Ailbhe Barrett is a visual artist originally from Co. Limerick and now based in Dublin. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, working in both printmaking and painting.
As a landscape painter working mainly in oils, Ailbhe developed a liking for the scope of the large canvas from a young age. At a later stage she studied printmaking in Limerick Printmakers and Graphic Studio Dublin, where etching and carborundum printmaking became a significant part of her practice. Ailbhe continues creating work in both paint and print, constantly exploring the relationship between both.
As a member of Graphic Studio Dublin, she has utilised one of the largest intaglio printing presses in Ireland to create new original prints in expansive dimensions. In terms of scale, Ailbhe’s most recent work is her most ambitious to date, with large format work in diptych, triptych and polyptych form included.
[Images of recent work are available here]
Photo Gallery:
Awards
Arts Council Agility Award, 2021
RHA “Really Helping Artists” grant 2020
Centre Culturel D’Irlandais, Residency 2019
ESB Keating Medal and Award, RHA Annual Exhibition 2018
Behaviour and Attitudes annual Commission, 2018
Solo Exhibitions
“Reverie” Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin, 2024
“Contemporaneity and the Elusive” SO Gallery Dublin, September 2022; Hyde Bridge Gallery, Sligo May 2023
“Infusions” Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin, 2017
Joint Exhibition
“Overworlds” - New Paintings, Ailbhe Barrett and Joan Sugrue, Ennistymon Courthouse Gallery, Co. Clare, 2014
Recent Selected Exhibitions
"Ne apie lietų | Ní faoin mbáisteach | Not about the rain." Klaipeda, Lithuania, May 2025
Kwaidan - Encounters with Lafcadio Hearn
-- Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin, March 2025 to August 2025
-- EXPO 2025 Osaka, Japan 2025
-- The Hunt Museum Gallery, Limerick 2024/2025
-- Galerie Aube, Kyoto University of The Arts, Japan 2024
-- The Ballinglen Museum of Art, Mayo 2024
Unlimiting the Edition, The Library Project, Dublin 2024
Royal Hibernian Academy Annual: 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018(invited), 2019, 2021 (invited), 2022, 2023
Royal Ulster Academy 2021, 2022
SO Gallery: various, 2014-2021
Galleri Helle Knusden, Stockholm, Feb 2020
Royal Academy Summer exhibition, London 2019, 2020
Boyle Arts Festival (invited) 2019, 2022
Bankside Gallery London 2016
“Synergy”: Bourne Vincent Gallery, University of Limerick, 2014
“12 at the Hunt”: Hunt Museum, Limerick 2014
“The Act of Portrayal”: Selected Artists response to National Self Portrait Collection, University of Limerick, 2014
Collections
Northern Ireland Arts Council
National Gallery of Ireland
Office of Public Works
Museum of Literature Ireland
British Library
Trinity College Dublin
National Botanical Gardens
Behaviour and Attitudes
Various Private and corporate collections
Other
Project co-ordinator, Graphic Studio Dublin at 60, RHA Dublin, curated by Eithne Jordan RHA.
Served on Board of Directors, Graphic Studio Dublin: 2017-2020
Robert Blackburn Studio, Manhattan, New York, 2017
Curated “Artists Rooms”, (Michael Canning and Gillian Kenny), Limerick City of Culture 2014
Project Manager, “Synergy” University of Limerick, 2014, Limerick City of Culture
supported by: