Daydreamers by Olive Eustace - An Tain Arts Centre Gallery

What to Expect

Daydreamers is a solo show of new figurative painting by Olive Eustace in the visual arts gallery at An Tain Arts Centre. Eustace studied at Limerick School of Art and Design and works from life, and drawing remains the foundation of everything in the show. The figures are streamlined or subtly altered rather than photographically rendered, and they are almost always caught in a moment of stillness rather than action, which is where the exhibition title comes from.

Faces carry most of the weight in these paintings, and Eustace treats them as the most expressive element available to her. The compositions are built first in light and shadow, placing each figure inside an architectural or urban setting, and colour is then layered over that structure. Source material comes from childhood memory, from places she has lived and travelled, and from visual pattern, with textiles and small symbolic objects recurring throughout. The result is a body of work about colour, memory and the ordinary domestic detail that stays with people. The gallery at An Tain occupies part of the former Tain Theatre in Dundalk’s Town Hall, and the space is open through the day around the centre’s theatre programme.

Good to Know

• Runs from 23 July to 29 August 2026, so the final weeks are in August
• Gallery hours 10am to 4pm
• Venue: the gallery at An Tain Arts Centre, Town Hall, Crowe Street, Dundalk
• Solo exhibition of figurative paintings by Olive Eustace
• Admission is not listed on the arts office listing, so check with the centre on 042 9332332
• The gallery sits inside the arts centre, so you can combine a visit with the theatre programme

Getting There

An Tain Arts Centre is in the Town Hall on Crowe Street in the centre of Dundalk, a couple of minutes from Market Square and Clanbrassil Street. Dundalk Clarke railway station is about 15 minutes on foot on the Dublin to Belfast line, and Bus Eireann and Matthews coaches stop nearby on the Long Walk and Carrickmacross Road. Drivers coming on the M1 should use junction 16 or 18 and park at the Long Walk shopping centre or on street around Park Street and Crowe Street.