Nell Regan & Cathy Henderson / Thirty-Six Views of the Sugarloaf

Opening Reception & Book Launch
6-8pm Friday 8 May
Join us for this reception to mark the opening of the exhibition and the publication of Nell Regan’s new poetry collection, Thirty-Six Views of the Sugarloaf which will be launched by poet by poet Moya Cannon. All welcome.

About
Inspired by 19th century artist Hokusai’s celebrated wood block prints of Mount Fuji, and early Japanese poetry, this collaboration between poet Nell Regan and late artist Cathy Henderson offers images of the iconic Wicklow mountain by Henderson, with letterpress prints of Regan’s words by Mary Plunkett, marking the publication of Regan’s new poetry collection, Thirty-Six Views of the Sugarloaf (Arlen House, 2026).

Regan and Henderson began this joint project over 10 years ago, aiming to create a set of artworks and poems drawing on the landscape of Co Wicklow’s Sugarloaf mountain. Collectively the works would draw on the aspects, moods, archaeology, art and dinnseanachas of the mountain as well as ‘all those lives lived about the peak’, including those of the author and late artist. However, the project was prematurely suspended following Henderson’s death in 2014.

Two years ago Nell Regan returned to Sugarloaf to complete the poems and now, with the help of the Henderson’s husband, David Gregg, a selection of Henderson's Views are exhibited for the first time and presented here with Regan’s completed collection of poems.. These include artist proofs of huge woodblock prints, study photographs, earlier Sugarloaf paintings as well as print blocks. They give a glimpse into her process and the interrupted ambition of the project, presented here with Regan’s completed collection of poems.

Associated Events

6-8pm Friday 8th May
Exhibition opening and book launch
Join us for this reception to mark the opening of the exhibition and the publication of Nell Regan’s new poetry collection, Thirty-Six Views of the Sugarloaf which will be launched by poet Moya Cannon. All welcome.

11.30am - 1.30 pm Wednesday 13th May 
Nature Poetry Workshop with Nell Regan 
Inspired by Japanese poetry and the Sugarloaf (bring a favourite image/ story) 18+ Suitable for all levels.

11.30am – 1.30pm Thursday 14th May
Letterpress Printing Taster Workshop with Mary Plunkett
Join the designer and printmaker for a short introduction into this historic printing process. 18+ Suitable for all levels, materials provided.
€10, Book here

11.30am – 1.30pm Saturday 16th May
National Drawing Day workshop with Patricia Burns 
The Cork-based artist invites participants to engage in guided drawing in response to the prints of Cathy Henderson. 18+ Suitable for all levels, materials provided. Free, booking required

2-4pm Saturday 16th May
Nell Regan: Poetry Reading
Regan reads from her new collection, Thirty-Six Views of the Sugarloaf, (Arlen House). Presented in association with Poetry Ireland..

This is followed by Cathy Henderson: An Appreciation, where curator and art historian Catherine Marshall and artists Patricia Burns and Tracy Staunton reflect on the life and career of their friend and colleague. Chaired by Anne Mullee.

Nell Regan is a poet, non-fiction writer and translator who has published six books, recently A Gap in the Clouds: A New Translation of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (Dedalus Press, Dublin, 2021) with James Hadley. This is her fourth with Arlen House who also published her debut Preparing for Spring (shortlisted for the Strong First Collection, Glen Dimplex New Writers and Vincent Buckley Awards) and the biography Helena Molony: A Radical Life, 1883 - 1967, an Irish Independent Book of the Year. She has been a Fellow at the International Writing Programme, Iowa, a Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley and recipient of The Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Trust Fellowship, Arts Council Literature Bursaries and the Basic Artist Income (pilot scheme). She works freelance as an educator and literary programmer and lives in Shankill, Co Dublin.

Cathy Henderson (1963–2014) grew up in Northern Ireland before moving to Paris and then to Dublin to study at NCAD, where she graduated with a Masters of Fine Art in 1993. She exhibited extensively in the UK, Ireland, France and Canada.
Her groundbreaking portraits of City Council cleansing workers, Below the Surface, was opened at Mermaid Arts Centre in 2007, followed by Life Blood, portraits of hospital maintenance and technical support personnel. A member of the Blackchurch Print Studio, her solo exhibition of relief prints titled Migration, took place in 2011 in Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon Territory, funded by Culture Ireland. In 2012 her solo exhibition Shore, opened in Draíocht and as well as work on Sugarloaf and commissioned portraits, she was co-designer, with Robert Ballagh, of the 1913 Lockout Tapestry commemorating the centenary of the Dublin Lockout. Her work is in public and private collections such as National Bank of Canada, Queen's University Belfast, Bank of Ireland, the BBC and the Electricity Supply Board and she has been included in The Dictionary of Irish Biography.