Craft NI

'Sgrafitto'
2025-09-23 10:00 - 2025-11-09 16:00 (Europe/London) | North Down Museum, Town Hall, The Castle, Bangor, BT20 4BT, United Kingdom
A solo exhibition of work by ceramic artist Jakki Trainor.

The ‘Sgraffito’ exhibition explores how decorative mark making and sensitive carving can reveal detail, pattern, light and shade.
Jakki draws inspiration from a love of nature and folklore, producing illustrative ceramics depicting both real and imagined flora and fauna that aim to engage the viewer in unravelling the narrative.

'Flaxen'
2025-09-27 11:00 - 2025-10-24 17:00 | R-Space Gallery, 32 Castle Street, Lisburn, BT27 4XE, United Kingdom
R‑Space Gallery is pleased to present ‘Flaxen‘, the first solo exhibition in Northern Ireland by British textile artist Alice Fox, as part of the Linen Biennale Festival.
‘Flaxen’ is a collection of new works by Alice Fox, exploring the flax plant at every stage: from whole dried stems to unspun fibre. The works are woven or otherwise constructed to highlight the plant’s strength and delicacy, resulting in textured, structural pieces across different scales.
Since 2017, Fox has cultivated small plots of flax on her allotment in West Yorkshire, studying how growth and retting conditions affect fibre quality. In 2024, she led a collaborative flax‑growing project at Kestle Barton, Cornwall, cultivating a 200‑square‑metre crop with the help of staff and volunteers. By sowing flax simultaneously at both sites, she created an opportunity to compare environmental impacts 400 miles apart.
The resulting works incorporate flax at various stages and explore both its strength and fragility, offering a textured, structural celebration of this versatile plant.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Alice Fox to Northern Ireland for her first solo exhibition here,” says Meadhbh McIlgorm, Linen Biennale Programme Manager at R‑Space Gallery. “Her work is a rare combination of craft, ecology, and experimentation. Visitors will experience how traditional textile techniques can reveal the beauty and resilience of plants like flax, while also encouraging reflection on sustainability, environment and our relationship with the material world.”
About Alice Fox
Alice Fox is a UK‑based textile artist whose practice combines found and reclaimed materials with techniques such as stitch, weave, and basketry. With a background in physical geography and nature conservation, her work engages with landscape, materiality, and sustainability. She works from her studio and allotment in Saltaire, England, and exhibits, lectures, and teaches workshops nationally and internationally.
Her publications, including Wild Textiles and new book Wild Weave, explore similar themes of working with natural fibres and materials, reflecting her commitment to experimental and sustainable textile practice.
The exhibition will include an online artist talk on 14 October 2025 at 6pm.
Gallery Opening Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 5pm
Opening Reception: Saturday 27 September, 2–4pm
Admission: Free and all welcome

'Under Construction'
2025-10-02 10:00 - 2025-10-31 17:00 | Craft NI Gallery, 115 - 119 Royal Ave, Belfast, BT1 1FF, United Kingdom
For this exhibition, Derek Wilson uses the Gallery as a project space to contemplate the dialogue and interaction between his current research project into collage and painting, and its later translation into three-dimensional sculptural objects.
As a recent recipient of the Rosemary James Memorial Trust Award, Derek’s ‘Under Construction’ ’exhibition at Craft NI Gallery gives insight into his research and creative practice, by showcasing the development of these new ideas, and responding to the themes that are prevalent within: composition and spatiality, structure and balance, tone and colour, line and form. The paintings and collages that catalyse new possibilities are exhibited alongside sculptural ceramic forms, documenting the artist’s journey into new mediums as a mode of research, but also to be viewed as artistic works in their own right.
An unapologetic thrower, Derek Wilson consistently challenges his discipline. He combines his minimal aesthetic with accomplished craftsmanship, material knowledge and a propensity to propel modern ceramics through reinterpretation of its form. Wilson works from his studio in Belfast, regularly lectures and runs workshops. He exhibits extensively at an international level and his work is held in a range of public and private collections.
Late Night Art opening: exhibition opens October 2, Late Night Art, 6- 9pm.

InterWOVEN
2025-10-02 10:00 - 2025-11-07 16:00 | Down Arts Centre, 2 - 6 Irish Street, Downpatrick, Down, BT30 6BP, United Kingdom
This group exhibition brings together artists from the North and South of Ireland whose work and processes reference Linen heritage in a contemporary context. The exhibition weaves together each artist’s creative practice and how it engages, questions or explores sustainability in relation to functional textiles and textile art.
Exhibiting Artists: Katerina Gribkoff, Malú Colorín, Maya Todd, Niamh Ní Catháin, Ruth Osborne
This exhibition is shown as part of the 2025 Linen Biennale.

Craft NI @ RUA 2025
2025-10-19 10:00 - 2026-01-04 17:00 | Ulster Museum, BT9 5AB, United Kingdom
Craft NI has been invited to present a Guest Showcase at the 144th Royal Ulster Academy of Arts (RUA) Exhibition at the Ulster Museum. This exciting partnership between the RUA and Craft NI brings together two leading organisations dedicated to nurturing and celebrating artistic excellence.
The Academy has a long-standing commitment to recognising craft as an integral part of contemporary visual culture: RUA academicians exhibiting this year include celebrated ceramicist Anne Butler, glass artist Alison Lowry and renowned silversmith Cara Murphy, whose exquisite, sculptural silver vessels and tableware have been commissioned at the highest levels, including Downing Street and as the maker of four Grand National trophies.
The Craft NI Showcase will further expand on this celebration of material-based practice, featuring works by Adam Frew, Andrea Spencer, Anne Earls Boylan, Caitlin Murphy, Celine Traynor, Derek Wilson, Grainne Watts, Jack Doherty, Jakki Trainor, Janice Gilmore, Joel Smith, John Piekaar, Mark Hanvey, Mario Sierra (Mourne Textiles), Patricia Kelly and Scott Benefield. From wheel-thrown porcelain to blown glass sculptures, woven textiles to meticulously crafted jewellery, visitors will encounter a diverse spectrum of work that demonstrates both tradition and innovation.
