{"id":11464,"date":"2026-01-29T11:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T16:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/?p=11464"},"modified":"2026-01-29T13:52:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T18:52:58","slug":"tether-irish-artists-in-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/tether-irish-artists-in-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"Tether- Irish Artists in New York"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Exhibition curated by Lisa McCleary featuring works by George Bolster, Helen O\u2019Leary, Martin Mullin, Mike Dowley, Lisa McCleary, alongside a work by Brian O\u2019Doherty\/Patrick Ireland. February 17th – 23rd, with reception on Saturday, February 21st from 2 to 5 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Press Release Tether<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curated by Lisa McCleary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exhibition Dates<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday February 17 – Monday February 23, 10 – 6pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drinks Reception<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday February 21, 2 – 5pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exhibiting Artists<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Bolster, Helen O\u2019Leary, Martin Mullin, Mike Dowley, Lisa McCleary, alongside a work by Brian O\u2019Doherty\/Patrick Ireland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curatorial Statement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tether brings together Irish visual artists living and working in New York, exploring the invisible lines that bind us across distance, time, and place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be Irish abroad is often to live in a state of tension: between departure and return, inheritance and reinvention, belonging and estrangement. A tether is not a chain – it allows movement, drift, and transformation – yet it holds. It suggests attachment without confinement, connection without stasis. For artists shaped by Ireland and practicing elsewhere, this tether is felt in language, memory, landscape, politics, family, and the body itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The works in this exhibition do not attempt to define Irishness as a fixed identity. Instead, they trace how it is carried, resisted, reimagined, or quietly endured. Some artists pull against the tether, testing its limits; others lean into it, allowing it to ground their practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set in New York – a city deeply entwined with Irish histories of emigration and labor – Tether<\/em> situates these practices within a global art context while remaining attentive to origin. The exhibition also honors the legacy of Brian O\u2019Doherty, whose conceptual rigor and engagement with language and space continue to influence Irish artistic practice across generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, the works in Tether<\/em> reveal Irish identity as dynamic and unresolved – stretched across geographies, shaped by migration, and continually rewritten through making. The exhibition offers a space for reflection on how we remain connected to what formed us, even as we move through new worlds, carrying those ties quietly within us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curator Lisa McCleary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lisa McCleary is an Irish-Australian artist who has returned to Ireland after a decade of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

living and working overseas in New York and Sydney. In 2018 she completed her MFA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Degree at Parsons, The New School, NYC. McCleary has exhibited internationally with<\/p>\n\n\n\n

previous solo exhibitions in Sydney, Mexico, Ireland and New York City. Since her return<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to Ireland in 2022, McCleary has been selected to exhibit her work at the Irish<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consulate, New York, the Royal Hibernian Academy\u2019s 193rd Summer Annual, Dublin,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ireland, the London Art Biennale, Kensington, London, and Manly Art Gallery & Museum<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trestle Artist Residency Art & Law Program Summer Painting Residency<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Vermont Studio Residency VSC Merit Grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, McCleary was included in The UK Sunday Times article \u201830 under 30: Ireland\u2019s most promising artists.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Exhibition curated by Lisa McCleary featuring works by George Bolster, Helen O\u2019Leary, Martin Mullin, Mike Dowley, Lisa McCleary, alongside a work by Brian O\u2019Doherty\/Patrick Ireland. February 17th – 23rd, with reception on Saturday, February 21st from 2 to 5 pm Press Release Tether Curated by Lisa McCleary Exhibition Dates Tuesday February 17 – Monday February 23, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11464"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11464"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11511,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11464\/revisions\/11511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gallerymc.org\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}