Elida Maiques / A Playful River

Opening reception on Saturday 14 March from 2 - 4pm.

A river of pomegranate ink flows from Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray.

A Playful River offers an invitation to make art and learn new techniques. This interactive installation acts as Elida Maiques' temporary studio, where a durational drawing experiment invites participants to join the artist in creating a monumental drawing using handmade inks, alongside her willow work structures and practice as seed librarian.

Five workstations, Drawing, Seedheads, Willow, Compost and Humanbirdhouse, displaying Maiques’ ink paintings, a selection of her seed collection, vessels and brushes made with foraged and repurposed materials such as orange peels, deer hair, wool and willow and more.

On selected dates throughout the course of the exhibition Maiques will be working from this temporary gallery studio, with visitors are welcome to join her in art making, particularly drawing on a 20m scroll of paper, using inks made by the artist.

Join Elida in the gallery on the following dates, no booking required, drop in:

• Friday 20th March: 11am -12.30pm  - with Fridayfest participants
• Friday 27th March: 11am -12.30pm - Drop-in drawing
• Thursday 16th April: 10.30am-12pm - Drop-in drawing
• Friday April 17th: 11am -12.30pm  - with Fridayfest participants`
• Thursday April 23rd: 10:30-12:00 - Drop-in drawing
• Friday April 24th: 11am -12.30pm - Drop-in drawing
• Friday May 1st: 11am -12.30pm - Drop-in drawing. Bray Jazz musicians and crew especially welcome

Elida Maiques is a Wicklow-based artist with roots in Ixmulew/Guatemala and València (Spain). She works in the triangle where human communities, art making and wildlife meet.

Her work, often collaborative, has been exhibited internationally, with IMMA Earth Rising presenting her work in multiple occasions (2022-2025). She currently runs Climate Cafés with Mermaid Arts Centre and DLR Lexicon and collaborates with Instituto Cervantes. Wicklow Artist Award (2025), Transform Associate Artist of Mermaid Arts Centre and Seed Librarian of Bray Library (2022-2024), Agility Award of the Arts Council of Ireland (2022).