James Wellwood & Mary Moorkens
Between Two Fields
James Wellwood & Mary Moorkens
05 January – 02 March 2026
Daróg Wine Bar
Between Two Fields is the first exhibition of 2026 at Daróg and our first joint exhibition, bringing together the work of James Wellwood and Mary Moorkens.
Though working in different materials, both artists are deeply rooted in the land. James paints from lived experience on a family farm — familiar paths revisited over time, shaped by memory, solitude and belonging. Mary works through stitch, drawing on folklore, wildlife and the quiet details of Irish fields, using vintage textiles and slow hand embroidery to carry stories across generations.
The exhibition sits in the space between these two practices: domestic farming and wild habitats, paint and thread, the seen and the remembered. There is contrast here, but also a shared attentiveness — to place, to time, and to the small moments that hold meaning.
This exhibition runs from Monday 5 January to Monday 2 March 2026.
Mary Moorkens
Mary Moorkens is a Dublin-based textile artist. She works primarily with hand embroidery, drawn to the rhythm of stitching, the texture of thread, and the untold stories held in vintage and antique textiles.
Vintage fabrics, antique lace and natural dyeing often form the background to her work. Mary embroiders flowers, birds and small creatures onto layered textiles, celebrating the Irish love of the natural world and its folklore. She also works with vintage portrait photography, adding stitched narratives to images that spark new stories.
Mary is a graduate of NCAD Dublin and previously worked for many years as a graphic designer — a connection that can be seen clearly in the structure and composition of her textile work. Her art has been exhibited throughout Ireland, Europe and the USA, and frequently alongside other art forms, reinforcing the place of textile art within the wider contemporary art world.
“The folklore of country fields is in the detail and the memory is in the land.
This small stitch collection celebrates the Irish love of the natural world and its rich history.
Made with traditional slow hand stitching, it explores the small stories that link across generations.
From nesting and vantage points, in hawthorn and bracken, small creatures are the magic of the countryside.
It is exciting to exhibit alongside James whose inspirational paintings are so deeply rooted in the land.”
James Wellwood
James Wellwood (b. 1999) is a Kilkenny/Galway-based visual artist. He graduated from Limerick School of Art and Design (TUS) in 2024 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Painting.
Working primarily with oils and gouache, alongside mould-making and casting processes, James approaches his practice as a site-specific visual diary. His work responds to places of personal significance, exploring themes of memory, nostalgia, isolation and perception of space.
This body of work centres on the farm where he grew up, revisited through different stages of life. Evening walks become moments of reflection and documentation. Familiar rural scenes slip toward the surreal — comforting yet strange — revealing hidden narratives tied to belonging, cultural memory and time.
Figures are largely absent, but traces of human presence remain. Numbered and unframed, the works are intended to be viewed in sequence, forming a continuous visual diary.
James has exhibited nationally and internationally, including The Hunt Museum and Ormston House (Limerick), Outset Gallery and 126 Artist-Run Gallery (Galway), GOMA (Waterford), and iP12 House (Chania, Crete). He is currently an Orbital Studio member at Engage Art Studios, Galway.
“These paintings come from walking the same rural paths on the family farm over many years, returning to the same places with a different sense of time. The work reflects my ongoing relationship with landscape, memory, and belonging in a place that has deeply shaped my identity.”
Curatorial Note – Edel Lukács
I was drawn to both the similarities and the contrasts in James and Mary’s work.
Both respond to nature, but from different positions — James from the intimacy of domestic farming, Mary from the margins where wildlife, folklore and memory gather. The juxtaposition of paint and stitch, permanence and fragility, makes space for a quieter conversation about land, care and inheritance. Together, the works hold tension and tenderness in equal measure.
As part of Between Two Fields, join Mary Moorkens, James Wellwood, and Edel Lukács for Le Chéile: An Evening of Creative Conversation. Monday 26 January | 7pm–9pm | €20pp. Booking Essential.
