News

Sculpture at Doddington

I am delighted to be exhibiting several of my Torsos at the popular Sculpture Exhibition at Doddington Hall. The stunning walled gardens and romantic wild gardens provide the perfect setting for over 300 works of art made by 60 Sculptors from across the UK and beyond.

Curators David Waghorne and Kate McGovern have carefully selected national and international sculptors to complement each area of the garden and to provide an eclectic exhibition to suit all tastes, styles and budgets. A large indoor gallery located in the Stable Yard will exhibit a captivating variety of smaller-scale pieces.

Almost every piece in the exhibition is for sale, an investment which will bring enjoyment to your home or garden for many years and will help to support the career of the sculptor.

I am honoured to feature on AATONAU,  a platform dedicated to celebrating and promoting talented artists worldwide, in May 2025.

Excerpt: 

Eleanor Swan’s artistic journey is one of transformation, resilience, and an unshakable need to tell stories through her work. Hailing from Ireland, she operates as a full-time ceramic artist from her studio at Russborough House, a stately home nestled in the shadow of the Wicklow Mountains. The historical grandeur of the house, along with its lush surroundings, serves as both inspiration and backdrop for her creative process. Yet, Swan’s path to becoming an artist was anything but conventional.

Growing up in the 1970s, she faced limited career opportunities as a young woman. Art was dismissed as an impractical pursuit, and her father insisted she find a “proper job.” She became a nurse, dedicating 25 years to the profession, eventually managing the emergency operating theatre in a major Dublin hospital. While she excelled in the field and found fulfillment in caring for others, a sense of absence lingered—a creative void she had yet to fill. It wasn’t until she experienced a period of illness that she confronted a life-altering question: If I were to die tomorrow, what would I regret most? The answer was immediate—never having pursued art.

Read the full piece here: Eleanor Swan: Shaping Stories in Clay and Chaos - AATONAU

Made in Wicklow has collaborated with Powerscourt for a month-long celebration of craft, creativity and film in February 2025.

Listen: Ceramicist Eleanor Swan speaks to the inspiration behind her sculpture 'Symbiosis: A Delicate Balance'. 

This exhibition explores the different paths the Artists have taken, in their lives and their Art practices, and as a Collective of Multidisciplinary Artists. 

Visitors to the exhibition may scan a QR code which will play a recording of sounds, from nature or spoken word, that influenced the Artist in the creation of the piece of art. 

Sult Artist Collective will exhibit at Cahir Arts, Wednesday 5th June to Saturday 13th July. The exhibition opens on Friday, 7th June from 6pm. Enquiries to Siobhán cahirarts@gmail.com ph. +353 89 203 6096.

Image:  Eleanor Swan and Mary McGrath, Sult Collective members, with Mary’s artwork ‘The Miracle of the Cloak and other scenes from the Life of Brigid of Kildare’. Photo by Michael Donnelly 

Article:  Kildare Nationalist — Kildare town will become an open air art gallery to celebrate Brigid 1500 | Kildare Nationalist (kildare-nationalist.ie) 

Kildare Town will transform into an open air art gallery, when more than 20 local businesses will exhibit 60 works of international and national art in their windows as part of the Brigid 1500 celebrations in the new year. This uniquely accessible art exhibition titled “Unravelling an Icon, Celebrating and Remembering Brigid and her Legacy,” was organised by Sult Artist-led Collective based in Kildare, to reflect the traditions, customs and symbols associated with Brigid’s legacy, to mark the 1500th anniversary of the death of Brigid in February 2024.  

Following an international open call in May this year, 215 pieces of art were submitted by artists from all over the world including England, Wales, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Ethiopia, Australia, Japan, Canada, USA and New Zealand as well as from across Ireland. 

“The huge number of entries blew us away - it really shows the international reach of Brigid. Our team at Sult had the difficult task of shortlisting the entries down to 50. Fortunately we had invaluable help from a member of Co. Kildare Arts Service as well as a curator from IMMA.  The exhibition will also include works by our Sult Collective members. 

The idea behind the exhibition is to make art as accessible as possible and create more opportunities for people to interact with art. We hope the local community and visitors to the town will really enjoy the artworks and learn more about Brigid and her messages of inclusivity, generosity and the power of women,” said Pamela de Brí, Sult Artist Collective member.  

The exhibition will include paintings, ceramics, photography, film, sculpture, animation, printmaking, stitching, felting, weaving, digital art, stained glass, drawing, embroidery, mosaic, mixed media, batik and textile works.  

The exhibition art trail, “Unravelling an Icon, Celebrating and Remembering Brigid and her Legacy,” will be accompanied by a high-quality, limited-edition catalogue of the selected artworks and this will be available during the celebrations to mark Brigid’s anniversary. 

In addition, the local children from Ballyshannon National School and Kildare Town Educate Together are currently working with Sult Artist, Liza Kavanagh, on their interpretation of Brigid and their work will be displayed on a monitor in Southwells in Kildare Town.

Ann McKenna, Sult Artist Collective member, said: ‘Brigid has always been a unifying force and this exhibition art trail will bring businesses, the local community, national and international artists together to celebrate and mark Brigid 1500.

“The artworks will be displayed in windows to be seen from the outside and will be illuminated in the evening, so people can view the work at all times even when the businesses are closed.

“The unique art exhibition will give visitors and locals to Kildare Town an opportunity to enjoy the diverse range of work from all over the world that have been created to celebrate Brigid.” 

There will be a guide map of the exhibits available to direct visitors to each shop window exhibit.  The free Brigid 1500 Art Trail in Kildare Town will be launched at 4.00p.m. on Saturday 27th January and will run from 28th January – 18th February 2024.  

This project is supported by Brigid 1500 and Kildare Co Council.

Fancy Footwork Gallery gets new exhibition ready. Photo Dylan Vaughan for The Irish Times, 14th February 2023.

At the launch of LAND/MARKS, Brian Byrne, Gallery Coordinator, National Design & Craft Gallery and Suzy O Keefe, Head of Digital Communications, Design and Crafts Council Ireland were photographed with ‘Not All Streets are Paved With Gold’ a piece by Eleanor Swan.

Ceramics Ireland is delighted to present Land/Marks, the fourth in its triennial exhibition series. Continuing the ethos of celebrating the diverse range and breadth of contemporary ceramic work being created my makers of and from Ireland. Land/Marks will feature works that explore and challenge the material clay, investigating its malleability and pushing its boundaries.

This will be evident through a variety of sculptural forms, functional vessels and installation-based works. The independent expert panel of three selected 42 makers for this edition of the triennial series, which will celebrate the craftsmanship and skills of these contemporary practitioners. 

Eleanor Swan prepares her piece 'Not All Streets are Paved With Gold' for Land/Marks exhibition.

LAND/MARKS runs from 14th February to 20th May 2023 at the National Design & Graft Gallery, Co Kilkenny.

Irish Times, May 2022

An art exhibition by the ‘SULT’ collective in Newbridge commemorates political and social change in Kildare in 1922 and after.

Watch: 

Newbridge exhibition celebrates 1922 through art and history – The Irish Times