Just a week ago my husband and I returned from a magical one-week trip to Dublin, without a lick of rain. Many weavers know that even if you don’t plan a trip as a textile tour, that’s often the way it ends up, with many serendipitous encounters with weaving and other fiber encounters. Dublin? Not so much. There were many shops selling wool sweaters, generally the same ones. The only yarn was soft and intended for knitting. As a student in my recent weaving workshop said, “Weavers like the scratchy yarn.” However, the week was bookended by two weaving-related experiences.
On the first day, as we struggled to stay awake with the time change, we learned the streets of the city by taking a “Hop On, Hop Off” bus tour. We stayed on until the last bit, when the guide pointed out the Hugh Lane Gallery, focusing on modern art. In it was a marvelous new exhibit of an Irish artist, Ailbhe Ní Bhrlain, The Dream Pool Intervals.
To me, it would not make sense to include these works in an exhibit focusing on textile art; the fact her art works are executed with thread, with jacquard weaving, seems peripheral to the impact of her images–the confusing and alluring juxtapositions, a combination of reality and fantasy. I didn’t even realize immediately, when entering the gallery, that the pieces were woven. Yet, the medium felt perfect. If her digital collages were shown as super large photographs, the smooth or shiny surface may have been distracting. In a woven work, the red areas pop; the color is dense and non-reflective in the fiber. There are subtle changes in the surface texture, and some interspersed shiny threads added interest. She creates worlds, and the fact they are present in fabric means that they could wrap around you. The artist’s woven world could envelop you in a way that a painted surface or photograph could not.
Perhaps I was extra-receptive in my jet-lagged state. I found the work very powerful. I wish I could see it again. And I wish I could ask Ailbhe Ní Bhrlain about the presence of so many hands in this image. Read more about the iconography of her works at the Hugh Lane Gallery website.
Here are some of my photos. When I looked my photos later, I realize how inadequately they represent the impact of her work. If you can get to Dublin before September 28, 2025, be sure to schedule a trip to the gallery.
On our last full day in Ireland we traveled down to Enniskerry. Mike’s niece and her family live in an area so picturesque that they have been paid twice in the past few months by film companies that inconvenienced them to make movies on their street.
This wonderful family visit also included a weaving angle. Many readers of this blog know that Norwegian tapestry weavers often use a common table fork as a beater, and I follow that tradition. At my last Frida Hansen transparent tapestry workshop in Monterey, California, I noticed that many students brought their own beaters. I like to encourage weavers to try out the fork method, but our class was held in a kitchen-less small building, so I had no forks to offer. For future workshops I resolved to bring a variety of forks that students could use. I like a fork that has a bit of heft to it, and often nice silver-plate forks fit the bill. When we passed an antique store on our walk to Powerscourt Estate, I picked up my first two forks, plucked from mounds of silver and pottery and china. I could have purchased several more, but I thought I would string out the fun, and visit more antique shops throughout the summer.
We had an amazing time in Ireland on our last-minute-planned trip. I hope that my next visit will include many more weaving experiences, as I know there are marvelous tapestry weavers and great weaving yarn to be discovered.
Ooh great recommendation, thanks for sharing. I’ll be in Dublin in a few weeks and now have the Hugh Lane Gallery on my must-see list!