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PORTALS Trudi van der Elsen 22 January – 20 February 2026 Burren College of Art Gallery PORTALS explores painting as a threshold, a space where time, perception and matter are in continual flux. Through processes of layering, erasure and return, the works evolve as sites of crossing rather than representation. Spaces expand and contract, forms dissolve and re-emerge, and time gathers in the surface of the canvas. Drawing on multiple spatial registers, the bodily, the natural, the digital and the cosmic, van der Elsen’s paintings create layered fields where memory, sensation and perception intersect. Each work functions as a portal: an invitation to move beyond the familiar into a wider, more fluid field of experience, where transformation unfolds slowly through the act of looking. |
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Drones 2025, acrylic on cotton rag paper, 30 x 30 cm on show in Suil Gallery Ennis - Annual exhibition until 20 Dec 2025 
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At World Poetry conference event in Estonia October 2025 -"Kaleidoscope of World Poetry"
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NOT OUT OF THE WOODS Miriam McIlfatrick-Ksenofontov Whose woods are these all staked out with trees in the clutches of ivy, in the grip of garlic? Light dwindles in and loses itself – here is no sun-shift of snow from cedars no sun-sifted, bittersweet, green or black olives no children eating leaves off the trees no strawberry leaves for dinner. I hear that this land was once faithless too that your famished people also moved west their mouths growing green on roadside grass and seaweed shoring up hopes of survival. To stand here alone is to be out of one’s mind in a glow of cocoon, in a swathe of isolation, all inward bound and barely limbed, with a memory of moons, and eyes exposed to the unwarmed air of a fruitless spring. How do we welcome what does not fit but belongs nonetheless? In the selfsame way, perhaps, that the pruned bush feels the rush of roses. |
“Wild Garlic”, photographic image by Trudi van der Elsen, visual artist.
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'The poem was inspired by Trudi van der Elsen’s photographic image “Wild Garlic”, created with women from already “settled” immigrant communities in mind; refugees add another dimension. In particular, the report of children in the besieged town of Madaya in Syria eating leaves off the trees and the words of a young man of the town: “I had strawberry leaves for dinner today”.
Miriam McIlfatrick-Ksenofontov
Miriam McIlfatrick-Ksenofontov
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Summer Group exhibition at Weber & Weber Gallery,Turin, Italy |
Courthouse Gallery & Studios' Summer Open Exhibition 2024 - Exhibition Dates: July 2nd to August 9th
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Interdependent, group exhibition ArtNetdlr, selected by Cian Mc Loughlin, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin (IRL)
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Invited artist to Art in the Gardens in Mount Congreve Gardens, Co.Waterford
Opening : 2nd May continuing through the summermonths Mon-Sun 10-5pm ARTFORM.ie
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Beyond Brushstrokes: Between Matter and Memory
https://www.burrencollege.ie/beyond-brushstrokes-between-matter-and-memory/
The Craic Beneath the Waves II, 2024, acrylic on canvas, 100x160cm |
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Invited artist to the Peoples Museum, Riverfest 2024 exhibition 'All Along the River' in Limerick, curated by Maurice Quillinan. Opening: 3rd May from 5-7 pm. Runs until 10 May 2024
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Beyond Brushstrokes: Between Matter and Memory
curated by Sara Foust at the Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon, featuring works by Matthew Mitchell, Kaye Maahs, Sara Foust, Trudi Van Der Elsen, Marianne Potterton, Gerry O’Mahony, and Mary Fahy Opening Friday 12th January at 7pm - Exhibition runs until 24th Feb 2024. Artists Talk : Jan 20th, 2pm - A roundtable discussion with the artists, hosted by Conor McGrady, Dean of the Burren College of Art. Curator’s Tour : Feb 10th, 2pm - Join curator Sara Foust for a tour of the exhibition. Kindly supported by the Clare County Council Arts Office.
https://thecourthousegallery.odoo.com/blog/current-exhibitions-4/beyond-brushstrokes-between-matter-and-memory-
curated by Sara Foust at the Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon, featuring works by Matthew Mitchell, Kaye Maahs, Sara Foust, Trudi Van Der Elsen, Marianne Potterton, Gerry O’Mahony, and Mary Fahy Opening Friday 12th January at 7pm - Exhibition runs until 24th Feb 2024. Artists Talk : Jan 20th, 2pm - A roundtable discussion with the artists, hosted by Conor McGrady, Dean of the Burren College of Art. Curator’s Tour : Feb 10th, 2pm - Join curator Sara Foust for a tour of the exhibition. Kindly supported by the Clare County Council Arts Office.
