Danny Foley pictured at his solo show Beyond Eye Sea, 2026. Lavit Gallery, Cork. Photo: Brian Mac Domhnaill ©
Danny Foley pictured with his work at the MTU STEAM exhibition EARTH, 2025. MTU James Barry Exhibition Centre, Cork. Photo: Joleen Cronin ©
Installation view of A Tail of Two Section I, 2025. Photo: Seán Daly (c)
Danny Foley pictured at his solo show Beyond Eye Sea, 2026. Lavit Gallery, Cork. Photo: Brian Mac Domhnaill ©
Installation view of A Tail of Two Section I, 2025. Photo: Seán Daly (c)
Danny Foley, pictured with his work at the Graduate Showcase 2025 at MTU Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork. Photo: Joleen Cronin (c)
A Tail of Two, 2025. Stop-motion animation with sound - Duration: 6:40 minute loop. Purchased by Cork County Council & MTU Arts Office. Photo: Seán Daly (c)
Danny Foley pictured with his work at the MTU STEAM exhibition, EARTH, 2025. MTU James Barry Exhibition Centre, Cork. Photo: Joleen Cronin (c)
Two Places, 2025. Rear projected video onto a circular screen with reflective base & sound - 160 x 250 x 116 cm. Duration: 6:40 minute loop. Photo: Seán Daly (c)
A Tail of Two, 2025. Stop-motion animation with sound - Duration: 6:40 minute loop. Purchased by Cork County Council & MTU Arts Office. Photo: Seán Daly (c)
Installation view of A Tail of Two animation and drawings (A Tail of Two scenes II, III, and V). MTU STEAM Exhibition, EARTH, 2025. James Barry Exhibition Centre. Photo: Joleen Cronin (c)
RECENT NEWS
Danny Foley and Dr. Sarah Kelleher in conversation event, March 14th at 12 pm, Lavit Gallery. 2026.
A great turn-out for exhibiting artist Danny Foley in conversation with Dr. Sarah Kelleher. Thank you to everyone who came along and to Danny and Sarah for their revealing discussion about the artwork, its inspiration and the processes and challenges behind it.
The exhibition Beyond Eye Sea continues until 21 March, 2026.
Danny Foley is an Irish artist currently based in Backwater Artists Group Studios in Cork City. Foley recently graduated from MTU Crawford College of Art and Design with a First-Class Honours Degree in Fine Art. In addition to receiving the Student of the Year Award from Lavit Gallery, Foley has also received awards including the Backwater Artists Group Moving Image Residency, the Thesis Award and Sample Studios Network Award. His work has been purchased by Cork City Council, Cork County Council, Eli Lilly, and the MTU Arts Office. Recent exhibitions include GOMA Graduate Exhibition (Waterford, 2026), EARTH (James Barry Exhibition Centre, 2025), SPECIES (MTU Gallery at 46 Grand Parade, Cork, and Pallas University of Applied Sciences, Tartu, 2025), The Tale of the Norway Spruce and the Bark Beetle (1111 Gallery, Budapest, 2024), and TWISTER (MAMŰ Galéria, Budapest, 2024). Foley looks forward to another upcoming solo exhibition in Studio 12 (Backwater Artists Group, August 2026).
Dr. Sarah Kelleher completed her PhD on contemporary Irish sculpture in the History of Art department at University College Cork. She is the co-coordinator of the MA in Contemporary Art Practice at MTU Crawford College of Art and Design along with Pádraig Spillane and she lectures in modern and contemporary art history and theory at MTU CCAD in Cork. Sarah has written catalog essays for the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin and the Limerick City Art Gallery. In 2014 Sarah founded Pluck Projects with Dr. Rachel Warriner, an independent curatorial venture who have produced exhibitions and events for the Cork Midsummer Festival, the Experimental Film Society and the RHA.
Artist Talk: Drawing as a Shapeshifter. UCC Art History Society Guest Lecturer Danny Foley. UCC, Kane Building. March 11th, 18:00 - 19:00, 2026.
Danny Foley delivered a talk on the development of his art practice and progression as an emerging visual artist. Danny is a Cork based artist, who recently graduated from MTU Crawford College of Art and Design. Foley works across a variety of mediums to explore the role of the shapeshifter. Drawing influence along his process from biodiversity, folklore, and archival footage of himself in infancy.
Danny Foley began his talk by contextualising the concepts and processes he was exploring in his four years of art college, discussing how these developments led to the expansion of his practice outside of a college environment. This expansion of work led to his first solo exhibition Beyond Eye Sea, exhibited in the Lavit Gallery until March 21st, 2026.
Published in the Irish Examiner. Written by Marc O’Sullivan Vallig. March 8th, 2026.
Danny Foley: Rising star of the Cork art world
Danny Foley's exhibition at the Lavit is part of his prize for winning the Cork Arts Society Student of the Year Award
Few opportunities are as meaningful for emerging artists as the Cork Arts Society Student of the Year Award, which has been presented to a graduate of the Crawford College of Art & Design each year since 1967.
The award includes a cash prize of €1,000 and a solo exhibition at the Lavit Gallery on Wandesford Quay, and generally serves as a springboard for long-term professional careers. In 2025, the recipient was Danny Foley, a young Cork artist whose exhibition Beyond Eye Sea has just opened at the Lavit and will run until March 21st.
Featured in the Irish Arts Review Spring (March - May 2026) Issue.
Cork: Shapeshifter
Cork Arts Society Student of the Year Danny Foley’s exhibition ‘Beyond Eye Sea’ at Lavit Gallery explores the role of the shapeshifter as concept and creative strategy. Foley’s work looks at marine biodiversity through a personal, mythical and ecological lens, presenting shapeshifting as a playful process of making art.
Danny Foley: Until 21 March
Venue: Lavit Gallery
Dates: February 26 - March 21, 2026
Location: Cork
2025 © Danny Foley
