By Ciaran Tierney Surrendering to the power of nature and making the most of an opportunity to connect with her own ancestors ensured that a recent one-month residency at Áras Éanna became a transformative experience for Irish-American artist Maureen Fleming. Maureen returned to Inis Oirr thanks to a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation in New...
Archives: Projects
Prodigal Son Mick returns to Inis Oirr
By Ciaran Tierney Not many 70-year old Irish people wear purple suits. Then again, not many 70-year old Irish artists have staged major exhibitions as far afield as Africa, India, South Korea, and Australia during the course of their careers. For a man who has sampled the joys of indigenous cultures all across the world,...
Old Aran in Colour
(July to September 2022) Visitors to Inis Oirr are in for a special treat this summer when Áras Éanna hosts an outdoor exhibition of colourised old photos from the three Aran Islands. Based on the success of the books ‘Old Ireland in Colour’, NUI Galway academics and co-authors John Breslin and Sarah-Anne Buckley are bringing...
Nowhere to Hide at Sea
One of Ireland’s most famous expressionist artists, Mick Mulcahy, will unveil a retrospective of his work – and new paintings from a recent residency on Inis Oirr – in the Áras Éanna art gallery from Friday July 8, to Sunday, July 31. Mulcahy was the first artist ever to hold an exhibition in the building...
Enjoying Inis Oirr at the quietest time of year
By Ciaran Tierney Exploring the striking landscape of Inis Oirr during the quiet and dark winter months provided huge inspiration to Connemara-based artist Clare Cashman during a recent six week residency at Áras Éanna. Clare came to the smallest of the Aran Islands thanks to a partnership with Ealaín na Gaeltachta and says she...
Curacha – the exhibition that inspired
By Ciaran Tierney It was the exhibition which captured the imagination of thousands of visitors to Inis Oirr last summer and now you can celebrate it with a superb new colour poster which has gone on sale online. Áras Éanna has teamed up with Charlie Byrne’s bookshop in Galway City to sell copies of the...
A joyous re-awakening on Inis Oirr
For Patrick O’Laoighre, writer and musician, a month on Inis Oirr has been a joyous re-awakening. His month long residency at Áras Éanna has seen Patrick tune into the spectacular sounds all around the island, including the language of the people. Stunned by the rocks, the fields, the waves crashing against the cliffs at Inis...
Acrobatics for music in the pub
It was the kind of magic which seems to just happen on Inis Oirr. On a cold Tuesday night in October, a musician approached two acrobats in Tigh Ned, the island’s famous music pub. He had seen acrobatic performers Ali Stanger and Henrik Gard perform some sensational moves on the beach earlier in the day...
Happy days during a residency on Inis Oirr
A month-long residency at Áras Éanna at the start of the summer provided the catalyst for director Sara Jane Scaife to come up with the incredible Irish-language version of ‘Happy Days’ by Samuel Beckett which proved to be such a huge hit at last month’s Galway International Arts Festival. And now Sarah Jane and Company...
Trying to keep Inis Oirr secret
A chance encounter with an Irish artist with Finnish roots at the opening of an art exhibition in Co Mayo in 2018 sowed the seeds for Jane Hughes and Tapani Hyppia to make the long trek from Helsinki, Finland, to enjoy a month long residency at Áras Éanna this summer. Selma Makela told Jane that...