https://thecourthousegallery.odoo.com/blog/current-exhibitions-4/beyond-brushstrokes-between-matter-and-memory-
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Solo exhibition ECHO, ArtNetdlr Walters, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin Opening 29th November 2023 by John Graham, Artist, Writer on Art. Exhibition runs until 30th January 2024 You can see the works online : https://artnetdlr.ie/trudi-van-der-elsen-echo-solo-exhibition/ |
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Custom House Studios at Westport Quay is celebrating its 21st year in operation on Sunday, 26th November 2023 at 3pm –
with Winter Group Exhibition to be opened by Maureen Kennelly, Director of The Arts Council of Ireland.
Exhibition continues until Sunday, 7th January 2024
with Winter Group Exhibition to be opened by Maureen Kennelly, Director of The Arts Council of Ireland.
Exhibition continues until Sunday, 7th January 2024
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Connla's Well, 2023, acrylic on cotton rag paper, 47 x47 cm framed On view at The Summer of Love Exhibition in the Courthouse Gallery & Studios, Ennistymon The exhibition will run until the 22nd of July 2023. |
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Solo exhibition Estuary Custom House Gallery, Westport Thursday 8th June from 6-8 pm opening with an informal talk between me and John Gibbons, Sculptor at 7pm. https://www.johngibbons.org.uk Shows runs until 2 July |
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SIONAINN - PAINTINGS by TRUDI VAN DER ELSEN April 3 - April 30 Limerick Museum Finissage, ending reception, 29th April at 2 pm with guest speaker Jo Slade, poet and artist Old Fransiscan Friary, Henry St, limerick V94 C7W1 Mon- Sat 10 to 5 pm, Sat closed from 1-2 pm |
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OPERE - Group exhibition at Weber & Weber Gallery, Turin, Italy. 10 February - 8 April 2023
Carlo Battaglia - Gregorio Botta - Gianni Del Bue - Chiara Dynys - Gillian Lawler - Bice Lazzari - Colm Mac Athlaoich - Pino Mantovani - Carol Rama - Stefan Sehler - Sergio Sermidi - Trudi Van Der Elsen - Michael Van Ofen - Antonio Violetta - Valentino Zini - @galleria_weber - @torinoartgalleries
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Manchán Magan in conversation with Breaking Borders artists, Trudi van der Elsen, Myra Jago and Beata Piekarska-Daly on 14th September The conversation will cover a range of topics including the artists' practice, the notion of borders and boundaries in the artist's works, the role of art in the digital age and a changing society, among other related topics. The event forms part of the accompanying outreach of the exhibition, Breakings Borders, which brings together seven visual artists working in various mediums. Luan Gallery - Athlone https://www.instagram.com/p/Cif1QhlpBh4/ |
Breaking Borders, a group exhibition curated by Valeria Ceregini, featuring artists Nicola Anthony, Trudi van der Elsen, Bernadette Hopkins, Benedict Hutchinson, Myra Jago, Vukašin Nedeljković, and Beata Piekarska Daly. The exhibition brings together seven visual artists working in various mediums. The artists respond to physical, psychological and societal forms of borders and how we, as a society (including artists and art venues) can address, debate, and potentially dissolve these barriers. Until 25 September 2022. Luan Gallery, Athlone. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg142cdF3-D/
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Participating in the film RISING, by William Bock 2022
https://vimeo.com/758679579/a24c484b33 Videos of documentary of the project with Ormston House Limerick are now on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-RrRDLn8GPakNko_U4cXYgar_379EQMt. |
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RISING is an experimental film by artist William Bock created in collaboration with members of the community in Kildysart and Labasheeda commissioned by Ormston House, Limerick, Ireland. Prior to making the film, William Bock spent a year residency visiting local families and individuals to learn about their connections to the river, their history and their thoughts about the future. Through the film, local community members worked together with William to offer a new vision of the landscape and their place within it.
