Hosted by the RDS Foundation Arts Programme.
The launch of the Open Call for the RDS Craft Awards 2025 along with ‘Evolving Excellence’ a guide to this year’s awards.
The launch will be followed by Crinniú na Ceirde / Gathering Craft. A forum for discussions on unravelling an identity for Irish craft.
The aim of the sessions is to discuss contemporary Irish Craft and explore how it can be defined, identified and celebrated with fresh perspectives.
Join us for the Launch of the 2025 Craft Awards followed by Crinniú na Ceirde. A forum for discussions on unravelling an identity for Irish craft.
We start the session with keynote speaker Toner Quinn.
Musician, writer, and editor of the Journal of Music, who will present What Ireland Can Teach the World About Music, exploring how values such as community, continuity, and adaptability have shaped Irish music and what this can offer craft and creative practice in Ireland.
Joe Hogan – Master basketmaker and sculptural artist, will reflect on his journey preserving traditional Irish basketmaking and how artistic craft can foster a sense of connection, meaning, and fufillment in a rapidly changing world.
A dynamic showcase from a group of established and emerging artists working across diverse disciplines and communities, including textiles, leather, metalwork, instrument-making, and more. Presenters from a wide range of communites include Úna Burke, Ellie Dunne, Corina Duyn, Muireann Ní Sheoighe Eachthighearn, Pat Monaghan, Margaret McDonagh, Martin McDonagh, Mark Newman, Evelyn Nomayo, Conor O’Brien, and Sasha Sykes.
The morning’s talks will be followed by interactive Q&A sessions, focusing on questions around identity in Irish craft, intangible cultural heritage, and the future of making in Ireland.
Please note lunch is not provided. Many lunch spots are available in proximity to the RDS and outdoor picnic tables are available onsite. Feel free to bring your own packed meal and a reusable cup, mingle, meet and find joy in eating and talking about the future of craft with makers from around the country.
The afternoon workshop sessions will offer the chance to make new connections and shared stories and knowledge about the current craft landscape through a range of activities.
Prepare for a “choose your own adventure” exercise in mapping traditional and new craft practices in Ireland, a more personal written creative prompt, a daylong opportunity to express what you wish for, and a physical activity that will get you connecting with others. Come join the conversation, spark new ideas, be inspired, and have your voices heard.
By the end of the day, we wish that everyone will have had the chance to reflect and strategise for a brighter future for craft and to be further inspired to find a place in that unfolding story.
Information gathered during the sessions will be collated and shared following the event.
08.45am 09.00am 09.20am 09.30am 10.00am 11.00am 11.20am 11.30am 11.50am 12.30pm 01.30pm 04.00pm 04.30pm
REGISTRATION / COFFEE
Welcome from RDS Foundation Arts
Opening Remarks
Launch of the 2025 RDS Craft Awards, Presentation by Valerie Kennedy Consulting
Crinniú na Ceirde Forum Keynote Speaker
Toner Quinn ‘What Can Irish Music Teach the World?’
COMFORT BREAK / COFFEE
Forum Speaker Joe Hogan, Basket Maker ‘A Full Circle’
Questions & Answers
facilitated by artist Hilary Morley
Pecha Kucha Presentations
‘Scanning the Craft Landscape’
LUNCH
Afternoon Workshops
facilitated by Vicki Clough
Summing up
FINISH
Clockwise from Below:
Maggie McDonagh
Corina Duyn (collaborative work with Caroline Schofield)
Evelyn Nomayo
Ellie Dunne
Evaluating the RDS Craft Awards
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Keynote Speaker
Toner Quinn is editor of the online Irish music publication Journal of Music, author of What Ireland Can Teach the World About Music, editor of Count Me Out: Selected Writings of Filmmaker Bob Quinn, and co-editor of the forthcoming The Radical Thinking of Desmond Fennell. He lectures at the University of Galway.
Forum Speaker
Joe Hogan has worked as a Basketmaker since 1978, growing his own material near Loch na Fooey in the west coast of Ireland. He came to basketmaking when the indigenous Irish baskets were going out of use and became very interested in learning and passing on these techniques. Over the last 20 years he has devoted most of his time to making artistic or sculptural baskets. This work is prompted by a desire to develop a deeper feeling of belonging in the world, a creature amongst creatures. Speaking of his work he says, “I have a huge sense of gratitude that I have been able to find work which has satisfied and sustained me.”
Crinniú na Ceirde / Gathering
Clockwise from Top Left: Muireann Ní Sheoighe Eachthighearn
Una Burke
Martin McDonagh
Pat Monaghan
Úna Burke is a leatherworker, artist and fashion designer trained in the UK and Ireland and now operating from her home county of Roscommon. Her work is conceptual in nature and has a sculptural, armour-like aesthetic which is representative of the strength of the human spirit. With a complex construction consisting of straps and bolts, it has been exhibited extensively throughout the world, showing at Venice Biennale, Revelations Paris, Dubai Design District, London Design Festival, Trapholt Museum of Modern Art and Design, MoBA Fashion Biennale Arnhem and China Craft Week.
