Nine of the Sow’s Ear Collective will have their work exhibited at the dlr Mill Theatre in Dundrum, South Dublin. Included in the show are Feltmakers Ireland members Fiona Leech and Sandra Reynolds. The collective’s work encompasses a range of media, including art, ceramics, felt, embroidery, and more.
When: The show runs from the 2nd of November to the 10th of January, 2026.
The opening is this Sunday, the 2nd, from 4 to 6 PM. All are welcome to attend.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For content-related questions, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
Several of Feltmakers Ireland members are participating in this year’s Culture Night – Friday, the 19th of September.
Art Exhibition – Sutton, Co Dublin
Guild members Sandra Reynolds and Fiona Leech are amongst the artists who are exhibiting as part of Sow’s Ear Collective at the Bayside Community Centre. “Taking Shape” is the second group exhibition from the Sow’s Ear Collective, a gathering of multidisciplinary artists working across painting, sculpture, textiles, and more.
When: 7 PM – 10 PM, on Friday, the 19th of September.
Tamzen Lundy and her colleagues at GATHER Kildare will be hosting an open night. Watch live demonstrations of traditional and contemporary skills, including feltmaking, wood carving, and glassmaking.
When: 4:30 PM – 6 PM, on Friday, the 19th of September.
If you are a guild member who is participating in a Culture Night event, please let us know – FeltmakersIE@gmail.com
Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
Feltmakers Ireland chooses a theme for each of our annual exhibitions. Last year’s theme was ‘Bountiful’, and the year before, it was ‘Building Bridges’. This year’s theme is ‘Opposites Attract’.
Having a theme can be both inspiring or constraining, depending upon the individual artist. Sometimes, both emotions are experienced within a member as she works through the feltmaking process!
In today’s blog post, we share six of our members’ pieces and how they interpreted ‘Opposites Attract’.
The Series
The complete series of posts on our Members’ Inspiration can be found here:
My piece is inspired by the forces of the moon and its effects on nature. The opposites of light and dark, the power of electricity, and the magnetic forces surrounding us.
Sandra Coote
Sandra Coote – ‘Nature’s Duet’
2024, the year it rained continuously, but on occasion, the sun peeped through to produce the most magnificent of rainbows. ‘Nature’s Duet’ brightly represents this occurrence when the opposites of our weather come together harmoniously to create a spectacular spectrum of colour.
Patricia Conroy
Patricia Conroy – ‘Doolin sunset’
This piece is inspired by a sunset in Doolin in April 2024. It depicts the beauty that dark and bright can create. The hills are black, but as a result the beauty of nature’s contrasts can be experienced.
Nature provides us with opposites that attract and that go together to create the beauty we see every day.
Hélène Dooley
Hélène Dooley – ‘Hiking in the foothills of Mount Cook, NZ’
Nature is truly magnificent and packed with contradictions!
While hiking in the foothills of Mount Cook, NZ, the clouds disappeared, and we were treated to the most stunning and, according to locals, a rare view of the mountain. There were so many opposing elements: the light and dark of the mountain range, our presence in a lush and colourful terrain against a stark mountain backdrop, the permanence of this young mountain range compared to the transience of the flora surrounding us, the differing temperatures which were governed by height. Fragility surrounded us, yet there was a certain reassurance that the mountain would prevail in spite of humanity’s destructive decisions.
Maria McGarry
Maria McGarry – ‘Winter Solstice, Newgrange’
On the 21st of December 2023, as the dawn broke in Newgrange, we witnessed dazzling rainbow clouds, and I could see a dove form through the clouds. Spiritually, it reflected our silent collective prayer for peace in the world. (ethereal opposite to earthly).
Audrey Murray
Audrey Murray – ‘Tree of Life’
‘The Tree of Life’ symbolises the connection between heaven and earth, body and mind, and the physical and spiritual. The angel represents a messenger between heaven and earth and the addition of the cherry blossom flowers continues the theme of connecting birth, death and rebirth.
We hope that you enjoyed learning about what inspires these artists. This series will continue over the coming weeks. ‘Opposites Attract’ is at the Phoenix Park Visitors Centre. The gallery is open from 10 AM until 4 PM daily.
Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
Feltmakers Ireland’s group exhibition, ‘Opposites Attract,’ opens today at 3 PM. Tom Watts of the Design and Craft Council of Ireland (DCCI) will inaugurate our exhibition.
Here are the last of the sneak peeks: Sandra Reynolds, Helena Mc Guinness, Sandra Coote, Valerie Nowak-oceallaigh, Patricia Conroy, Hélène Dooley, and Juliane Gorman.
Sandra Reynolds
Helena Mc Guinness
Sandra Coote
Valerie Nowak-oceallaigh
Patricia Conroy
Hélène Dooley
Juliane Gorman
Thank you for accompanying us on this Sneak Peek Journey. Learning about our members and their inspirations has been a fascinating part of organising this exhibition! We cannot wait to share more artwork during the show’s run from May 5th to 26th.
Remember: The Phoenix Park Visitors’ Centre is shut on Mondays and Tuesdays. However, the lovely cafe across the way is open.
Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
In three days’ time – Saturday, the 30th – our juried exhibition, ‘Bountiful‘, will open at the Phoenix Park Visitors Centre in Dublin. Pippa Hackett (Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine) will be there to officially open.
We will have the unveiling of our wonderful 20th Anniversary Flower Tapestry on Saturday, too. Thank you to all the members who helped create the abundance of beautiful flowers.
Additionally, our book will officially launch – ‘Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking’. So, it’ll be a wonderful day of celebrating our guild and our talents.
In the meantime, here are two close-ups of pieces that will be in the show.
Karena has three other pieces in an upcoming exhibition in Brussels! These artworks will be shown at the ‘Dear PrEUdence: A Positive Headspace in the EU’ exhibition. It will be held at the European Parliament in Brussels from the 10th through the 13th of October.
Feltmakers Ireland 