The River Residencies are funded by the Arts Council of Ireland’s Invitation to Collaboration scheme and supported by the Clare Arts Office
The River Residencies are funded by the Arts Council of Ireland’s Invitation to Collaboration scheme and supported by the Clare Arts Office
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Breaking Borders - Exhibition curated by Valeria Ceregini in GOMA Gallery of Modern Art - Waterford
https://valeriaceregini.com/2021/12/27/breaking-borders/ - January 2022 Breaking Borders aims to explore the intersection of multiple narratives and discourses in the arts, engaging a mix of conversations with the exhibiting artists accompanied by talks and performance art contributions. The group exhibition intends to be an organic project to mix and match artists from all disciplines to contribute to the development of the arts in Ireland and artists’ practice across any discipline. This exhibition project offers a creative and digital approach to the arts to expand the physical exhibition space as a response to these current times where we witnessed an increasing use of technology to implement our reality. Breaking Borders has the ambition to become a global and inclusive space with no physical barriers with a proactive approach to delivering new forms of cultural experiences and tackling the challenges facing the changing landscape of the arts as a result of social pressures. This future-facing project will make up of an interactive exhibition project and a series of online and offline events focused on the perception of a globalised and dislocated life. Watch on Youtube : In conversation with Valeria Ceregini : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-YneSlt6Q4&t=7s |
Invited artist to Artists From Ireland, a curated exhibition
by Maurice Quillinan in Sasse Museum - Los Angeles
Direct link to the catalog: https://view.publitas.com/inland-empire-museum-of-art/artists_from_ireland/
Here is a link to the artist talk : https://sasseartmuseum.org/tv/art-talks.htm
NOTES FROM A DIGITAL SEA
An exhibition of paintings
The Gallery @ the Burren College of Art,
Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare.
27 February - 27th March 2020
www.burrencollege.ie/exhibitions/
2019 - BOG series have been published in the Swedish, artists and writers run magazine OEI # 84/85
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Transparent Messenger HERMIT lll 1994 Plasy Monastery, Czech Republic https://agosto-foundation.org/trudi-van-der-elsen-self-reflection-in-the-water |
Vector
Culturlann Sweeney Kilkee
10th February - 5th March 2016
Jackie Askew / Fiona Burke / Peter Burns / John Busher / Marie Connole / Gerry Davis / Trudi van der Elsen / Mary Foudy O'Halloran / Sara Foust / Noelle Gallagher / John Hanrahan / Vincent Killowry / Chris Leach / Selma Makela / John McHugh / Fx Murphy / Mary Noonan / Christine Porter / Hanneke van Ryswyk / Joan Sugrue / Ian Wieczorek
Fiona Woods |One Kind And Another | Book Launch & Panel Discussion | Ennistymon Courthouse Gallery, Co. Clare | February 6th 2pm, 2016
Fiona Woods’ new publication One Kind and Another is the outcome of her episodic collaborative practice collection of minds. This practice asserts the artist’s embededdness within and reliance upon social, geographical, and conceptual networks.
This new publication documents a number of collection of minds episodes which took place over a period of 18 months (2014-2015). The episodes outline contrasting worlds from the High Plains of Colorado to the tracking of goat herds in the Burren. They produce a myriad of dialogues with others, including artists with a strong rural focus, gun club members and goat farmers. The publication captures a multitude of engagements with the material world, both sensuous and intellectual.
Woods will be joined by members of the Ground Up Artists Collective http://guac.ie/portfolio/trudi-van-der-elsen/
who participated in some of these episodes, for a discussion about collaboration as process of discovery, as innovation, as risk.
