ARRIVAL
Art & Heritage Exhibition
Sunday 2nd August, 2pm - 3.30pm
Edmondstown House, Ballaghaderreen Arts Festival
Free Entry
Ballindoon House. Photo Credit: Marek Petrovič
ARRIVAL brings together new work by Anna King alongside sixteen artists, writers and makers with connections to Ballaghaderreen, together with a special musical contribution from renowned fiddle player and composer Shane Meehan.
Together, their work forms a rich collection of creative responses inspired by the historic designed landscape of Ballindoon.
Through visual art, photography, poetic prose, sound and performance, ARRIVAL offers diverse interpretations of this remarkable landscape, with each artist's response shaped by memory, time, nature, movement and personal experience.
ARRIVAL is funded by the National Built Heritage Service and the Ballaghaderreen Arts Festival.
Meet the Artists
Carol Beirne
Carol is a multidisciplinary practitioner, visual artist and a writer living in Lisacul.
She won the Overall Recipient of the Hanna Greally Award for Literature & was the winner of The Roscommon New Writers Award in 2024.
Her poetry and short stories have been widely published in anthologies and journals in Ireland, England and America. Her Haiku poems have been showcased regularly on the Japanese Wall in Phoenix Park Dublin and her poetry on climate action have been read in The National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire.
She is writing her debut novel.
“I use words to fill in the gaps where imagery falls short and visual media where words are too rigid” Carol Beirne.
Siobhan Butler
Siobhan (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist based in North Leitrim, Ireland. She is founder of the online Irish dance education platform, Bánóg. Her internationally presented work in traditional dance and visual art explores the interplay between movement, nature, and culture.
Siobhan’s creations draw from the ephemeral qualities of movement, local traditions, and nature, finding inspiration in the interconnectedness of dance, music, landscape, and people.
Her work has been seen at MassArt in Boston, Massachusetts and in publications like The Stranger Times, Ireland.
Her visual art practice is primarily based in the medium of cyanotype, an early photographic process, but she also creates work in ceramics, paint, and textiles.
https://www.siobhanbutler.com/about
Louise G Cole
Writer Louise G Cole was a 2018 Hennessy Literary Award winner who (temporarily) had a Dublin pub re-named in her honour. Her poetry pamphlet ‘Soft Touch’ was subsequently chosen by Carol Ann Duffy for her final UK Laureate’s Choice series. Louise writes poetry and short fiction and is widely published in Ireland and the UK. She has a poem permanently installed on the wall in Chapel Lane, Roscommon, and she is the editor of ‘Autumn Leaves’, the annual literary broadsheet published by Roscommon County Arts Office. Louise insists on the ‘G’ in her name to avoid unnecessary confusion with an underwear model.
Paul Cole
Paul is a multidisciplinary artist living in rural Roscommon. His practice centers around exploring the human condition through art. His main art forms are sculpture, painting and music. He has a background in technical graphics.
Joe Egan
Joe is an aspiring author, airwave archivist, radio raconteur, playful playwright, ponderous poet, potential podcaster and satirical storyteller.
Josie Fleming
Josie is a young neurodivergent photographer and artist from County Roscommon. Her practice consists mainly of drawing, lino block printing and photography. She is the author of the popular blog, Josie's Photos, where she explores themes of growing up and living with autism and the beauty of the natural world.
She is currently writing a book about her neurodivergence.
Josie's photos – “This site is about the photos I take with my very good canon camera.”
Christine Henry
Christine’s work is generally mixed media, exploring combinations of materials and textures. She uses local and naturally produced materials where possible.
Dominic Keogh
Dominic is a multidisciplinary stonemason and conservation worker from Kilmovee, county Mayo.
He specialises in traditional stonemasonry, letter cutting, monumental masonry, traditional lime mortars, craft training and the conservation and restoration of vernacular structures.
https://www.mementomoristone.ie/
https://www.instagram.com/memento_mori_stonework/
https://www.facebook.com/p/Memento-Mori-Stonework-100088425901287/
Maria May
Maria is a Swedish Irish multidisciplinary visual artist. Her practice explores interconnection through a ritualistic lens. By tentatively engaging with her surroundings she builds audio visual immersive experiences for viewers. Found and discarded materials are re-imagined by tearing, layering and stitching. Live art often forms a significant part of the work.
Shane Meehan
Artwork by Shane Meehan
Shane is an extremely talented and dynamic fiddle player and composer from Carrick-on-Shannon. Known for his distinctive style and deep roots in the tradition, he began learning fiddle from his grandfather, John Meehan, and later studied with players such as Ben Lennon, Bríd Harper, Brendan McGlinchey and the Kane Sisters.
Meehan has been active on the traditional music scene for many years.
In 2019 he released his critically acclaimed solo debut album “’twill do!,” showcasing both his playing and compositional talents.
To read his full profile, click on the link below:
Marek Petrovič
Marek is an award winning art photographer and visual artist.
His work goes beyond decorative art, where he strives to create with depth and intention. In particular, Marek feels a responsibility to shine a light on meaningful topics, such as mental health, which has become the central theme in much of his work.
“Working with people is what I enjoy, capturing the emotions and beauty of the human soul”. Marek Petrovič
In 2015, he won the first prize in the highly prestigious "Prague Photographic" competition in street photography.
https://www.instagram.com/marek_makes_art/
David J. Pierce
David is an Irish visual storyteller, photographer, filmmaker, and creative practitioner based in the west of Ireland, who explores themes of identity, place, community, and memory.
Drawing on a background in traditional photography, digital media, and sound design, David is particularly interested in visual storytelling as a means of connecting people, preserving local narratives, and encouraging meaningful engagement with place.
His work continues to evolve through collaborations with artists, communities, cultural organisations, and businesses across Ireland and beyond.
https://www.blackholestudio.ie/
https://www.facebook.com/blackholestudio
April Tambling
April is an aspiring poet from Cork, who dabbles in spoken word. Her work explores the how, the why, and the quiet truth that you can never meet the same moment twice. She works through love and loss, grief and growth, nature and ever-changing environments, threading it through with a sense of gentle wonder and whimsical word play. You might find April in a bog, in a forest, or at home in Ballaghaderreen, cats curled warm on her lap, listening as the world keeps becoming something else.
Anthony Twentyman
Anthony is a visual artist and professional framer based in Lisacul.
He is printing, framing and mounting a selection of works for our exhibition.
The ARRIVAL Art & Heritage Exhibition forms part of Anna's Ballindoon House artist residency.
Ballindoon House
Situated on the shores of Lough Arrow, Ballindoon House is approached through three distinctive routes shaped by carefully composed sightlines, changing perspectives and expansive views across the lake, woodland and surrounding uplands.
Each offers a different sense of arrival, encounter and place.
During a field trip to Ballindoon artists were invited to take part in a series of contemplative walks along these pathways, where they spent time observing and engaging with the estate and its layered histories.
Ballindoon House Field Trip