Yeats Thoor Ballylee Society supported by Galway Culture Company have announced the artists selected for their 2024 residency programme. Two-week residencies take place at the Studio at Thoor Ballylee in July and September, featuring artists known for distinguished work and open to providing workshops and public events.

July’s residency will welcome Kara Griffin, a children’s book author from Prince Edward Island, Canada. Her writing celebrates the beauty and wonder of the natural world. Books include The Sea That Sings To Me, and Flitt’s Call (about a species-at-risk). For Kara, stories for children often capture the wonder and magic of the world. Through her writing, she hopes to “inspire children to fall in love with and protect the natural world.”

Kara intends to spend the residency immersed in Yeats’s great literature and “spending precious time in a place that celebrates the power of words to shape and heal the world, and bring the spiritual and mystical alive.”

Susan Mannion will take up the September residency. Susan is a printmaker and copper enamellist based in Boyle, County Roscommon. Influenced by landscape and patterns in nature, Susan has exhibited nationally and internationally with her work being held in several public and private collections worldwide.

Before becoming a full-time artist, Susan trained as an archaeologist, specialising in medieval building architecture, a training which continues to inform her practice today. In her printmaking, Susan connects with the legacy and work of Elizabeth and Susan Yeats through the Dun Emer Guild and Cuala Press.

Residencies will include public events, activities and creative workshops. Details are announced via the Yeats Thoor Ballylee Society website and social media.

Chair of the Yeats Thoor Ballylee Society Anna O’Donnell said: “With the focus on writing, nature, visual arts and printing, these two residencies highlight the various talents of the Yeats’s family. We are delighted to bring contemporary artists and writers to this very special place to be creatively inspired, as Yeats once was.”

Thoor Ballylee Artist in Residence is supported by Galway Culture Company.