This Lughnasadh 2024 celebrates two great Irish artists, Paul Kelly and John O’Donnell. They approach their painting differently, but both are respected and collected artists, housing their art in museums and collections throughout Ireland and here in the U.S. Paul Kelly has donated a painting to the John F. Kennedy Centre in 2000, and John O’Donnell is a renowned curator himself who has directed the Dublin Simon Community Exhibit and auction for the unhoused in Ireland over the past two years. Last year, I had the honor of exhibiting with him in this exhibit at the Gormley Gallery in Dublin, with over 140 artists and Ireland’s top musical acts: Glen Hansard, Imelda May, Hozier and Bono were all performing. John’s work has been instrumental in creating an art world in Ireland committed to social and economic justice, and Paul is regarded as one of Ireland’s best traditional oil painters. Together they demonstrate the power of art to bridge the past and the contemporary, to bridge the artistic and the activist, and to bridge Irish and Irish American art with the various communities where they have worked, curated, exhibited, and drawn inspiration. We are honored to exhibit their work this Lughnasadh at Carrickahowley Gallery, and we invite all of you to take time to admire and reflect upon their creative practice.

–Robin Savage and Chris Gray