The Irish Workhouse Museum

The Irish Workhouse Centre is very proud to have recently hosted a selection of paintings by Killeen native Mary Conroy. The works had been created over the past 12 years and represent the first solo exhibition by the Fine Arts graduate. Mary currently resides in Cork but retains strong ties with her family in Portumna. Indeed, she attended Portumna secondary school long before she attended Crawford College of Art and Design (Cork) where she graduated with a BA in Fine Art in 2008, and a H. Dip in Art Design in 2010. The exhibition vividly showcases Mary's love of nature. Her oil paint depictions of sea splashed rocks show a perfect match of medium and subject. Sparkling light and restless waves brings life to the dark colours of her Irish seascapes. Vibrant watercolours glow with warm, welcoming shades that draw you into their country scenes. Detailed depictions of flowers show a keen botanical eye yet keep a fluid carefree style. This is not the first...

Heritage Week already! It feels like we've only just finished cleaning up craft supplies and tea lights after last year's events when it's time to get ready again.  This year National Heritage Week runs from 17-25 August with events literally in every county. The Irish Workhouse Centre has lots to offer with children's workshops, a Gaeilge Day and loads of free talks.  The theme this year is Pastimes & Past Times, exploring the links between history and hobbies. On Saturday 17th bring the kids to a craft session called 'Communicating in the Past'. The session is on at Portumna workhouse and run by local artist Paula Byrne  (cost 2 euro per child & booking essential).  Let the whole family explore the link between the ancient Irish alphabet called Ogham and Celtic tree-lore. For instance, did you know that we all have a tree linked to our name? Each child will craft their own special book mark to bring home. Start time is 12 o'clo...

A group  of Transition Year students, namely  Jessica Madden, Keeva Duffy, Maria Quinn, Cerys Porter, Shauna Fahy and Sean Power, have reached out to Portumna workhouse. As a group they  designed and painted a series of boards for the workhouse infirmary. Here are their own words about the project. "We got inspiration mainly from what life would be like if you lived in a workhouse.  The boards consist of four scenes which are now in the places where the original infirmary doors and windows were missing.  A family entering the workhouse The paintings tell the story of a person's life in the workhouse, from our own perspective. We decided to have a main focus throughout the works; a man in red. He became our main character in the story.  The first board shows him entering the workhouse with his family. We tried to depict the fact  that the family had no other option if they wanted a chance of survival.  Seperation scen...

Ireland's Eye, Howth by Tricia O'Neill The Irish Workhouse Centre is delighted to be hosting a photographic exhibition, The Martello Towers of Ireland, by Tricia O'Neill. The exhibition will launch on the 18th April with a talk by historian James Scully, an expert on Napoleonic fortifications. I managed to catch up with Tricia prior to the exhibition. After 20 minutes on the phone with photographer Tricia O'Neill, I realise that we should be talking about the history of Martello towers. Instead the stories come thick and fast. Did she tell me about the time an army officer had to back her car onto a small ferry because the ramp was too precarious? Or that it takes two seasoned historians to row out to Meelick Island? Or that in Boston an exhibition visitor doubted her photographs because of the beautiful light and he believed it rained in Ireland, constantly? Ireland's Eye, Howth from afar by Tricia O'Neill I soon realise that The Martello Towers ...

Shorelines has taken over Portumna. The festival has once again filled the town with lots of thought-provoking, quirky, and just plain enjoyable arty-type stuff. The Irish Workhouse Centre has not been spared and we are delighted to be jam packed with delicious art in all shapes and forms. Once again we are all reminded what a great gallery space the workhouse is, and for those of you who wonder how cultural events fit in with the history of this site, here is some food for thought. The workhouse was originally meant to provide help and support to their immediate localities. They failed massively in this duty of care, but we can now readdress this balance using the same site. Heritage spots like ourselves, can and should be embedded in their local communities, providing something for everyone. Let's not keep making the mistakes of the past. Arts are the succour of the soul. The most heart-rending fact I learnt from tour guiding at the workhouse is that paupers, tho...