Irish Times
February 3rd, 2026
Catherine Foley

A local gallery that opened in the Ring Gaeltacht at the turn of the millennium will celebrate its 25th year in business this summer. Joan Clancy Gallery is deeply woven into the cultural life of the area, closely tied to the region’s cultural events. The gallery is widely credited with putting contemporary art on the map in this part of the country, situated at the heart of the Gaeltacht on Ireland’s south coast, and with raising the profile of the creative work produced in the area.

Joan Clancy.    Photo by: RoseAnn Foley

It hosts regular exhibitions featuring artists of local, national and international standing, and presents various aspects of the area’s creative heritage.

Joan Clancy founded and runs the gallery, which sits on top of a cliff at the edge of Dungarvan Bay. From the gallery windows, the water stretches out across the bay — the particular light and space of the location ideal for displaying paintings.

There is no doubt that the spiral staircase climb to reach the gallery adds greatly to its magic and allure — to say nothing of Joan Clancy herself, a woman who once lived in Hollywood, California, when her husband Tom Clancy, one of the Clancy Brothers from Carrick-on-Suir, worked there as an actor.

“People come here who have never been to the Gaeltacht and they are surprised,” says the gallery’s owner. “They feel they’ve found some kind of Shangri-La.. The beauty and magic of the place affects them greatly… and the location of the gallery itself truly gets to them.”

The paintings regularly displayed here make clear how much the landscape of the peninsula and the west Waterford coast in general has inspired the artists shown. The results of that inspiration appear on the walls, whether abstract or representational: places such as Ballymacart, Helvick Head, Carraig an Oileáin, Dungarvan Quay, Na Gaibhne (rocks at the mouth of the harbour exposed at low tide), Gaibhlín an tSolais on the open coast of Ring parish, and Ballyvoyle — all committed to canvas by many painters, and readable in the titles of the works.

Oscar Wilde and John Betjeman
In 2008, Clancy highlighted the area’s connection to Oscar Wilde when she opened a show titled Wilde About Art. As was revealed at the opening, a woman from Dungarvan was employed as a children’s nurse by Oscar Wilde’s mother in 1859, when the family began coming to the area on holidays for several months each summer. Oscar was about five years old that year.

Among other cultural highlights, a group exhibition was held in 2019 to mark the 35th anniversary of the death of the poet John Betjeman, who had a strong connection to and great affection for the surrounding area. It was he who wrote the poem Dungarvan in The Rain. This local tie inspired the artists who took part and exhibited in the show, among them Andrea Jameson, Blawnin Clancy, Sinead Ní Chionaola, Ivan Daly, Ciara Gormley, Rayleen Clancy, Eilis O’Toole, John Cullinan and Noeleen Crossan.

Coláiste na Rinne and Dungarvan 800
In 2005, to mark a hundred years of Coláiste na Rinne and show the institution’s lasting influence on its former students, Joan organised a show titled Coláiste 100, a group exhibition featuring more than a dozen contemporary artists, including Sinéad Ní Chonaola and Joan’s two daughters, both artists themselves, Rayleen Clancy and Blawnin Clancy.

The year before, Joan organised an exhibition to celebrate her own home place, Dungarvan 800. Built around the artists most associated with the town, and with assistance from Waterford Municipal Art Collection, work by two deceased artists, Sarah Purser (1848–1943) and Power O’Malley (1877–1946), was hung in the gallery. Contemporary work by the distinguished artist Michael Mulcahy was shown, alongside other artists including Brigid Flannery, Wishy Martin, Bríd Ní Chionnfaolaidh, Mary Yorke, Rosemary Gaynor, Martin Quigley, Catherine Jane Ryan, Rayleen Clancy, Blawnin Clancy, Danny Cunningham, Andrea Jameson, Eilís O’Toole, Olive O’Callaghan, and work by the sculptor Seamus Kelly.

25th Anniversary Exhibition
At present, she is organising a commemorative show to mark the 25th anniversary. Many of those who took part in previous shows will return this summer for a new exhibition opening on 8 July. Work by 25 contemporary artists will be on display, this writer (who paints occasionally) among them.

“This is a unique opportunity to connect with contemporary Irish art — and with the richness of Gaeltacht culture — in a single visit,” says the gallery owner. A crowd is expected.