Co.Galway — News — The Art of Anthony D Kelly

✂️⚡️Upcoming Solo Exhibition - The Lexicon of Wonder⚡️✂️
Opening: Thursday October the 8th at 6pm GMT
Running until: Friday, November 6th, 2026.
At:
The University of Galway Art Gallery,
The Quadrangle,
University Road,
Galway,
Co. Galway,
Ireland,
H91 TK33,

In collaboration with the University of Galway Art Gallery and Project RARE, I am really excited to announce the launch of an upcoming exhibition of 'The Lexicon of Wonder' project.

This project featuring an exhibition, workshops, discussions and an artist talk is inspired by recent research into the emotions of Wonder & Awe and into the arts as a deep technology for evoking these states in both practitioner and audience.

Here is a little bit about the work:
”Wonder and Awe are complex emotions arising in response to experiences of profound beauty, connection, natural phenomena, or through bearing witness to the incredible capacities, courage or talents of other human beings. They can also arise at times of great personal crisis or fear such as witnessing the raw power of nature at a time of natural disaster.

Encountering reality through the states of Wonder and Awe can make an individual feel simultaneously small, and deeply connected to the world around them. They are emotions that inspire us to both transcend our own self interests and to delve deeply into our desire for greater understanding. They are in short the emotions of human discovery, and as such the unifying engines of the human curiosity behind philosophy, science and the arts.

For this exhibition I draw on the contemporary research of Psychologist Dacher Keltner and Philosopher Helen De Cruz into the importance of Wonder as a state of being. This new body of work is inspired by wonder, materials sourced from old children's scientific encyclopedias and contemporary collage techniques.

This project explores the arts themselves as a deep set of technologies that have the capacity to instillboth practitioners and viewers with a sense of Wonder at the boundless curiosity of scientific investigation and humanities deep connection with the natural world.”

For more from Project Rare Click Here.

✂️⚡️Upcoming Residency: The Mayo Based Artist Residency at INTERFACE⚡️✂️
December 7th - 13th 2025,
At:
INTERFACE
The Hatchery,
Cloonnacartan,
Recess,
Co. Galway,
H91 VW58

I am delighted to have been accepted to onto the Mayo Based Artist Residency at Interface Inagh. I have always admired this organisations commitment to exploring the intersection between the arts and science. Interface is based out of a defunct Salmon Hatchery and embedded in the awe inspiring landscape of Inagh Valley. This feels like the perfect time and place to complete my Lexicon of Wonder project which itself combines visual art, poetry and research psychology to bring people back into a sense of awe and wonder at scientific investigation and the natural world.

For more about INTERFACE see below:
” Interface is a studio and residency programme for visual artists, dancers, writers and musicians, situated in the Inagh Valley, in the heart of Connemara. Our mission is to provide catalyzing opportunities for artists to develop work and engage with others through a unique platform that explores the intersections between scientific research and art.

The studio is located in premises shared with the Inagh Valley Trust, which drives a number of innovative scientific research projects in the Inagh Valley. Interface offers artists an opportunity to engage with a unique environment and to be inspired by the exciting research taking place in a spectacular landscape.

The facility was built as a salmon hatchery in the late 1980s. Scott Tallon Walker architects were commissioned by Carrolls cigarette company to design the biggest, most advanced salmon hatchery in the world. The facility was bought by the current owners in 2007 with a view to developing a centre of scientific research and development.”

With much thanks to AbbVie, as this opportunity was made possible through their Community Responsibility Committee in support of a Co.Mayo based artist.

For more from INTERFACE Click Here.
To visit AbbVie Click Here.