Seven Ages at the Kenny Gallery
Kenny Gallery is providing an opportunity to see two Pauline Bewick exhibitions in one during this year's Galway Festival - a retrospective and a collection of recent paintings by one of our most individual and recognisable artists. Because her mother had the foresight to preserve her daughter's early works, Bewick is perhaps unique in that now, at age 70, we have access to her entire lifetime oeuvre in pictorial and other artistic formats. 11 – 27 July
 
Performance Control
'Standing in the Way of Control' at the Solstice Arts Centre in Navan in July focuses on the highly individual photowork of Peter Richards and Martina Corry. Richards started off as a performance artist and his photographic work now zeroes in on time-based elements. Martina Corry does not 'take' photographs at all; rather she (quite literally) draws with light, using fibre optics and filters. In this exhibition Corry has moved into colour for the first time, producing large-scale, sensuous and striking images. Richards/Corry: 2 – 27 July
 
Dark and Dreamlike
Jaki Irvine currently lives and works in Dublin having spent many years in London and some time in Italy. Her film and video works weave together complex narratives in which image, voice-over and musical score variously overlap/coalesce. Irvine was included in the seminal exhibition of Young British Artists – 'General Release' – at the 1995 Venice Biennale and represented Ireland at the 1997 Biennale. A major new work, The Silver Bridge, was shown at IMMA in December 2005. She exhibits next at the Kerlin Gallery in July. Jaki Irvine: 4 July – 2 August
 
Donegal Goes OP Art
Donegal holds centre of the visual arts stage this summer with two major exhibitions paying homage to Op Art creator Victor Vasarely (1906–1997). The celebrated Hungarian-born French artist believed passionately in the social function of art in society and in the artist as a contributor/catalyst for social progress. His work was an accessible vision that integrated art into everyday life. The Glebe Gallery exhibition focuses on Vasarely's early career from 1930-1955. A concurrent Vasarely exhibition at the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, focuses on later stages of his career - the 'UnitŽ Plastique'/'Planetary Folklore' series, the 'Vega' works and the 'veneration of the hexagon' in the 1970s. Victor Vasarely: 10 July – 30 August
 
Modern Maternal
Motherhood is a subject too rarely explored in contemporary art. 'Broken Halos', an exhibition of new paintings by Leonard Sexton, promises to at least partly redress this imbalance at the Blue Leaf Gallery in Dublin. The stresses of the various stages of motherhood are depicted in unsentimental mode – ageing, caring for the young, changing nappies, carrying the child. Much of Sexton's output to date has explored the female form, alongside signature landscape works of his home town of Skerries. His very personal style echoes influences as diverse as Giacometti, Freud and Balthus. Leonard Sexton: 15 July – 1 August
 
Painting in Character
The paintings of Emmet Kierans employ old time street performers to delve into the deeper recesses of the mind. To fully understand his characters, the artist has taken on the persona of his characters by wearing their costumes and assuming their postures. By literally becoming the characters he paints, he sets out to embody their psychological space. A solo exhibition of his new work can be seen at The Crow Gallery, Dublin. Emmet Kierans: 1 –10 July
 
Cockleshell Show
The Cockleshell Gallery in Wexford will exhibit art works with a complementary vein in the weeks ahead. Photographer Sheena Jolle, from Co Cork will stage a wildlife exhibition on the Upper Gallery, while the Drawing Room will be given over to Wexford artist Orla Wallace. Sculptor Paddy Gilsenan and local artists Catherine Power, Eileen Cloney, Doreen O'Shea and Marie McGrath will also exhibit. Mixed works: 28 July – 27 August