTYARD
Janet Graham
Janet Graham has built a reputation for being one of the most collectable of the North-West artists. In early years her work was strongly influenced by close artistic friendships with painters such as Lawson Burch and Stephen McKenna PPRHA. Her landscape exhibition “Disappearing Landscape” received much attention and was the subject of a BBC documentary.

​In recent years, her painting has developed a more painterly abstract style. She works from her studio in Donegal, Ireland and has exhibited in many group and solo exhibitions. Her work is held in collections in Europe, the USA and Japan. The Warrior Women collection shown here examines institutional abuse of women, showing how authorities exerted coercive control over vulnerable individuals. It intends to challenge viewers to engage and to question the systems that enabled these abuses.

www.janetgrahamartist.com
Thomasina Earley
Thomasina Earley is a Westmeath artist who does not use paint, Thomasina Earley captures the essence of the Irish landscape through its own palette. A background in industrial design, interior design and illustration took Thomasina on projects in Ireland and abroad. She captured visuals of different terrains, from the red of the Australian outback to the dripping wet jungles of Asia – habitats in which life expands, renews and decays.

​At her studio she creates art using local soils, clays from the surrounding areas, peats from the midland bogs and sands from the Irish coast. Peat holds the imprint to the past. Boglands tell their own story. She enjoys working with these natural materials and their earthy tones. She is drawn to the use of copper, gold and silverleaf, which can frequently be seen in her work. 
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http://www.facebook.com/thomasina.earley
Silvia of Jandy Jewellery
Silvia of Jandy Jewellery has always been creative at heart. She loves making things — always exploring new ideas and refining her style. Living in Ireland, she finds endless inspiration in nature and its colourful flowers, which continue to influence her beautiful clay jewellery designs today.

​Each piece is handmade with love! Her jewellery will be available for purchase on the opening night and Silvia will also be doing a demo of her jewellery making.

jandy.ie
Deirdre Cichosz (Dee Ci)
Deirdre Cichosz (Dee Ci) is an Irish landscape oil painter whose work is deeply rooted in a reverence for the natural world. Drawn to quiet, often overlooked pockets of landscape, her paintings explore the shifting atmosphere of coastal scenes, mist-covered horizons, rolling waves and fog-softened landforms that seem to hover between memory and place.

​Working predominantly in oils, she creates her own hand-mulled paints using natural oils and raw pigments, free from unnecessary toxins and synthetic additives. This slow, intentional process forms an essential part of her practice — an act of respect toward the landscape that inspires the work itself. Through richly pigmented earthy tones and layered surfaces, the paintings seek not only to depict nature, but to move in harmony with it.
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​www.deeciart.com
Avia Gurman Murphy
Avia Gurman Murphy is an interdisciplinary visual artist based in County Clare whose practice spans photography, site-specific installation, voice, performance and alternative photographic processes. Exploring themes of memory, migration, ritual and our relationship with the natural world, she creates immersive works that respond to landscape and place.

She studied Visual Theatre in Jerusalem, holds an MA in Ritual, Chant and Song from the University of Limerick, and completed qualifications in Photography and Creative Media at Limerick College of Further Education. Her work has been exhibited across Ireland and internationally.

​Her photographic installation; I Am Bird offers moments of quiet reflection, inviting beauty, contemplation and hope into a place shaped by painful history.
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​www.aviagurmanartist.com
 I Am Bird Photography Installation by Avia Gurman Murphy

Interdisciplinary artist and photographer Avia Gurman Murphy presents I Am Bird, a site-specific photographic installation in the Workhouse Yard at the Irish Workhouse Centre, Portumna, as part of the Shorelines Arts Festival.

Created for the Mountshannon Arts Festival, I Am Bird continues its journey through places of historical and environmental significance, responding to the unique character of each site.

The installation features large-scale photographic textiles and hand-crafted cyanotype fabric prints suspended throughout the courtyard. Moving gently with the wind and changing with the light, the works transform photography from a static image into an immersive experience. Alongside digitally printed textiles, the cyanotypes are created using sunlight and botanical materials, allowing flowers, leaves and the natural environment to become active collaborators in the making of the work.

Inspired by birds as symbols of freedom, migration and belonging, I Am Bird explores our relationship with landscape, memory and the search for home. By translating photography onto fabric, the installation encourages visitors to move through the work, creating an intimate dialogue between image, place and viewer.

Presented within the historic surroundings of the Irish Workhouse Centre, the installation enters into conversation with a site that holds profound stories of hardship, resilience and survival. Rather than seeking to overwrite history, I Am Bird offers moments of quiet reflection, inviting beauty, contemplation and hope into a place shaped by painful history.

I Am Bird invites audiences to slow down, listen and experience photography as something alive—shaped by light, weather, landscape and the places we call home.

Acknowledgements
I Am Bird was developed with the support of the Creative Bursaries Scheme - Clare County Council, and Mountshannon Arts.
Avia is co-hosting a voice and movement workshop on Sunday, 13th September in the
​Dining Hall at the Irish Workhouse Centre. See Sunday's events for more details.
IN THE GIRLS' SCHOOLROOM
Dark Shadows by Kieran Tuohy
Each piece, carved in the medium of bog oak immortalizes the stories of our famine ancestors. From ‘The Line for Soup’ to the ‘Gates of the Poorhouse’, the story of the workhouse and the history of the famine emanates from each face, hand, and bone.

Abandoning the normal bogwood sculpturing techniques of bringing out the natural forms in the wood into apparent objects, Kieran unearths his own images from the wood. He is unique in that he creates his own shapes and uses many subtly different textures to achieve the finish he wants, using the natural flaws in the wood to great effect.

www.irishworkhousecentre.ie/dark-shadows
IN THE WAITING HALL
The Story of Ireland Famine Sketches by David Rooney
Nine of these engravings on printed panels are located in the waiting hall.
LOCAL ARTISTS IN THE LONG GALLERY
This exhibition gives local and visiting artists a unique opportunity to exhibit and sell work in the Long Gallery.