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Sift: Contemporary Painting Project
From 17th October – 31st October 2015 John Busher, Trudi Van Der Elsen, Noelle Gallagher, Will O’Kane, Kate Murphy, Joan Sugrue Twitter Project Feed: https://twitter.com/SiftPainting A Wexford Fringe Festival Event! Sift is a co-curated project initiated by John Busher and Trudi van der Elsen. Without addressing a specific theme, the works examine emerging developments in contemporary painting practice. Sift is a reference to the physical act of filtering through source material, unearthing ideas, and the unexpected which can result from this. A common thread is formed, where image making, photographic referencing, place and memory rise to the surface. Largely grounded in the premise of figurative painting, the individual art practices explore a territory where this concern borders on abstraction. https://www.facebook.com/events/1469082230089247/ |
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Dwelling In Time, Creative Solidarity , 2015
A presentation of research from a recent residency on Inis Oírr The Red Couch Space, Courthouse Gallery, Enistymon, Co. Clare The word “dwelling” can suggest place, habitation, or home. As a verb it is more active, in calling up ideas about living, a sense of conscious decision, or staying with whatever is in focus. It also suggests time, reflection and waiting with slow patience. The latter option is one that does not come so easily at this time of ever increasing acceleration, speed and instant gratification, with its intolerance of slow returns. GUAC made the conscious decision to uphold a slow, durational processes. http://guac.ie/current-projects/ |
SOLARGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS from and of Dún Formna, Inis Oirr, 2015 'Dwelling in Time', group exhibition by Ground Up Artists Collective in Aras Eanna, Inis Oirr from 1 May - 24 May
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Calendar 2014/2015 created by Outriders Artists and friends from Ireland & Vedelik artists from Estonia. Wild Garlic by Trudi van der Elsen APRIL 2014 Inspired by the lunar calendar & Ringfort with wild garlic. This particular landscape is exotic for both Irish and Estonians, it reflects a poetic view of nature that they share. |
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Feasting On The Wind by Ground Up Artists Collective 2013 with artists: Monica de Bath, Maeve Collins, Marie Connole, Trudi van der Elsen, Barry Foley, Pauline Goggin, Lewis Goodman, John Hanrahan, Marianne Slevin. http://guac.ie/ |
CULTURE NIGHT @ THE FIVE STAR
Friday 20th September 2013, Ennis
'Culture Night @ The 5 Star' - an exhibition featuring an array of lens based media that includes –installation, sound, video, photography and painting. Ennis artist Shelagh Honan curates the exhibition which is the third from the series ‘Call It What You Will’
With: Maria Finucane, Shelagh Honan,
Fiona O'Dwyer, John Hanrahan,
Trudi van der Elsen.
1. 'Hand' - Accomplicen I, II,III, 2013
2.' Komplizen' - Ostrale 2013 - Dresden, Germany https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAjkxNgpX_0, 2013
3. 'ACCOMPLICES II '- in TETEM, Enschede (NL), 2014
4. 'ACCOMPLICES III '- in KunstenLab Deventer (NL), 2014
1. 'Hand' - Accomplicen I, II,III, 2013
2.' Komplizen' - Ostrale 2013 - Dresden, Germany https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAjkxNgpX_0, 2013
3. 'ACCOMPLICES II '- in TETEM, Enschede (NL), 2014
4. 'ACCOMPLICES III '- in KunstenLab Deventer (NL), 2014
1. FLOOR, Overgaden, Copenhagen - 'Transformation' detail (DK) 1993
2. FLOOR, Overgaden, Copenhagen - 'Transformation' detail (DK) 1993
3. 'Morningstar', Friesland Buitendijks Foundation Art Manifestos Ferwerderadeel (NL) 1996
2. FLOOR, Overgaden, Copenhagen - 'Transformation' detail (DK) 1993
3. 'Morningstar', Friesland Buitendijks Foundation Art Manifestos Ferwerderadeel (NL) 1996
1. Boom=Beeld,Foundation Art Manifestos, Leerdam (NL) 1994
2. Three Openings - Shadow Dance, Rideau Street, Kingston (CAN) 2002
3. TIME, Modern Fuel gallery, Kingston ON (CAN) 2002
2. Three Openings - Shadow Dance, Rideau Street, Kingston (CAN) 2002
3. TIME, Modern Fuel gallery, Kingston ON (CAN) 2002
1. Rianta, Ground Up Artists Collective group show, Ennis (IRL)
2. 'BOG', Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon (IRL)
3. 'Songlines', Mixed Media Installation, Punt WG, Amsterdam (NL)
4. 'The Power of Local,' Festival of art and culture in Ennistymon, Courthouse Gallery, Divised and directed (IRL)
2. 'BOG', Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon (IRL)
3. 'Songlines', Mixed Media Installation, Punt WG, Amsterdam (NL)
4. 'The Power of Local,' Festival of art and culture in Ennistymon, Courthouse Gallery, Divised and directed (IRL)
