The project focuses on supporting collaboration and exchanges between lacemaker groups and heritage institutions on the island of Ireland, and is led by Limerick City and County Council. The partners in the project are Friends of Lace Limerick and the South Armagh Lace Collective, and three museums: the Limerick Museum, the Armagh County Museum and the Cork Public Museum. The long term goal is to create and promote a lace trail through the majority of historical lacemaking centres on the island of Ireland.
For the duration of the project (2023-2025), we will be organising pop-up exhibitions, presentations, demonstrations and lacemaking classes), as well as mutual visits .
The Laces of Ireland digital platform will be further developed to include a Laces of Ireland Trail map. An all-Ireland lace trail that will include the permanent collections and lacemaking community groups available to welcome visitors, as well as a joint calendar of events.
In late July, we consulted with a number of lace artists and lace groups about the opportunity of a series of online interviews that would be shared online for August Craft Month and Heritage Week 2023. We received a lot of enthusiastic responses, and the project became reality.
This project aims to enhance the visibility of lacemaking groups, organisations and individual lace artists who are keeping alive Ireland’s lace making traditions on the island of Ireland. They will continue to publish conversations with lacemakers on the Laces of Ireland channel throughout August 2023, in an attempt to encourage closer connections between groups and provide more information about Irish traditions to an international audience.
August is dedicated to crafts on the island of Ireland. There are all kind of events: talks, demonstrations, exhibitions organised by communities and individual artists. Also, Heritage Week is happening from the 12th to the 20th August this year
We attempted to put together a calendar of lace-related events. If you would like to add an event that we have missed, please get in touch and we’ll update the list.
On Saturday, 12 August 2023, from 10am to 5pm, in the Learning Resource Room at Collins’ Barracks Museum, Dublin, members of the Guild of Irish Lacemakerswill be working on their lace pieces, demonstrating techniques and displaying some pieces of lace .
Between 12-20 August 2023, 10am-4pm (12-4pm on Sundays), Lásadóirí na Coiribe / Corrib lacemakers will present the Lace Exhibition “Ó Ghlúin go Glúin” in St. Nicholas Collegiate Church in Galway.
Monday 14th August to Friday 18th August– Clanrye Lace group are having an exhibition at Newry City Library. Exhibition launch on Monday at 2:30pm. Everyone welcome – demos daily.
On Wednesday August 16th, from 12pm to 5pm, the Mountmellick Embroidery and Heritage Museum invites the public to a Crafternoon Tea at the Museum Studio in Mountmellick , where lacemakers will display their work, give little demonstrations and tell their stories of creativity.
Wednesday 16 August 2023, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at Clondalkin Library, in Dublin, the Irish Crochet Lace Revival along with lacemakers and artist Fiona Harrington will launch the result of their collaboration: a crochet replica of the Clondalkin Round Tower. The replica will eventually be on permanent display at the Round Tower Visitor Centre in Clondalkin.
Also Wednesday on August 16 and Friday August 18, Nora Finnegan will offer lace demonstrations at the Kenmare Lace and Design Centre in Kenmare, from 10am to 11am and from 3 to 4pm on each of the two days.
On Thursday, 17 August and Friday 18 August 2023, from 10am to 4pm, the Limerick Museum in collaboration with Friends of Lace Limerick are organising a two-day Bring Out Your Lace event, where the public can bring items of lace to be assessed, catalogued and photographed and receive useful advice about lace preservation and storage.
The Kenmare Lace and Design Centre in Kenmare, co. Kerry is organising two lacemaking workshops on Kenmare Lace with expert lacemaker Sinead Hennessy on Thursday 17th August and Saturday 19th August from 11-1pm.
From Thursday 17th to Saturday 19th August, 10am to 3pm daily, designer and lace maker Theresa Kelly is teaching a three-day lace workshop based around the clematis flower ‘The President’ in Armagh. Booking required.
On Friday, 18 August 2023 at 2pm, Dr Matthew Potter, Curator of Limerick Museum, will give a talk on famed Limerick lace-maker Maude Kearney (1873-1963). In 2023, the magnificent Maude Kearney Collection, consisting of numerous examples of Limerick lace and a large number of lace patterns, was donated to Limerick Museum by Grania McElligott, a granddaughter of Maude. The Limerick Museum also has several remarkable lace artefacts on display.
Saturday August 19th, 10am to 4:30pm, a one day Limerick lace workshop for beginners taught by Toni O’Malley will take place in the Limerick Museum. The Museum has a number of remarkable lace artefacts on display. Booking required. Materials provided.
On Saturday 19th August, 12pm to 4pm at The Arboretum in Leighlinbridge, Borris Lacemakers are organising a lace display and a demonstration.
On Saturday, 19 August 2023, from 2pm to 5pm, the Headford Lace Project will host an interactive celebration of bobbin lacemaking in Headford, co. Galway. This heritage craft will be explored with an exhibition of lace replicas made by the group’s tutor, Jackie Magnin, and a presentation of the evolution of the project since 2016.
The Kenmare Lace and Design Centre is open June 1 to mid October 10.30 to 1.00 and 2.15 to 5.00, Monday to Saturday. Not open on bank holidays.
The Lace Gallerynear Tullow, Co Carlow, is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 2pm to 6pm. Also on other days by appointment .
