Burren College of Art

Burren College of Art Our mission is to be a hothouse of artists- reflective and challenging; remote and connected; at the confluence of cultures.

Registered Irish Charity (RCN: 20040697) Burren College of Art is an internationally recognised not-for-profit independent college specialising in undergraduate and graduate fine art education. We offer artists and art students from around the world time, space and inspiration within the unique environment of the Burren. The Master of Fine Art programme is accredited by the National University of

Ireland, Galway and is operated in association with the Royal College of Art, London and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Our undergraduate Study Abroad programmes, Summer School and Artist Residency Scheme also recruit internationally.

With summer giving way to autumn, the rhythm of campus continues to shift.New students have arrived and others have retu...
04/09/2026

With summer giving way to autumn, the rhythm of campus continues to shift.

New students have arrived and others have returned, studios are filling, and the college is settling into the quiet hum of a new semester.

A few moments from Orientation Week at BCA marking the beginning of another season of making, learning and life here in the Burren.

A huge welcome to all of our new and returning students.

As summer shifts, bringing cooler temperatures and changing colours, we look back at a few moments gathered from the Liv...
02/09/2026

As summer shifts, bringing cooler temperatures and changing colours, we look back at a few moments gathered from the Living Materials Garden here at BCA.

From harvesting vegetables and herbs for the campus café to growing and processing dye plants, running workshops with visiting Global Ecologies Studios groups, and building a growing library of natural colour, the garden has been a place of care, experimentation and shared learning throughout the summer.

With students now returning to campus, the garden enters another season of use and change.

Many thanks to for tending the garden over the summer and for sharing these photographs.

A small number of places are available for our four-week Artist & Writer Residency programme this autumn, with accommoda...
31/08/2026

A small number of places are available for our four-week Artist & Writer Residency programme this autumn, with accommodation available for selected dates.

Residents are given dedicated studio space or a writer’s desk, with access to BCA’s specialist facilities and the wider college community — all in the heart of the Burren.

Current autumn availability:
31 August–25 September
28 September–23 October
26 October–20 November

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

🔗 Full details and application information are available through the link in our bio.

For more than eleven years, Dr. Lisa Newman has been one of the people quietly holding so much of life at Burren College...
28/08/2026

For more than eleven years, Dr. Lisa Newman has been one of the people quietly holding so much of life at Burren College of Art together.

Joining BCA in 2015, she brought to her work a deep understanding of international study alongside her own practice as a performance artist, curator and writer. Across admissions, recruitment, marketing, registration and the artist residency programme, she supported countless students and visiting artists with extraordinary care and generosity.

As Lisa leaves BCA this August, we want to take a moment to recognise the commitment and energy she has given to the college and to so many people who have passed through it.

With gratitude from all of us at BCA — thank you, Lisa, for everything.

Performance images in order of appearance: Mnemosyne (Venice Performance Art Week Festival, 2016), photo by Lorenza Cini; Eros/Thanatos (Dartington College of Art, Totnes, 2007); Sweet Thing (Thurles, 2024), with La Pocha Nostra.

23/08/2026

MA graduate Grace McCaffrey speaks about her work and the ideas behind All That Is Tangled Will Be Unravelled, currently showing at Burren College of Art.

“I really enjoy the process of control and release that I get with watercolour, allowing the image to emerge...”

Responding to the discovery of the mass grave of children at the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, the exhibition looks more broadly at connected institutions and abuses of power.

Grace began making púcaí — mischievous spirits from Irish folklore — with the intention of creating 796, one for each of the children believed to have been buried at the Tuam site. Through a series of workshops, this act of making became communal, creating spaces for processing, conversation and what Grace describes as “a creative act of reverence” for the lives of the children.

All That Is Tangled Will Be Unravelled continues in the Barn Studios and Project Room until 28 August.

Come and spend some time with the exhibition while it’s still open.

To learn more visit the link in our bio under ‘Exhibitions’

A few moments from the opening of Two Singers One Song, featuring painting and drawing by Jackie Askew and sculpture by ...
13/08/2026

A few moments from the opening of Two Singers One Song, featuring painting and drawing by Jackie Askew and sculpture by Sheila Vollmer.

As Cherry Smyth writes in her accompanying essay, the exhibition brings together two artists who “re-situate painting beside sculpture, re-invigorating both, as if they have sat inside each other’s work.”

If you haven’t yet seen the exhibition, come and spend some time with the work. Two Singers One Song continues until 11 September.

Gallery hours: Monday–Friday, 9:30am–5pm.

Jackie Askew Sheila Vollmer
Jackie Askew
Sheila Vollmer

You’re warmly invited to the opening of All That Is Tangled Will Be Unravelled, the MA Graduate Exhibition of Grace McCa...
06/08/2026

You’re warmly invited to the opening of All That Is Tangled Will Be Unravelled, the MA Graduate Exhibition of Grace McCaffrey.

Through painting, installation and community-based workshops, the exhibition explores how unresolved histories persist in the body, landscape and collective unconscious, and considers how bearing witness and communal making can become reparative acts.

Opening reception: 15 August, 6–8pm
Exhibition: 15–28 August 2026
Barn Studios and Project Room, Burren College of Art

All are welcome.
To learn more follow the link in our bio.

You’re warmly invited to the opening of Two Singers One Song, an exhibition of painting and drawing by Jackie Askew and ...
01/08/2026

You’re warmly invited to the opening of Two Singers One Song, an exhibition of painting and drawing by Jackie Askew and sculpture by Sheila Vollmer.

Grounded in a shared language of abstraction, the exhibition brings their distinct practices into conversation through form, line, colour, surface, energy and rhythm.

Opening reception: 6 August, 6–8pm
Exhibition: 6 August–11 September 2027
The Gallery, Burren College of Art

All are welcome.
For more information, follow the link in our bio under ‘Upcoming Exhibitions’.

Jackie Askew Sheila Vollmer
Jackie Askew
Sheila Vollmer

Bog iron smelting has been practised in Ireland for centuries, and this week that tradition came to Burren College of Ar...
31/07/2026

Bog iron smelting has been practised in Ireland for centuries, and this week that tradition came to Burren College of Art through Irish Bloomery Iron.

Using clay furnaces, charcoal and locally sourced bog ore, Gwilym Stanley and Alan Doyle demonstrated the ancient bloomery process, extracting a glowing iron bloom before refining it under hammer.

Our thanks to everyone at Irish Bloomery Iron for such a generous demonstration of this remarkable craft.

We were delighted to welcome S.E.A. School to Burren College of Art for the first time this summer.During a workshop led...
22/07/2026

We were delighted to welcome S.E.A. School to Burren College of Art for the first time this summer.

During a workshop led by JD Whitman, students explored marine plastic pollution, the plastic life cycle and underwater sound, using plastic they had collected throughout their programme to co-create sculptures and an immersive underwater soundscape.

Thank you to Tasneem Khan, JD Whitman, the S.E.A. School team, and all of the participants. We hope this is the first of many collaborations.

Address

Newtown Castle
Ballyvaughan
COUNTYCLARE

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+353657077200

Website

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