Today, Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI) announced the launch of Of Sand & Ash, a new exhibition taking place at the National Design & Craft Gallery from Thursday, 6th August to Saturday, 24th October 2026, in partnership with the Glass Society of Ireland (GSoI). Of Sand & Ash is a coming together of tradition, innovation and national talent, showcasing the relevance of glass making in contemporary Ireland. The exhibition is a testament to DCCI’s ongoing commitment to highlighting and engaging audiences with the best of Irish heritage craft on a national scale.
Bringing together over 66 of their members and showcasing 99 works across a wide range of glass processes, the exhibition is a significant overview of contemporary glass practice that takes place in Ireland today. Telling the story of glass making through its makers, their work, materials and processes; the exhibition unfolds in glass making technique chapters including Heat and Breath; Time and Pressure; Surface and Trace; Light and Structure; Object, Vessel and Form; Expanded Glass and In the Making. Visitors are introduced to the studio practices that define this discipline, gaining insight into both the technical execution and the underlying intent behind each work.
To provide a comprehensive overview of the craft, this exhibition contextualises finished pieces by presenting them alongside the physical components of their creation. The display integrates completed artworks with the specific tools, raw materials, initial sketches, and developmental archives from which they emerged. This allows the viewer to not only appreciate the finished piece but also follow the full process that brought it to being. This exhibition leads that narrative forward, through Irish makers who have worked this material with skill, patience and innovation and who are dedicated to its preservation and viability.
Mary Blanchfield, CEO of Design & Crafts Council Ireland, said: “We are delighted to work in partnership with the Glass Society of Ireland to highlight and celebrate the work of contemporary glass artists in Ireland. This exhibition, spanning both rooms of the National Design & Craft Gallery, will illustrate the story of this craft through the makers, processes, skill and knowledge needed to create beautiful pieces of work, while demonstrating how Ireland’s craft traditions continue to evolve, inspire and shape our society and cultural identity.”
Adding to this, Ava Hayes, co-curator and artist said: “Of Sand & Ash celebrates the extraordinary breadth of contemporary Irish glass. Through the vision of over 65 artists, Of Sand & Ash reveals a medium that is bold, experimental and profoundly contemporary – alive with possibility, shaped by community and constantly transforming.”
Lindsay LeBlanc, co-curator and artist said: “Rooted in the Glass Society of Ireland, Of Sand & Ash is a portrait of makers continually shaping what glass in Ireland can be. Moving through its chapters, visitors experience glass not as a single tradition but as a living, expansive field of making. Together, the work reflects the skill, generosity and momentum of a community expanding what glass can be.”
Of Sand & Ash takes place at the National Design & Craft Gallery from Thursday 6th August to Saturday 24th October 2026, in partnership with the Glass Society of Ireland. The gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10am – 5:30pm. Admission to the exhibition is free.
For more information, visit www.dcci.ie / https://www.glasssocietyofireland.ie Join the conversation on Instagram @dccireland / @ndcgallery
ENDS
For more information, please contact Eimear Harding, Communications and Public Affairs Manager, DCCI, 083 023 8743 or email [email protected]
For further press information please contact Claire Feely, Emma Kelly, Laura Daly or Eliza Gallagher at Elevate PR, 01 662 5652 or email [email protected]
About Design & Crafts Council Ireland
Design & Crafts Council Ireland is the national agency for design and craft in Ireland, we support designers and makers to develop their businesses in a sustainable way, and advocate for the societal benefits of design and craft. DCCI’s activities are funded by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment via Enterprise Ireland. DCCI currently has 68 member organisations and over 3,500 registered clients.
www.dcci.ie / @dccireland
About National Design & Craft Gallery:
National Design & Craft Gallery (NDCG), run by Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI), is Ireland’s leading centre for contemporary craft and design.
Established in 2000, the gallery provides a platform to explore work in a wider cultural context and to develop understanding of the traditional roots of Irish craft and design and their future potential. Welcoming four exhibitions annually, NDCG celebrates the rich heritage of Irish craft and design while celebrating contemporary practice and bringing critically acclaimed exhibitions to audiences across Ireland and beyond.
About The Glass Society of Ireland:
Of Sand and Ash celebrates contemporary Irish glass and the makers who have dedicated their lives to it, bringing together works of technical ingenuity that explore resilience, fragility and the extraordinary relationship glass has with colour, light and shadow. The Glass Society of Ireland is an all-island organisation representing over 180 professional glass practitioners. Its vision is to create a distinct identity for Irish glass that expresses our culture, community and place.
Editor’s Notes
Listed below are the makers exhibiting and their location.
