Gerry Gleason tells Brian McAvera of the practical difficulties he experienced as a result of the Troubles and how his signature use of colour and symbol evolved as a direct result
Design Portfolio
Inspiring design spans the gamut of disciplines this season as Irish craft makers, architects and artists win awards both at home and abroad for their creative excellence. Eleanor Flegg reports on the RIAI awards, Belleek's 150-year celebrations, Irish stained glass and Hotel Ballymun
Face-Off: RHA Portrait Award
Donal Maguire reports on Gary Coyle's confrontational image, Head of a Man, which won the Ireland-US Council Portrait Award at this years's 177th RHA Annual Exhibition
The AIB prize
Limerick-born painter Diana Copperwhite is the winner of the AIB Prize, Ireland's most prestigious visual art prize, writes Marianne O'Kane Boal
Out of Ireland
Douglas Sealy recalls his first acquaintance with the batik work of Peter Wenger and looks forward to his exhibition during the Kilkenny Arts Festival
The Grey before Dawn
Kathy Prendergast explains the inspiration behind her recent series of watercolours to Judith Wilkinson, ahead of her first solo exhibition at the Kerlin Gallery in June
Ireland in Venice
Irish Commissioner for the 52nd Venice Biennale, Mike Fitzpatrick, discusses the work of Gerard Byrne, Ireland's solo representative at this premier contemporary art event
Four painters
Ciar‡n Bennett discusses 'Returning' a collaborative exhibition featuring some sixty new paintings by David King, Michael Canning, Colin Martin and Keith Wilson, all recipients of the RHA Hennessy Craig Scholarship, to be shown in tandem with works by the award's sponsors, Patrick Hennessy and H Robertson Craig at the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda
Lucian Freud: Prophet of Discomfort
Mic Moroney chronicles Lucian Freud's close-knit ties with Ireland ahead of Freud's
first-ever exhibition in Dublin at IMMA this summer
Melanie le brocquy: a sculptor's touch
Brian Fallon examines the extensive career of a sculptor of quiet distinction, Melanie le Brocquy
The Artists' Arena
Tony Corey's objective in photographing artists in their work environment was to capture an aspect of the soul of the individual, at a particular time and period, he explains to Brian McAvera
David Clarke: Destiny and Dynasty
Fiana Griffin recalls the life-long impression Spanish culture made on the young David Clarke, whose final painting poignantly testifies to that profound influence
Painting the Plant
Patricia Butler discusses a number of the sumptuously illustrated florilega from the library collection at the National Botanic Gardens, in Dublin
New temples of Culture
Louise Cotter examines three different responses to the boom in regional art centres and investigates the challenges and opportunities they pose to architects
Landscape, Architecture and scholarship
BDP Architects have been working with the University of Limerick for thirty years; Judith Hill considers their new departure in that venture, the boldly conceived Health Sciences Building
John FFrench: A LIfe lit by colour
Peter Lamb offers a sample of the panoply of design by pioneering ceramicist John ffrench on show for his retrospective in Kilkenny this summer
The golden age of Irish furniture
Gerald Kenyon assesses the importance of the long-awaited comprehensive publication on Irish furniture design by Desmond FitzGerald and James Peill