‘The Fine Art of Textile’ in the Coach House Gallery, Dublin Castle is an international exhibition of contemporary textile that crosses artistic genres – painting, sculpture, drawing and sewing. Donegal tweed also plays a role through ‘The Wild Donegal Tweed Project’. The exhibition is curated by Irish artist Nuala Goodman, with the assistance of Italian journalist Maria Luisa Caffarelli.

‘The Fine Art of Textile’ an international exhibition of contemporary textile that encompasses painting, embroidery, drawing and sculpture, curated by Irish artist Nuala Goodman, with Maria Luisa Caffarelli.

The core of the exhibition is the Milan based collective ‘Fringe’, founded in 2022 by four female artists from different countries. Fringe is a vibrant creative force exploring the expressive potential of textile.There is Sanchita Ajjampur, who re-interprets the ancient skills of raffia weave and embroidery creating sustainable handcrafted works; Lisa Farmer, whose art pieces lie somewhere in between basketry and tapestry; Nuala Goodman whose ‘Wild Tapestries’ uses preloved and precious textiles to create works of art and Colomba Leddi whose synthetic, linear forms create spatial redefinition.

The Wild Donegal Tweed Project

A collaboration between five Donegal tweed companies and art and design students at NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti) in Rome

Curated by Nuala Goodman

It is said that tweed makes the beautiful practical and the practical beautiful and that wearing Irish tweed is like wearing the Irish landscape.

An enduring emblem of the landscape from which it comes, Donegal tweed is interwoven with culture and community and has shaped Irish history and economy since the sixteenth century.

In this Wild Donegal Tweed Project, art and fashion students from NABA in Rome worked with five of the principal textile mills in Donegal as a new generation of creatives were introduced to this material. Through Irish Times fashion journalist Deirdre McQuillan, the mills McNutt, Magee1866, Molloy & Sons, Triona and Studio Donegal donated their fabrics to a NABA textile workshop. The natural and sustainable quality of Donegal tweed appealed to the young people as an alternative to cheap synthetic materials.

Closed 1.15 - 1:45pm