Limerick Showcase 1

The first of two exhibitions to be held in the storied Istabraq Hall in the Council’s Merchants Quay buildings in 2026, this ambitious new programme aims to highlight and place a spotlight on the depth and quality of the arts in Limerick.

Rory Prout, Céline Mermier, Seán Healy, Melanie O’Rourke, Pamela Dunne and Seán Guinan will display works in this showcase, much of it created especially for this curated show. With the artists originating from Leitrim, Lyon, Tipperary, Dublin and Limerick, there has been a cultural draw and magnetism to this city and county over many years, and this cross section is a mere, but representative sample. 

We hope that by assembling these manifold artists, with different approaches and investigations, we will bring a fresh and exciting world of visual art to our local and visiting audience alike – enjoy!’, Carl Doran, Curator.

Limerick Showcase artist biographies

Seán Healy a 2003 LSAD Painting graduate has some fun with Limerick’s past and present in the style of Andy Warhol. Hopefully some of the studies I’m working on for Limerick Showcase One will carry across the enjoyment I’m having making this body of work. He was a member of Contact Studios in Limerick, and co-founder of F.L.P. (Fun Limerick Productions) in 2026.

Céline Mermier is an award-winning French visual artist and photographer based in Ireland. Named “Photographer of the Year” in Dublin (2024), her practice is deeply rooted in social and environmental commentary, bridging conceptual fine art with powerful narratives on identity, human freedom, and ecology. In 2026, she co-founded Artis Aura, a creative workshop network dedicated to visual experimentation.

Pamela Dunne is known for her dry point intaglio work, a technique she has described as offering precise control and a meditative slowness, alongside panoramic ink landscape drawings and a long-running series of self-portrait studies exploring identity over time. Her recent body of work, The Night Climate, turns toward darker, chiaroscuro-driven landscapes and self-portraiture, drawing comparisons to early 20th-century American realism and the unsettling atmospheres of Paul Nash’s landscape photography.

Melanie O'Rourke is a Leitrim-born artist based in Limerick and a member of Wickham Street Studios. A graduate of Limerick School of Art & Design and Chelsea College of Art & Design, London, her painting practice explores the emotional resonance of everyday experience through observed and remembered imagery. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, and her work is held in the permanent collection of Limerick City Gallery of Art and in private collections throughout Ireland and the UK. She was a member of Contact Studios, and is a current member of Wickham St. Studios in Limerick. 

Seán Guinan is a visual artist from Athlone and a graduate of Limerick School of Art and Design. His work consists of small oil-on-wood paintings that take landscape as a point of departure. Recurring motifs from his visual vocabulary fuse with unpredictable new arrangements in a loosely-knit, otherworldly narrative. Solo exhibitions include Platform Arts (Belfast), Luan Gallery (Athlone), Pallas Projects (Dublin), Limerick City Gallery of Art. He was a member and Director of Wickham St. Studios in Limerick.

Rory Prout paintings address experiences of remote or rural landscapes; of places visited and environments moved through while collecting images to work on in the studio. These works are made with oil and gesso on panel and canvas, but also with ash, chalk, clay and resin, increasingly incorporating digital and mechanical tools within a conventional painting practice. He was a member of Contact Studios and Wickham St. Studios in Limerick.