New exhibition from Louth Craft Mark Designers Network

What lies beneath the surface? What stories shimmer just out of sight? Reveal, Conceal, a striking new exhibition from Louth Craft Mark Designers Network, opens at The Market Place Gallery, Armagh this Saturday, 17 May and invites you to explore the liminal space between what is shown and what is hidden.  The exhibition will also visit The Leitrim Design House (24 May – 6 July), and The Cowshed Gallery, Farmleigh (15 July -15 August).

Spanning textiles, glass, jewellery, ceramics, print, sculpture, and painting, Reveal, Conceal brings together over 30 Louth Craft Mark artists across a range of disciplines, including textiles, glass, jewellery, ceramics, print, illustration, sculpture and painting to create a new body of work for The Market Place Gallery which explores the ‘inside out’ of things.

From the layered transparencies of fused glass artist Aoife Burke, who uses iris imagery to explore life's constant expansion and contraction, to the embroidered dreamscapes of Sinéad Gregory, whose figurative stitching traces the contours of memory and imagination—each artist offers a portal into something just beneath the surface.

 Fiona Mc Kenna's sculptural felt vessels echo the delicate power of oysters, revealing rich contrasts of soft and sharp. Colleen Eilís Murphy reimagines myth and tarot through experimental printmaking, while Suzanne Carroll's haunting paintings confront the disappearing wild, capturing echoes of vanished species.

For nearly two decades, Louth Craft Mark has been a vibrant force in Irish visual culture, showcasing members’ work in venues such as Bloom in the Park, Showcase Ireland, Highlanes Gallery, and Powerscourt Townhouse. Now, in Reveal, Conceal, they present some of their most daring and introspective work yet.

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This exhibition does not merely display—it invites. It asks viewers to look closer, to feel more deeply, and to question what lies behind the visible.

Follow Louth Craft Mark’s work and updates on Instagram: @louthcraftmark.

REVEAL CONCEAL ARTISTS

Aoife Burke is a fused glass artist working from her studio in Bettystown. Fascinated by the possibilities of glass as a material, she explores life's deeper themes through her work. For the Reveal/Conceal series, Aoife used the iris motif to illustrate how life can expand and contract, while retaining its inherent beauty.

Blanche Kirk is a multidisciplinary artist passionate about exploring multicultural traditions through visual art. She combines photography, stitching, painting, and digital manipulation to produce striking mixed-media pieces. Blanche enjoys working with translucent materials like acetate and glass, particularly Float Glass, where she uses techniques such as firing, fusing, slumping, and Pâte de Verre. Her work continuously pushes the boundaries of image-making to create powerful visual expressions.

Caoimhe O’Dwyer is a visual artist and facilitator based in County Louth, specialising in painting and fashion design. Her 2023 solo exhibition Renewal explored childhood and natural themes. Her layered watercolour and oil works often stem from everyday inspiration. A graduate of NCAD and recipient of the Mittelmoda design award, Caoimhe has exhibited widely and worked internationally in fashion before returning to Ireland. She now teaches and collaborates on community projects, including early years programmes, drawing on nature and daily life to inspire her visual and teaching practices.

Ciara Agnew is a Louth artist whose work features geometric compositions of colour strips with both sharp and blurred edges. A University of Ulster graduate, Ciara’s abstract pieces are rooted in memory and emotion, experimenting with colour and form to reflect the environment. Her work has entered prestigious public and private collections worldwide. She is affiliated with Creative Spark Print Studio, Visual Artists Ireland, and Louth Craft Mark.

Clémence Prosen is a French-born, Ireland-based artist who works primarily in oil and watercolour. Her art captures the calm beauty of everyday moments, often created en plein air. Deeply influenced by nature and mindfulness, Clémence’s paintings convey emotion through soft light and simple forms.

Colleen Eilís Murphy is a Dundalk-based printmaker exploring mythology, folklore, and tarot through layered mixed media. Her narrative-rich work uses familiar symbols reimagined to invite new interpretations. She is currently in residence at Creative Spark Print Studio and has exhibited in venues such as Rua Red, Outset Gallery, and An Táin Arts Centre.

Fiona Mc Kenna began her career as a jeweller with Bridge Street Studios before transitioning into felt and textile art. Inspired by oysters, her recent felted work explores texture and contrast. Her practice includes drawing with thread and creating soft sculptural forms. Fiona combines her love of materials and nature in richly textured pieces that reveal beauty through contrast.

Gina Petrea is a visual artist working in painting and sculpture, examining gesture, materiality, and space. Her abstraction-based studio practice reflects presence and absence. A recipient of a Droichead Arts Centre bursary, Gina’s works have been featured in group exhibitions and acquired by public collections such as Droichead Arts Centre. Her work evolves through material experimentation and perception.

Helen Loughran is a charcoal artist whose journey began when she shifted from oil painting to charcoal. Enchanted by its expressive power, she uses this medium to explore local landscapes—particularly trees—and the dramatic interplay of light and shadow. A member of Louth Craftmark and an associate member of USWA, Helen’s work is observational and emotional, continually evolving with each new technique she explores.