Graduating from UAL in 2009 with her wearable art collection RE.TREAT, Burke’s first commissions came from the world of music, starting with Lady Gaga and followed by Rihanna, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Janet Jackson, etc. Tv and Film projects include an arm brace for Jennifer Lawrence in the Hunger Games and a bustier and jacket for Michelle Yeoh in Star Trek Discovery and advertising collaborations led to the creation of looks for Lexus, Nars Cosmetics, Jaguar, L’Oreal and Rolls Royce.
A selection of Una Burke’s handbags, bracelets, belts and avant garde body accessories are available in select fashion boutiques, galleries, museums and 5* hotels across Ireland and around the world.
Ellie Dunne (b. 1999) is a student of painting and drawing at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin. Her painting evidences an exceptional eye for colour. Two of her paintings are in the State Collection. She designs luxurious wool blankets which are made in Ireland. Her latest blanket is a collaboration with the Galway Wool Co-op, woven in Native Irish wool by Molloy & Sons in Co. Donegal. Ellie has Down Syndrome.
Dutch born Artist, Writer and Puppet Designer Corina Duyn trained as a nurse and social care worker before becoming a full-time artist after moving to Ireland in 1989.
Corina is an Artist in care. Moving into full time care, aged 59, Corina received support from Waterford Healing Arts to explore new ways to create by accepted use of her co-artist’s hands to bring ideas into being.
Portrayal of life around her changed to exploring the inner world of illness to understand this utterly changed existence.
Despite living with Severe ME she continues to have access to her creative mind and values the Creative Conversation.
Creative highlights in recent years include facilitating Life Outside the Box puppet project (2015), keynote speaker at Broken Puppet Symposium on Puppetry, Disability and Health (2018) and the Invisible Octopus video poem (2020), an extraordinary and succinct illustration of life with ME.
All of the work in the past four years has taken place in Corina’s room at Signacare. ‘The Tree House’, as Corina calls it, is an extraordinary space which Corina has utterly transformed with her artworks.
Within the nursing home Corina curated the photographic project Hands of Signacare and recently published her book of collage In bed I cut words which were spontaneous, intuitive responses to life in care. In 2023 ‘I Brought The Dream of Flying’ with co-artist Caroline Schofield was exhibited at GOMA modern art gallery Waterford, and Creative Brain Week 2023
“Artists move our world wherever they may find themselves.” — Dominic Campbell, Irish Hospice Foundation
Muireann Ní Sheoighe Eachthighearn is a luthier, musician, and composer from Tiobraid Árann. After studying at the Cork School of Music she went to England to learn violin making and repair in the Newark School. She has since traveled to the workshops of many wonderful makers of instruments and bows, gathering knowledge and understanding of this craft. Muireann is passionate about the stories told and passed on through these vessels for music, the people who play them, and the landscape that informs them. She is now based in Ireland and continuing to research and develop within her craft.
Pat Monaghan is a fourth-generation blacksmith from Caherlistrane, Co. Galway, continuing a long family tradition at the very site where his father and grandfather once worked the forge. Born in 1976, Pat grew up steeped in the trade—learning the craft first-hand from his father, initially holding iron before formally training as a fitter and welder.
With over 25 years of experience, Pat concentrates on making farm and house gates, and much of his time is spent on the restoration of vintage ironwork. He often salvages old gates from fields and ditches, many of which bear the markings of his grandfather and great-grandfather. His deep respect for heritage and craftsmanship is evident in his meticulous restoration work.
Notable projects include the restoration of gates at Woodlawn House, the walled garden gates at Mountbellew, and railings at St. Nicholas’ Church in Galway. He has also contributed to the renowned restoration of St. Mel’s Cathedral. Carrying forward a legacy that spans generations, Pat blends tradition with modern technique, keeping alive the enduring art of the Irish blacksmith.
Maggie McDonagh is a traditional Lushul maker a craft rooted in Traveller heritage that involves handcrafting decorative flowers, originally from paper. A dedicated Traveller activist she is currently managing the Balbriggan Travellers Project. Born in County Louth, she was raised travelling across Ireland and now lives in Dublin. Her craft has been passed down through generations of Traveller women, this art form has been preserved and reimagined by Maggie, who now creates bespoke wedding bouquets and refined centrepieces using silk flowers. Her work honours the tradition while introducing new materials and design approaches, highlighting the evolving nature of Traveller craft. Alongside her creative practice, Maggie has nearly two decades of experience in community development and holds a dual honours degree in Community and Youth Work from Maynooth University. Her work bridges cultural expression and social advocacy, ensuring that traditional Traveller knowledge remains visible and valued in contemporary settings.
Martin McDonagh is a men’s development worker with the Balbriggan Travellers Project and a skilled copper artist. As an Irish Traveller, Martin integrates his cultural heritage into both his professional and creative work. In Traveller tradition, the term “copper artist” refers to repoussé work, a craft rooted in the community’s tin-smithing history. Martin’s copper work draws on this legacy, combining traditional techniques with his own design sensibility to produce distinctive pieces that reflect both craft and culture. Alongside his artistic practice, he is involved in community development and intercultural work, with a focus on supporting men’s wellbeing and growth. His combined experience in craft and community work highlights a strong commitment to cultural expression and social development.
