The Monthly discusses an upcoming exhibition with members of The Irish Palette – Part 4 – Upcoming Exhibitions

When and where is the exhibition going to be?

Bridgeen Butler – Our first exhibition of 2026 will be in The Engine Room Gallery in North Street, Belfast and it opens on Thursday 2nd of April at 7pm, contributing to the monthly Late Night Art Trail in Belfast.  Following our first show in this venue last year, we were delighted to be invited back to exhibit again in 2026. We have 18 artists bringing their latest works to the Engine Room, so it promises to be a dynamic and eclectic display of original art. The Exhibition will be on display to Saturday the 2nd of May. The Engine Room Gallery is open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10.30am to 4 pm.

This will be the first of 3 Irish Palette exhibitions currently scheduled for 2026. The others are  the  Greenacres Gallery in Wexford 22nd May to the 5th June, and in Union Hall, West Cork we will exhibit at the Cnoc Bui Arts Centre from the 4th to the 21st June. So we are on target to achieve our ambition of bringing new art to new audiences across Ireland. It is all very exciting.

Heather Douglas – It is important to say that we have other artists who are part of the group who exhibit at other exhibitions and some of them organise their own exhibitions. The Irish Palette group has quite a mix of artists within the group, some of the artists are quite well established but some are very new to art as well.

Bridgeen Butler – People organise independently of each other and we have established artists and people who didn’t pick up a brush until very recently. We have artists who get selected for residencies in places like the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, actually we have a member who has a residency in Mexico, and others have gone to Morocco and then on to Italy. So a real mix of artists but all of the work can sit confidently in an exhibition.

Heather Douglas – Other members are arts facilitators, so we have plenty of variety within the group and everyone is producing work which can stand up to being showcased in our exhibitions.