19th April, 2022

Crawford Art Gallery reopens after renovations

19 April 2022
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie

After a temporary closure of a month, Crawford Art Gallery reopens to the public on Thursday 21 April with a full programme of Exhibitions and Events

The short window of closure saw construction company PJ Hegarty working onsite to investigate behind the scenes of the almost 300-year-old building. The purpose of the Investigations, which were carried out on schedule, was to understand more about the fabric of the building in order to assist with the design and cost plans for the redevelopment which is due to begin on site late 2023.

The Crawford Art Gallery, a significant and much-loved visitor attraction, is now confirmed to receive visitors in time for the busy holiday making season ahead.

Commenting on the year ahead Director Mary McCarthy had this to add

‘We are relieved to have phase 1 of the investigations work complete, which went really smoothly thanks to the expert team from PJ Hegarty’s and the collaboration with the OPW. It was a fascinating process seeing deep into the building, below the floors and into the walls. The investigations will continue at the back of house areas for a further number of weeks as planned.

We are delighted to be open as we enter late Spring and Summer and have an exciting programme of new exhibitions opening Thursday including the hugely popular Zurich Portrait Prize in collaboration with National Gallery of Ireland and Botanica: The Art of Plants an exhibition on plant life that features many of our recent acquisitions.

We are reinvigorating our family tours and Sunday programmes and we look forward to having the public back in the building and supporting Cork thrive as a cultural city.

The Summer programme will be dynamic and participative with a significant Summer exhibition Meat and Potatoes – which explores food through art works over the centuries and brings together some of Corks leading food advocates for discussion’s and experiments’.

From April, Crawford offers a very diverse programme of exhibitions featuring the Galleries own national collection with Botanica : The Art of Plants and The Port of Cork Collection as well as additional contemporary exhibitions, SATURATION : the everyday transformed and the brand new Zurich Portrait Prize 2021 and Zurich Young Portrait Prize 2021. A showing of Jellyfish Lake by Dorothy Cross also features in the screening room.

Crawford Art Gallery once again welcomes the highly anticipated Zurich Portrait Prize to Cork and Munster, in partnership with the National Gallery of Ireland. Sponsored by Zurich Ireland, this is the third time the exhibition will travel outside of Dublin to Crawford Art Gallery, creating a wider opportunity for the public to encounter the remarkable portraits on display.

Visitors can also look forward to the return of popular free Tours , every Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday at 2pm and a vibrant Learn and Explore programme for schools, specialist groups and the wider community.

More about the Capital redevelopment of Crawford Art Gallery

In 2021 An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin T.D. and Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin T.D. announced that the design contract for the redevelopment at the historic Crawford Art Gallery was awarded to Grafton Architects. The overall plan provides for considerable investment through Project Ireland 2040 for the redevelopment of the gallery buildings over the next four years.

Cork-based construction company PJ Hegarty and Sons worked with Crawford Art Gallery and its design team lead by Grafton Architects and the Office of Public Works to carry out a series of detailed investigations onsite from 21 March to 21 April 2022. The investigations will inform final design decisions in advance of a planning submission which will be made to Cork City Council in late 2022. The Gallery reopens to visitors on 21 April 2022.

More about Crawford Art Gallery

Crawford Art Gallery is an Irish national cultural institution, dedicated to contemporary and historic visual art, located in a significant heritage building in the heart of Cork City. Offering a vibrant and dynamic programme of temporary exhibitions, it also houses a collection of national importance which tells a compelling story of Cork and Ireland over the last three centuries.

Originally built in 1724 as the city’s Customs House, the Gallery is home to the famous Canova Casts, gifted to Cork two centuries ago. Featured in the gallery’s collection of over 3,000 objects are contemporary artists Aideen Barry, Gerard Byrne, Maud Cotter, Dorothy Cross, Tacita Dean, and Sean Scully as well as much-loved works by Irish artists James Barry, Harry Clarke, Mainie Jellett, Seán Keating, Daniel Maclise, Norah McGuinness, Edith Somerville, and Jack B. Yeats.

An oasis of calm and tranquillity, Crawford Art Gallery is open seven days a week, free to enter, and a must-see for locals and tourists alike. Welcoming over 265,000 visitors annually, the Gallery boasts an award-winning Café in stunning surroundings, serving fresh local produce for which Cork is famous.

Opening Hours

Monday–Saturday 10.00am–5.00pm
Late opening Thursdays until 8.00pm
Sundays and Bank Holidays

Gallery: 11am – 4pm

Entry Free

For Café opening hours

www.crawfordgallerycafe.com

Upcoming Exhibitions