Mark Newman is a contemporary fine jeweller whose work fuses traditional goldsmithing with innovative design methods inspired by neuroscience and lived experience with aphantasia. Working with 18ct gold and pixelcut gemstones, Mark creates meticulously crafted pieces rooted in logic, structure, and socio-political critique. Their designs reinterpret symbols of status and power - like the signet ring - through a modern, digital lens, challenging outdated hierarchies. Drawing on mathematical ratios and nonvisual design processes, Mark’s jewellery seeks to provoke reflection on identity and authority in contemporary society. Their work is conceptually rich and visually striking, inviting viewers to consider how craft can question and reshape cultural narratives around class and identity.
Evelyn Nomayo is the founder of e3Closet, a bold streetwear brand fusing modern design with African printed fabrics, each piece echoing cultural stories and symbolism. Inspired by her mother’s craft and heritage, Evelyn brings strong lines and rich patterns into contemporary fashion, redefining self-expression through style. She recently founded Threads of Culture, a creative community celebrating identity, culture, and entrepreneurship. Beyond fashion, Evelyn is a tech innovator and tireless advocate for inclusion. She leads Phase Innovate, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering underrepresented communities in tech. Under her mentorship, a Nigerian-Irish teen team gained global acclaim with their dementia-support app, Memory Haven.
Conor O’Brien is a Dublin-based designer, sewing tutor, and harpist. He graduated from the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in 2023 with a degree in Fashion Design and operates a slow fashion label under his own name. His work is rooted in the belief that luxury should not be a gated commodity, but rather something accessible—drawn from nature and realised through the craft of human hands. Conor is committed to reviving a cottage industry approach to fashion in Ireland, advocating for fair labour practices, and exploring Ireland’s cultural heritage through a lens of both critique and admiration.
Sasha Sykes (b.1976) is an Irish artist and maker who works with plants and polymers to explore, manipulate, and challenge the material language of the natural world. Her architectural background infuses her work with a sense of rigour and informs her strong approach to form and composition. Her sculptural objects and design pieces explore notions of history and usefulness in a 21st century context, telling stories particularly through the use of embedded flora.
Róisín de Buitléar is an artist, educator, and curator whose work is deeply inspired by her cultural heritage. Her practice explores the interplay of sound and light, merging these elements in exhibitions and performances. Her evocative glassworks have earned international acclaim, with 2024 featuring exhibitions in Spain, Slovenia, France, and China. Highlights of her career include serving as the first artist-in-residence at the National Museum of Ireland (2018–2019) and receiving Bonham’s Special Mention prize at Venice Glass Week in 2022. Recently, as artist-in-residence for Dinnseanchas, a climate action initiative, Róisín used her art to address pressing environmental and social issues within the Donegal community. She continues to challenge conventions, using art as a transformative force to inspire change and spark meaningful conversations.
Hilary Morley lives in Galway. Her experience spans the fields of professional Arts and fine Craft. Her career has included retail and gallery management, facilitation and advisory posts with state, private and voluntary organisations. She is editor of Making.ie and is has been a craft, fine art and public art curator with the National Craft and Design Gallery and Galway International Arts Festival. She a board member of the Baboró International Arts Festival for Children and holds a place on the Saolta ‘Arts in Hospital’ panel. Recently she received a BA in Fine art and works as a mixed media artist. She is a professional member of VAI, Interface Inagh and MART Gallery and studios
Vicki Clough is a textile artist and arts administrator with over 20 years of industry experience. She holds a BA and BDes in Textiles from GMIT (now ATU), and an MFA in Criticism & Curatorial Practice from OCAD University in Toronto Canada where she focussed on the creation of eco-literate communities of practice in workshop settings. Vicki has worked in public programming, curation, residency program management, and creative entrepreneurship within organisations such as Figment Toronto, OCAD University, The Bentway Conservancy, Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design, and Design & Craft Council Ireland leading and facilitating events and conversations. She is also a founding board member of the Multicultural Association of Cape Breton, an organisation that champions creative practice through incubator spaces and events,
The RDS would like to thank the following for their support:
Dr Marie Bourke (Chair); Ms Katharine Maurer (Vice Chair); Ms Eleanor Collier; Mr Fearghal Hynes; Mr Emmet Kane; Mr Kieran Owens; Ms Caroline Phelan; Ms Caitriona Shaffrey and Mr Gaby Smyth.
A special thank you to Valerie Kennedy Consulting, Consultant for the RDS Craft Awards Consultation 2024.
The RDS Craft Awards is part of the RDS Arts Programme which supports the transition from emerging to established artist, encouraging the pursuit of a career in visual art, craft and music.
Speak to us today about becoming a member of the RDS and support our philanthropic work. Email members@rds.ie or phone 01 240 7296.
For further details about the RDS Arts Programme please visit: rds.ie/rds-foundation/arts or email arts@rds.ie
Head of Arts Karen Phillips
Arts Executive Eliza McCormack
Design Clare Lynch Design
Photography: Images supplied by the craft makers.
