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arts · Saturday 1 August 2026 · Various 
Origins 2026
At St Carthage Hall · Lismore, Co. Waterford
At St Carthage Hall · Lismore, Co. Waterford
Origins 2026 brings a selection of undergraduate work from Irish art colleges to St Carthage Hall in Lismore, running from Saturday, 1 August to Sunday, 16 August 2026. The show is presented by Lismore Castle Arts as part of its programme of smaller, project based exhibitions that run through the summer alongside the main gallery’s headline shows inside the castle grounds. It gives graduating and near graduating students from art institutions around Ireland a professional gallery setting for their work, years before most would expect one.
The exhibition gathers pieces selected from undergraduate degree shows around the country, giving Waterford audiences an early look at work by artists who are, for the most part, showing publicly for the first time outside their own college walls. Lismore Castle Arts has run its programme since 2005 under curator and director Paul McAree, and St Carthage Hall, a converted chapel in the town centre that opened as a gallery in 2011, is used specifically for this kind of early career and project focused work, distinct from the established international artists usually shown in the main castle gallery. The selection changes from year to year depending on which colleges and students take part, so each edition of Origins offers a different snapshot of what is coming out of Irish art education at that moment.
St Carthage Hall is in the centre of Lismore town in west Waterford, on the N72 road between Cappoquin and Fermoy. The hall is a short walk from the main Lismore Castle Arts gallery inside the castle grounds.
A visit to Origins pairs naturally with the rest of Lismore’s small but concentrated cluster of heritage and arts sites, from the castle grounds to the town’s cathedral. There is more to see in Lismore and across Co. Waterford.
Heading to St Carthage Hall in Lismore? Waterford has plenty more to see. Read the Lismore area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.