National Sculpture Factory

Fiona Kelly joined the NSF earlier this year to build components for her PhD by practice titled Fallowness the Importance of Being Still in an Age of Urgency. Utilizing the woodwork and ceramic area Fiona has worked with a compendium of made and found things; collected, collated, cast, forged, foraged, fired, to populate her reimagined scaffold. A holding space, a non-hierarchical structure to hold materials for observation.

The final installation will utilise a variety of materials and processes - a handmade dowelled poplar wooden modular structure, screenprint on recycled wall paper liner, fired porcelain slip casts embedded with waste, foraged foam, cast concrete from repurposed waste, crushed windscreen glass, found glassware & sea worn bricks.

Discover the exciting world of Raku ceramics
This hands-on workshop offers participants the opportunity to fire their own ceramic pieces, experience the dramatic and unpredictable process of Raku firing, and explore the basics of clay preparation and Raku glaze making.
Book your spot here - https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/raku-with-karina-killeen-tickets-1991994888334

This workshop is aimed at professional artists so only experienced ceramicists should apply, artists must bring bisque fired items so a high degree of skill is presumed.
Places are limited so a selection process will apply. Dimensions of pieces will be issued in advance.
If you do not have kiln access, NSF have kiln facilities for bisque firing ceramics ahead of the workshop, please contact our technical manager regarding availability.

There will be two firing sessions, morning and afternoon. Participants can attend one or both sessions. Please purchase a ticket for each session if you wish to attend both firings.
Firing 1 - 09:30 - 13:00
Firing 2 - 13:30 - 17:00

This workshop will be led by Cork ceramic artist and pottery tutor Karina Killeen. Karina holds a BA (Hons) in Ceramics from CCAD and a Master’s degree in Ceramic Design from NCAD.

Raku with Karina Killeen Discover the exciting world of Raku ceramics

Fantastic work produced by the participants in last month's repousse workshop with Eva Lynch.

If you'd like to stay up to date with our programme of workshops, subscribe to our newsletter - bit.ly/NSF-signup

Faultline | Helle Helsner
02-25 July in the Vaults at Lavit Gallery
In collaboration with The Fold, art and geology research group

Faultline:
a) A line on a rock surface or the ground that traces a geological fault
b) A divisive issue or difference of opinion that is likely to have serious consequences.
All the work in the vaults pertains to current PhD research engaging with the Land and Community of the disused mining Landscape of Allihies on the Beara Peninsula.

📷 Jed Niezgoda

Percent for Art commission opportunity, call for expressions of interest.
Harcourt Terrace Educate Together NS, Dublin.
The budget for this commission is €52,000

Deadlines:
Friday 31 July 2026 - Expression of interest deadline
Wednesday 5 August 2026, 12 noon - Stage 1 submission deadline

Read the full guidelines and application process on our website - nationalsculpturefactory.com/programme/htetns/

Presentation Harcourt Terrace Educate Together National School operates under the patronage of Educate Together where teaching and learning takes place in a relaxed, engaged and holistic learning environment for all children, where they can be themselves, have fun and enjoy learning.
At the heart of the Educate Together ethos is that the children learn in a way that is best for each individual child. Each child is guaranteed a warm and caring learning environment and an excellent standard of teaching. The vibrant school community is a dynamic melting pot of cultures all learning under one roof, currently with approximately 300 students and positioned to grow.

Proposals should focus on the following elements or themes: diversity, ecology and outside in, learning and nature within the context of the adjacent canal, the surrounding city and urban environment, reflecting the National School age group and wide mix of ethnicities.

This is a two-stage open commission and will be managed by the National Sculpture Factory, Cork. To register your interest in the project you are required to email [email protected] expressing your interest in the project by Friday 31 July.

Could you see yourself here 👀

Studio spaces are available for rent, on a project by project basis, at the National Sculpture Factory.
NSF provides a dynamic and supportive working environment for artists working in the contemporary visual arts. We also run a programme of talks, projects and professional development opportunities which add further scope for engagement.
Read more on our website - http://nationalsculpturefactory.com/.../rent-studio-space/

NSF artist A.Hunt has very kindly shared some work in progress - cast aluminium and concrete forms. These works are for Hunt's upcoming show at Linenhall Arts Centre in Mayo, which will include both sculpture and live art elements.

Following an open call attracting a large number of applicants, National Sculpture Factory and The Guesthouse Residency are delighted to announce the inaugural collaborative International Curatorial Residency awardee is Tsering Frykman-Glen, who will be in residency between The Guesthouse and NSF for the month of August.

The Guesthouse is an artist-led initiative run on a voluntary basis by our artists community. Ensuring that this space remains friendly, safe and secure is a core value. Kindness, generosity and reciprocity are fundamental to maintaining a healthy and happy environment which is created by all involved with The Guesthouse, and are cornerstones of the artistic practices at play. The Guesthouse is made possible through the collective cooperation and mutual respect and support between members. Into this collaboration, NSF, a systemically significant national resource organization for the fabrication and production of Fine Art, brings its expertise and machinery, its curatorial enquiry, and space, to enable an opportunity for an individual curator to experience the thriving Cork artistic scene with its tributaries in and out from the region.

Tsering is the founding director of Tangent Projects.
She is a highly experienced curator with over 20 years of experience working in alternative and independent artspaces, projects, and galleries. British but based in Barcelona, Tsering has gained recognition as a highly-skilled curator due to her collaborations with numerous talented artists on a wide variety of exciting projects throughout her career, working with artists at all stages of their careers.
Tsering co-founded Tangent Projects in 2015, which for 3 years was an itinerant curatorial project before it became a cultural association and independent artspace in early 2019. As the founding director and curator of Tangent Projects, Tsering oversees the small project-based gallery, seven artist studios and the residency programmes. It is based in the L'Hospitalet de Llobregat area of Barcelona.
In 2021, Tsering started working on the Reading Room - an ongoing collaborative project that brings together creatives and audiences to share texts and be part of a mutual, collective experience. In late 2023 she founded Confluence, a site responsive project looking at transitional in-between spaces as places where we gather, mingle, and flow on. During 2025, the Reading Room and Confluence merged and took up residence in nūn, a cultural cafe in Barcelona, where activations led by Tsering and Lucia Retamar took place approximately every 2 months. At the end of the year they travelled to the Fire Station Artist Space and Studios in Dublin, for a reading by Sorcha McNamara. In January 2026 she was the invited curator in residence at PAR Residencies in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Lovely mention from Boamortemusic in this person to person interview with the Echo. It's been three years since their album launch for The Total Space took place on the Factory floor - an event that hasn't been repeated since.
Watch out for their newest album, Signal:Lost, coming out in September through Gare du Nord Records.

Person to Person: 'It was great to appreciate the hectic life of a touring band' Boa Morte have been together for more than 25 years and have a new album coming out in the autumn. They tell us about their favourite song and what ...