Celebrating 37 years of Boyle Arts Festival, the magnificent setting of King House is yet again the centrepiece for the Main Exhibition.
“As a gallerist it is such an honour to curate the 2026 exhibition ‘Visual Thread.’ The exhibition showcases 160 artists, with a concentration on painting, sculpture, drawing and photography.
It celebrates the richness and diversity of Irish art that has characterised the exhibition annually since 1989. The enduring legacy and scale of the exhibition means that artists have been selected from across the Island of Ireland, from West Cork to the Antrim Coast. ‘Visual Thread’ demonstrates the quality and integrity of the visual arts in Ireland.”
Paul McKenna, Curator
McKenna Gallery, Omagh
Click to view the Virtual Tour of the Main Exhibition 2026
Barry Feely Sculptor Award
This year the Feely family and Feelystone are proud to partner with Boyle Arts Festival to establish the Barry Feely Sculptor Award, honoring Barry’s life, legacy and enduring contribution to the arts. The Barry Feely Sculptor Award will celebrate and support the work of an emerging to mid-career sculptor, working in any medium, whose work is selected for exhibition in the Main Exhibition.
Annual Fergus Ahern Award
2026 will see the presentation of the 7th Annual Fergus Ahern Award. Fergus worked tirelessly to place the Boyle Arts Festival on a national platform, earning it a place as one of Ireland’s most anticipated and prestigious summer celebrations of the arts.
Click to view the Main Exhibition Art Catalogue
This year’s exhibiting artists
Brian Ballard, Ailbhe Barrett, Alana Barton, John Behan, Kirsty Bell, Marjorie Bloch, Cormac Boydell, Diarmuid Breen, Ken Browne, Cornelius Browne, Sue Bryan,
Veronica Buchanan, Sonia Caldwell, Anna Campbell, Steve Cannon, Cathy Carman, Barra Cassidy, Majella Clancy, Claire Clarke, Tom Climent, Michelle Conway, Elizabeth Cope,
Phoebe Cope, Garrett Cormican, Sian Costello, Malachy Costello, Gary Coyle, Catherine Creaney, Paddy Critchley, Aidan Crotty, Mark Cullen,Julie Cusack,
Fionnula D’Arcy, Colin Davidson, Debbie Dawson, Karen Daye-Hutchinson, Orla de Bri, Owen de Forge, Diarmuid Delargy, John Doherty, Mary Donnelly, Cathy Dorman, Ana Duncan,
Joe Dunne, Jason Ellis, James English, Simon English, Sinéad Fagan, Brian Fay, Fiona Finnegan, Martin Finnin, Michael Flavin, Martin Gale, Matthew Gammon, Michael Geddis,
Rowan Gillespie, Graham Gingles, Éacaoin Glynn lan Gordon, K.K. Godsee, Catherine Greene, Kieran Guckian, Guggi, Julianne Guinee, Karl Hagan, Pat Harris, Richard Healy,
Lelia Henry, Redmond Herrity, Stephanie Hess, Michele Hetherington, Patrick Hickey, Carol Hodder, Michael Hunt, Jonathan Hunter, Jenny Jessop, Vanessa Jones, Christy Keeney,
Maev Kelly, Josephine Kelly, Liza Kelly, Ger Kenny, Mary Theresa Keown, Peter Killeen, Stephen Lawlor, Miseon Lee, Daniel Lipstein, Padraig Mac Cana, Eileen MacDonagh, James MacKeown,
Jenny Mahony, Selma Makela, Susan Mannion, Clement McAleer, Shauna McCann, Brian McDonagh, Cathal McGinley, Laura McMorrow, Margo McNulty, Manar Mervat Al Shoula, Ed Milano, Tim Millen, Sean Molloy,
Hannah Mooney, Yvonne Moore, Jeffrey Morgan, Tim Morris, Julie Murphy, Oliver Murphy, Olivia Musgrave, Leonora Neary, Sinead Ni Mhaonaigh, Adrian O’Carroll Conor O’Connell, Helen O’Connell, Mary O’Connor, Mick O’Dea
Hughie O’Donoghue, Will O’Kane, Elizabeth O’Kane, Kate Oram, Amy O’Riordan, Jack Pakenham, Cilla Patton, Rae Perry, Michael Quane, Ann Quinn, Martha Quinn,
Barbara Rae, Eddie Rafferty, Alan Raggett, Patrick Redmond, Jacqui Devenney Reed, Laurence Riddell, Yasmin Robinson, Mark Rode, Cara Rose, Robert Russell, Robert Ryan, Frances Ryan, Charlie Scott, Julie Scott, Mark Shields, Gareth Shiels,
John Shinnors, Fiona Smith, David Stephenson, Cameron Stewart, Martha Still, Stephen Taylor, Donald Teskey, Christine Thery, Vadim Tuzov, Lorcan Walshe, Catherine Ward, Grainne Watts, Chris Wilson, Diarmuid Woodcock.
Boyle Arts Festival Graduate Award / Belfast School of Art Graduate Award 2026 winners Martha Still and Claire Clarke.
The Main Exhibition at Boyle Arts Festival is a curated programme by invitation only for professional visual artists. If you are an artist considering exhibiting at Boyle Arts Festival, please click for full Terms & Conditions.
Boyle arts Festival adheres to the Arts Council of Ireland’s policy on fair and equitable renumeration and contracting of artists. See Policy here.
