Visual Arts

David Campbell is currently Artist-In-Residence at the Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry, specialising in comic book art. With years of experience working as a graphic designer and colourist for comic book industry heavyweights like Marvel and DC Comics, Campbell has helped the centre develop a new form of visual communication.

Campbell will visit Washington DC in conjunction with Washington Very Special Arts and the School for Arts in Learning, to study pedagogical methods when introducing comic or sequential art to the classroom.
 Watch and Listen to a slideshow with David Campbell or simply Read on for further information.

Northern Ireland has had a long history when it comes to mural painting, with artists from both sides of the political divide producing some of the world’s most recognisable pieces of public art.  

Some murals in Belfast and Derry have become nearly as well known as the paintings on the Berlin wall, for better or worse.  

Community artist Tracy Gallogly, from Armagh, has worked extensively with community groups and schools on a wide range of public art projects designed to replace old images with the new and bring a more positive outlook to the walls of Northern Ireland.
 Listen to an interview with Tracey Gallogly

CRAFT NI will be travelling to Washington DC as part of Rediscover NI

In June of this year, Craft Northern Ireland will be travelling to Washington DC as part of the Rediscover NI programme with a new exhibition of contemporary and traditional Irish crafts entitled Made In Northern Ireland: A Dynamic of Change.

The exhibition will consist of three distinct sub-genre exhibits: Re-Inventing Linen, Contemporary Souvenir and Sublime Design: Made In Northern Ireland, with each exhibit focusing on the differing technologies, techniques and influences which have helped to shape our arts and crafts through time.

OUT OF THE DARKNESS: Bringing NI Photography Out of the Darkness

Out of the Darkness is a landmark exhibition of some of the most memorable and affecting images taken in Northern Ireland over the past forty years.

Assembled from the portfolios of 63 of NI's most accomplished press photographers, the exhibition presents a chronological overview of the province’s complex history, from the very first day of the outbreak of the Troubles to the present day.

ANDREA SPENCER: Glass Artist and Health Activist

Hertfordshireborn artist Andrea Spencer is a wholehearted activist for the promotion of the arts in health care environments using imagination, creativity and a lot of glass.

Spencer is Artist-In-Residence in Belfast City Hospital and has been chosen as  one of three artists visiting Washington to work with staff and patients at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Centre (LCCC) as part of the Rediscover NI programme.

Northern Ireland art is hot property right now, especially in the USA. On the ground in Belfast, however, is one particular hub of artistic creativity whose output reaches far beyond strict reactions to, documentation of, or escape from Northern Ireland's history.

The Belfast Print Workshop and Gallery, found among the cobblestone streets of the city’s Cathedral Quarter, has been spoiling art lovers with exhibitions, and Northern Ireland artists with opportunity.

Displays, ranging from digital prints to collaborative ventures with other Irish galleries, have generated a momentum that has allowed the Print Workshop to also take its wares abroad.

Read on and watch an online exhibition with commentary from artist Struan Hamilton and gallery manager Anna Burns.  

Northern Ireland glass artist Andrea Spencer completed her two week residency at Lombardi on Friday, May 11. Working with patients and staff, Spencer developed techniques to make glass art accessible to the Lombardi community.

The staff of the infusion clinic on 5 North drew designs on special paper that Spencer then sandblasted onto a piece of glass. The work will hang by the check-in desk on 5 North as a reminder of Spencer's visit.

Spencer also worked with community members in the Lombardi Atrium to develop a project incorporating copper designs into glass tiles. Each person designed one tile with etched messages on top. This piece will hang in the Atrium.

Spencer visited Lombardi as part of the Rediscover Northern Ireland program, which kicked off in Washington, D.C. on St. Patrick's Day and will continue until the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in late June.

At Lombardi, the Northern Ireland exchange began in March with two artists from Northern Ireland who spent three weeks writing and composing with the Lombardi community. Other events included a visit from Cahoots NI, a children’s theater group, and an Arts in Health Care Symposium featuring Lorna Hastings, director of ArtsCare of Northern Ireland.

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