Exhibition

A new exhibition showcasing six of Harry Clarke’s stained-glass panels, including some of his earliest known works, opens on the 5th December. The exhibition – Harry Clarke’s-Stained Glass – will run for at least two years, when the Crawford Art Gallery is anticipated to reopen.

A special collaboration between the National Museum and Crawford Art Gallery, the exhibition brings together panels not previously displayed in the same place before. 

Three of the panels have travelled to the National Museum from the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork as it closes for its ambitious redevelopment project, ‘Transforming Crawford Art Gallery’.

Harry Clarke (1889 – 1931) is one of Ireland’s most renowned stained-glass artists and illustrators. His work is celebrated internationally for its originality of design and impressive technical skill, not least in Ireland where his work is present in 16 counties, mostly in churches.

The panels on display in Harry Clarke’s-Stained Glass each reveal Clarke’s distinct vision, inviting visitors into the world of religious and fantastical imagery that defined his career. They include:

• The Consecration of St. Mel, Bishop of Longford, by St. Patrick (1910)
• The Meeting of St. Brendan with the Unhappy Judas (1911)
• The Godhead Enthroned (1911)
• The Unhappy Judas (1913)
• A Meeting (1918)
• Richard Mulcahy (c. 1925)

The National Museum of Ireland gift shop is thrilled to offer an in-shop exclusive festive gift inspired by Harry Clarke’s Stained Glass.

This beautifully hand-decorated Christmas bauble draws inspiration from A Meeting (1918), one of Harry Clarke’s stunning masterpieces, currently featured in the Harry Clarke’s Stained Glass exhibition.Available to purchase instore in both Kildare Street and Collins Barracks. The cost of the decoration is €25 each. 

A special collaboration between the National Museum and Crawford Art Gallery, the exhibition brings together panels not previously displayed in the same place before. 

Irish visual artist Jennifer Reynolds presents Sleeping in a Forest, a new photographic series exploring the liminal space between wakefulness and sleep, where reality softens and the boundaries between human and nature begin to blur. The exhibition will open at Kildare Town Library on 5th April from 2:30 to 5:00 pm and continue during library opening hours until 26th April 2025.

Inspired by readings such as Sacred Nature by Karen Armstrong and The Language of Trees by Katie Holden, this body of work delves into the profound, sometimes sacred connection between humanity and the natural world. The forest becomes both a sanctuary and a mirror—a place where time stretches, stills, and folds into itself.

Through 16 new photographic works, Reynolds captures fleeting moments of stillness and transcendence, reflecting the quiet power of the forest and its ability to hold memory, breath, and light in its ancient rhythms. The silence within the trees carries an unspoken weight, and the hum of life rises from the earth like a song. There is a sense of surrender here—to the forest’s embrace, where the lines between self and landscape begin to dissolve. The trees stand as witnesses, whispering truths in shadowed light, until the mountain and the forest become one with the viewer, reflecting resilience and stillness in equal measure.

Sleeping in a Forest seeks to crystallise those ephemeral moments when the forest speaks, and we are quiet enough to listen—a fragile communion where to exist becomes enough, and transcendence feels within reach.

Exhibition Details:

• Opening Reception: 5th April 2025, 2:30–5:00 pm
• Exhibition Dates: 5th April – 26th April 2025 (during library opening hours)
• Venue: Kildare Town Library, Claregate Street, R51 p403
• Admission: Free

For more information about the exhibition or to inquire about the artist’s work, please contact Jennifer Reynolds via [email protected]