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arts · Saturday 1 August 2026 · 12:00 PM 
Origins 2026 at St Carthage Hall, Lismore
At St Carthage Hall · St Carthage Hall, Lismore, Co. Waterford, P51 WV96
At St Carthage Hall · St Carthage Hall, Lismore, Co. Waterford, P51 WV96
Origins is the annual Lismore Castle Arts show given over to artists coming straight out of Irish undergraduate degree programmes, and the 2026 edition runs at St Carthage Hall from 1 to 16 August, opening Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only. Five artists were selected from this year’s degree shows around the country: Sophia Aftab from MTU Crawford College of Art and Design, Ciana Clarke from the National College of Art and Design, and Jodie Galvin, Sally Ryan and Emer McMahon from TUS Limerick School of Art and Design.
The five work across a range of mediums, with the selection circling questions of identity, domestic space and perception. For most of the artists this is the first showing of their work in a professional gallery outside their own college walls, which is the point of the exhibition. St Carthage Hall, a converted chapel in the centre of Lismore, is used by Lismore Castle Arts for exactly this kind of early-career and project-based programming, kept distinct from the established international names shown in the main gallery inside the castle grounds. The show opened with a preview on Saturday 1 August and closes on Sunday 16 August.
St Carthage Hall is in the centre of Lismore town in west Waterford, on the N72 between Cappoquin and Fermoy and roughly 25 km inland from Dungarvan. It is a short walk from the main Lismore Castle Arts gallery in the castle grounds, so the two can be seen in one visit. There is on-street parking in the town centre, and drivers from Waterford city take the N25 west then the N72 through Cappoquin.
Heading to St Carthage Hall in Lismore? Waterford has plenty more to see. Read the Lismore area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.