Grilse Gallery
Screenprint studio & artist-run gallery in
Killorglin, Kerry
12–5pm Wednesday–Sunday
087 604 7559 / either@grilse.ie
Free entry to all & group visits welcome
Bernadette Cotter & Áine Ryan, Beirt le chéile, 18 October – 23 November
Installation view DaveRyanMedia
Top Installation view: centre, Bernadette Cotter, Deargfhlaith, performance,1995–2025
Middle Áine Ryan, Barren is Never Used for Men, 2025, butcher’s block, deconstructed women’s underwear, metal pins, h15 x w122 x d61 cm
Bottom At the opening view, Bernadette, Aíne and Lisa Fingleton. Photos DaveRyanMedia
Bernadette's and Aíne's compelling works were introduced by Lisa Fingleton in an uplifting call to solidarity in the arts, feminism and the environment: she closed with a beautifully sung rendition of 'The Last Hug'. Some visitors' video recordings can be viewed here . . .
Ryan’s practice ranges from object making to site-specific land interventions. She creates primarily sculptural pieces with cast glass, mixed media and found objects. Sometimes she incorporates textiles and photography into her pieces. Her frustrations, anxieties and personal history act as catalysts in her work. Ryan draws from nature and her farm upbringing to interrogate the social construct of feminine identity and to examine the role and value of women within the rural patriarchal space.
Meditation, religion and catharsis are central to Cotter’s practice. Whether in drawings, textiles, performance or installations, the level of detail in Bernadette’s work is astonishing, as she says: ‘I can’t seem to get away from it. Even in the drawings — the drawings are made up of thousands of little units. Either little dots or words or the same gesture in the work, sometimes repeated over and over. I suppose it’s a kind of meditation.’
Left Bernadette Cotter, Presence, 2025, ink on paper
Right Aíne Ryan,
Resting, 2024, cast glass, flame-worked glass, human hair, h4 x w15 x d15 cm
Kerry Selection:
29 November – 21 December
Ciara O'Connor, By Numbers III, 61 x 52 x 2 cm, detail, freemotion embroidery and hand stitch on linen, 2025.
Photo Davi Matheson, DGMphotographic
A curated exhibition by an informal collective of contemporary Kerry-based artists who have previously exhibited in Killarney and Cork, showing a wide range of media including painting, printmaking, sculpture and photography. Participating artists include: Regine Bartsch, Dorota Borowa, Lucy & Robert Carter, Kathy Cronin, Fermoyle Pottery, Lisa Fingleton, Laura Fitzgerald, Karen Hendy, Austin Ivers, Darragh Kinch, Holger Lönze, Rochelle Lucey, Deirdre McKenna, Poppy Melia, Aran Mulvihill, Niall Naessens, Ciara O'Connor, Alan Raggett and Christopher Steenson.
Artists exhibited at Grilse Gallery include: Mike Ahern, Miriam Barry, Regine Bartsch, Paul Bokslag, Dorota Borowa, Katherine Boucher Beug, Cormac Boydell, Edwina Bracken, Kate Buckley, Na Cailleacha (Helen Comerford, Barbara Freeman, Patricia Hurl, Catherine Marshall, Carole Nelson, Rachel Parry, Therry Rudin), Lucy & Robert Carter, Bernadette Cotter, Marie Coveney, Fermoyle Pottery, Lisa Fingleton, Michael Flaherty, Audrey Fleming, Austin Ivers, Cathy Giles, Debbie Godsell, Tim Goulding, Zoë Green, Patrick Groneman, Karen Hendy, Carol Hodder, Con Kelleher, Denis Kelly, Darragh Kinch, Maria Levigne, David Lilburn, Rochelle Lucey, Sean McCarthy, Ava McKenna, Deirdre McKenna, Tadhg McSweeney, Silke Michels, Susan Montgomery, Paul Mosse, Niall Naessens, Jock Nichol, Noël O’Callaghan, Ciara O’Connor, Denis O’Reardon, Geraldine O’Reilly, Danny Osborne, Rachel Parry, Alan Raggett, Robert Rasmussen, Jenny Richardson, Aisling Roche, Eddie Ryan, Úna Ni Shé, Mary G Sheehan, Gerda Teljeur, Charles Tyrrell. Also in Kerry Art Now! Kathy Cronin, Clodagh Edwards, Laura Fitzgerald, Holger Lönze, Poppy Melia, Aran Mulvihill, Christopher Steenson.