Iseult Raftery is an Irish jewellery artist and goldsmith based in Dublin. Under her brand ‘Iseult Designs,’ she creates sterling silver and semi-precious stone jewellery inspired by the flowing forms of the natural world. Her organic aesthetic captures beauty in structure and movement.

Jane Campbell holds both a BA in Sculpture and an MA from NCAD. She creates large-scale ceramic forms from white stoneware that are designed to be looked into or through. Jane’s work explores hidden interior spaces, blending decals, hand painting, and textures to evoke the curiosity of the viewer and a deeper engagement with space.

Joanne Cartwright is a plein air painter inspired by the fleeting effects of light and seasonal changes in the Irish landscape. A self-taught artist guided by mentors, Joanne paints in oils, often en plein air, to capture the vibrancy and natural beauty of her surroundings.

Krystyna Krasowska-Cicha is a Polish-born artist living in Ireland who paints landscapes and sacred images in oil. Educated at the Academy of Fine Art in Łódź, she honours her faith and nature through a plein-air process that includes field sketches and large-scale compositions. Her work blends observation with spiritual reverence.

Leonora Reilly is a self-taught artist from County Derry now living in County Louth. Her work spans representational oil painting, abstract art, and landscapes, often inspired by family memories and local beauty. Leonora is the founder of the Louth Plein Air Art Festival and includes mindful messages in her abstract work. She offers classes and commissions from her home studio.

Louisa Kelly is a textile artist from rural County Derry. After graduating from the University of Ulster in 2001 with a degree in fine and applied arts, she pursued education and then a full-time art career. Louisa creates felted wool "paintings" inspired by the Irish landscape’s colour and texture. She co-runs the Boathouse Gallery in Bushmills and regularly exhibits her work.

Maureen Finn is a ceramic artist based in Millmount, Drogheda, who works with hand-building techniques. Her pieces draw from the shapes, textures, and colours of the Irish landscape, resulting in tactile and organic ceramic forms.

Mel Bradley is a textile artist who studied at NCAD and has been designing hand-painted silks for over 35 years. Her work has been featured in fashion, corporate, and interior design contexts. She has collaborated with prominent designers and now operates from a studio-gallery in Millmount, Drogheda, offering workshops and exhibitions through Gallery 13.

Noella Manley is a Louth-based oil painter whose vibrant, textured works often depict coastal scenes. Inspired by the changing skies and sea, she uses brushes and palette knives to build energy and movement into her paintings. A member of Louth Craftmark and Visual Artists Ireland, Noella has had several solo exhibitions and regularly shows at art markets and festivals.

Orla Barry is a Dundalk-based painter whose richly decorative style reflects influences from sacred art and iconography. Graduating from DIT in 2007, her paintings explore our relationship with animals and nature. Orla has exhibited widely, completed international residencies, and has works in public collections such as the OPW and Louth County Council.

Rachel Tinniswood is a mixed-media textile artist who works in both 2D and 3D formats. Combining fabric, thread, wax resist, and hand/machine embroidery, Rachel explores environmental fragility and nature's textures. Her work includes wearable art, framed pieces, and home décor, all reflecting a deeply contemplative process.

Rozzi Kennedy is a painter from County Armagh who studied at Limerick School of Art & Design. She is a member of the ROGHA collective, At Home Studios Dublin, and the Ulster Society of Women Artists, and her practice centres around vibrant, expressive painting.

Shauna Swords Shauna Swords is a Dundalk-based visual artist who studied Textiles and Fashion Design at the University of Ulster, Belfast. She went on to establish a design studio in Carlingford, creating textile-based lighting, framed artworks, and greeting cards, and exhibited at trade events in Dublin, London, and New York. Shauna now works as an art teacher with LMETB and as a community arts facilitator, collaborating with diverse groups on projects for Cruinniú na nÓg, Culture Night, and Brigid 1500. She has recently returned to her own practice, creating vibrant, expressive paintings—often painted en plein air—with bold use of colour that captures emotion and personal interpretation.

Sinéad Gregory is a visual artist based in Dunleer whose work spans drawing, printmaking, and textiles. She holds an HND in Fine Art and a BA in Creative Imaging. Sinéad’s recent works incorporate paint and figurative embroidery to explore dreams, memories, and inner thoughts. Her tactile, layered works draw on nature and emotional expression.

Sinéad McInerney is a metal sculptor from Warrenpoint, County Down, whose fascination with flight inspires her copper creations. Influenced by birds, planes, and rockets, her intuitive metalworking results in unique, textured pieces that celebrate innovation and organic beauty. Sinéad uses techniques involving heat, brass, and silver to evoke the fragility and achievement of flight.

Suzanne Carroll is a visual artist and NCAD graduate whose work investigates ecological loss through painting. She explores themes of extinction and restoration, using Ireland’s ecosystems as a focal point. Suzanne’s The Fishery Exchange project links artistic expression with environmental activism, including paintings like that of the extinct Giant Irish Deer.