This is a great opportunity to visit if you are interested in lace traditions and want to meet other lacemakers!
The two groups came up with the idea of a lace trail, that would map places of lace interest both in their localities, and across the island of Ireland, back in 2019. The pandemic interrupted the mutual visits, but the connections between the two groups continued online. The availability of such a lace trail has both national and international tourism potential and would encourage the organisation of lace tours throughout the island of Ireland.
In May, we identified the Creative Communities on a Shared Island programme as a potential pathway for continuing to work on this idea. We were fortunate to be able to persuade the Limerick Arts Office to support our application, as each county can put forward one project only.
Headford Lace Project is offering this Heritage Week tour, which will explore the remarkable heritage of Bobbin Lacemaking in Headford going back to the mid 1700s as well as recent work to revive the traditional craft.
Headford Lace Project is taking part in ‘Connecting Corrib Communities – Showcasing Heritage’ an initiative of Corrib Beo in association with LAWPRO.
Participants will gather at The Angler’s Rest Hotel and will explore a route including the original lacemakers’ cottages in New Street, Lace Matrix in St. George’s Square and will finish in the Lacemakers’ Garden in Headford Community Orchard. Headford Lacemaking was added to the Irish National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2021.
For August Craft Month, Borris Lacemakers are going on tour. For four Wednesdays in August, they will pitch their gazebo in beautiful scenic locations in South Carlow.
10August 2022 Kilgraney House gardens
17 August 2022Lace Garden, Borris House
24 August 2022 Altamont Gardens
31 August 2022 St. Mullins – on the quay, Near the Mullichain Cafe
Come along, meet the makers, see how the lace is made, and view some beautiful samples of Borris Lace. Take a stroll around these beautiful gardens and sites.
For Heritage Week, the Corrib Lacemakers, are holding a Carrickmacross Lace exhibition. This exhibition is inspired by heritage sites, landmarks and traditional craftsmanship skills of Galway, Connemara and the Aran Islands. Galway’s coastal location on the Wild Atlantic Way enhanced the choice of themes created in this lace exhibition.
The Corrib Lacemakers originated from a Heritage Week craft event held in Galway in 2017. We meet weekly to share, promote and encourage participation in the community to help ensure the sustainability of lacemaking skills long into the future. We will be available at the Fishery Watchtower Museum, Galway to demonstrate and explain how this beautiful and delicate lace is made. Everyone’s welcome.
As part of Heritage Week, members of The Guild of Irish Lacemakers will be in Rathfarnham castle as part of Heritage week. Lacemakers will be displaying lace pieces and working on new lace pieces.
Members of the public can come and view these pieces and watch lacemakers in action. There will also be the opportunity to try your hand at some bobbin lace stitches with pillows set up ready to go!
Date: 20 August, 10am – 4pm
Venue:Rathfarnham Castle, Rathfarham, D14 K3T6, Co. Dublin – South Dublin
Looking to learn a new craft or to try your hand at something new? Come join us and learn about the fine old Lace-making tradition of Carrickmacross Lace and it’s long and illustrious history right here in the Ring of Gullion, South Armagh. Learn the essential techniques under the guidance of expert Lace-makers. For more information, check this website.
Join Rosie Finnegan-Bell and her lace-making friends in the charming Tí Chulainn Cultural Centre at the foot of the mythical and mystical Slieve Gullion mountain for this unique heritage lace experience which is running as part of the Aspiring Geopark Lúnasa Festival 2022.
A new exhibition featuring the work of five textile artists opens on Sunday 7 August 2022 at the Olivier Cornet Art Gallery in Dublin and will run for the whole month.
The exhibition is part of ‘August Craft Month‘ and featuring workin felt and lace. The artists exhibiting are : Annika Berglund and invited artists Ramona Farrelly, Fiona Harrington, Fiona Leech and Leiko Uchiyama.
Fiona Harrington is a visual artist who uses handmade lace as her primary medium. She studied Fine Art at Crawford College of Art, Textile Design at NCAD and completed an MA in Art and Research Collaboration at IADT. She has been the recipient of the Thomas Damann Bursary, RDS Graduate Prize, National Craft Award, Eleanor De La Branchardiere Prize, Traditional Lacemakers Award and a Percent for Art Commission. Her work has been exhibited widely, both at home and abroad and was featured in ‘Lace, Paint, Hair‘, a 3-person show, curated by Sinéad Kathy Rice at the National Gallery of Ireland. She has travelled extensively giving talks and demonstrations on Irish Lace and her academic work has been selected for publication for the Bloomsbury Encyclopaedia of World Textiles. In 2021, she represented Ireland at Doily Free Zone, an international symposium exploring contemporary lacemaking in art and design. Most recently she was awarded the reimagined RDS Branchardiere Bursary and was selected to the Michel Angelo Foundation’s Homo Faber Guide, which celebrates European excellence in craftsmanship. She is currently one of only 4 lacemakers in Europe to be featured in this guide. Fiona’s work explores themes relating to cultural identity, the domestic space, memory, female labour and what is often referred to as ‘women’s work’. She is interested in how we interact with everyday objects, what is discarded and what is treasured. By creating highly intricate and labour-intensive pieces, the artist is encouraging us to take time to reflect on our past, question how we process memory and reconsider our relationship towards the familiar and the accepted.
