Newbridge College Theatre, Newbridge, Co Kildare Until July 29

A Tribute To The Late Fergus Ahern

Boyle Arts Festival, King House, Boyle, Co Roscomon Until July 30 071-9663085

Cormac Boydell is an exceptional artist who has created a body of work that is unsurpassed in contemporary ceramics. He’s just shown at the Galerie de Don and the Centre Culturel Irlandais in France, and some of the work exhibited there will feature as part of his contribution to the Gerard Manley Hopkins Festival. His centrepiece, though, is a new group of six large dishes “drawing on the vivid imagery of Hopkins’s poetry”, including his “dapple-dawn-drawn-falcon” and “. . . in stipple upon trout that swim . . .” (pic).

The main exhibition of this year’s Boyle Arts Festival is a tribute to the late Fergus Ahern. About 70 artists feature in a huge show at King House. Fergus was the driving force behind the festival itself. His enthusiasm and energy turned the annual group exhibition, which he curated for 21 years, into a major, hugely enjoyable event.

He also did a great deal to promote contemporary visual art in the region, and was instrumental in building Boyle’s exemplary Civic Collection. A sad loss, and he will be badly missed.