Maker’s Name – County
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Andrea Spencer – Antrim
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Annita McKee – Down
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Aoife May Soden – Cavan
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Clare Bowe – Dublin
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Helen Hancock – Derry
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Katie Spiers – Dublin
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Róisín de Buitléar – Dublin
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Rory Leadbetter – Kilkenny
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Ružica Ruane – Dublin
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Scott Benefield – Antrim
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Alison Lowry – Derry
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Alison Mac Cormaic – Galway
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Angela Brady – Cork
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Annette Whelan – Wexford
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Aoife Burke – Meath
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Derek Irwin – Galway
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Donna Coogan – Cork
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Eva Reddy – Clare
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Eva Kelly – Kildare
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Geraldine Gleeson – Tipperary
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Jacinta Ryan – Cork
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Jenefer Ham – Waterford
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Maresa Edwards – Dublin
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Margaret Mohally – Cork
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Michelle O Donnell – Offaly
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Michelle Ryan – Clare
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Natasha Duddy – Derry
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Nour El Huda Awad – Swansea, South Wales
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Rebecca Bradley-Young – Cork
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Róisín Ní Chionnfhaolaidh – Kerry
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Susan Mannion – Roscommon
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Trish Goodbody – Cork
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Jenny Mulligan – Offaly
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Alison Byrne – Dublin
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Bernice Guckian – Sligo
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Colette Langan – Leitrim
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Debbie Dawson – Cork
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Emer O’Donnell – Longford
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Fiona O’Doherty – Dublin
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George Walsh – Dublin
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Jennifer Hackett – Rome
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Mark Dockeray – Dublin
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Patrick Muldowney – Kilkenny / Dublin
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Rayleen Clancy – Waterford
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Serçin Mezhepoğlu – Turkey
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Stephen Walsh – Dublin
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Áine Ryan – Waterford
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Alexandra Mezo – Dublin
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Aoife O’Reilly – Dublin
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Eirlume Studio – Leitrim
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Elke Westen – Dublin
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Joanne O’Mahony – Cork
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Lynn O’Donovan – Surrey, UK
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Randolph Repass – Cork
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Adele Walsh – Dublin
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Kathryna Cuschieri – Clare
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Collab – Lindsay LeBlanc & Ava Hayes – Sligo / Cork
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Madeleine Hellier – Dublin
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Míde Quinlan Reddin – Wicklow
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Fiona Byrne – Wexford
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Adrienne Diamond – Leitrim
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Collab – Fiona Byrne & Adrienne Diamond – Leitrim / Wexford
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Collab – Suzanne O Sullivan & Emeline Mezieres – Cork
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Collab – Karen Ní Dhomhnalláin & Suzanne Peck – Cork – Rochester, UK / New York
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Conall O’Chaoimh – Dublin
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Simon Robinson – Dublin
About Lindsay LeBlanc
Lindsay LeBlanc (b. USA, 1989) is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, curator, and EcoGothic researcher based in co. Leitrim. Lindsay holds and MFA in Art & Ecology from Burren College of Art and a BFA in Sculpture and Glass from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. With over 15 years of experience in glassmaking, her work explores the intersection of nature, industry, and storytelling, often through sculpture, installation, and experimental glass techniques.
Her recent projects are informed by EcoGothic ideas and focus on botanical life adaption, and the ways humans engage with the natural world. She uses glass to reflect on scientific narrative sand the delicate, sometimes eerie beauty found in ecological systems. Alongside her studio practice, Lindsay has led artist residencies, public workshops, and collaborative projects with local artists, festivals, and environmental groups. Her work often combines research and making, and she is interested in how craft-based practices can contribute to broader conversations around ecology and place.
www.lindsayleblanc.com @loolooglass
About Ava Hayes
Ava Hayes is an Irish artist based in Cork City. She graduated from the Crawford College of Art & Design’s MA Art & Process Degree with first-class honours in 2023 and has since exhibited across Ireland, the UK, and Europe. Hayes also maintains a national and international curatorial practice, developing projects that extend her research into performance, spatial experience, process-led practices, and contemporary visual culture. Since completing her studies, Hayes has received several significant accolades, including the Sample Studios Graduate Curatorial Residency and the MTU Arts Office Residency. In 2023, she was also awarded the MTU Purchase Prize.
In 2025, Hayes completed an international residency exchange in San Francisco as well as a residency at The Triskel Arts Centre, both undertaken in preparation for her second solo exhibition, Black Gives Way to Blue, with Sample Studios at the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion. Based at Sample Studios in Churchfield, Hayes creates performative paintings that explore the limitations of verbal communication and the physical tensions that emerge when language fails.
Ava often works collaboratively with both performance and sound artists to enrich her creative process and broaden the scope of her painting practice.
https://avahayesartwork.com @avahayesartwork
