Pennisula
From The Land and Others, Including the Dead, Pallas Projects/Studios, 2024
→ Instagram @emily.waszak.art
Emily Waszak is a Donegal-based visual artist of Japanese-descent working in sculpture and textiles. With a background in industrial weaving, her work is concerned with ritual, ruin and landscape. As a widow, themes of grief and loss are ever present in her art.
Waszak’s work has been exhibited in Ireland and internationally. Recent exhibitions include: Ancestors, Lovers, Kin, Southwark Park Galleries, London (2026); Faigh Amach, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin (2025); URGENCIES, CCA, Derry (2025); Thresholds to the Unseen, Solstice Arts, Navan (2024); The Land and Others Including the Dead, Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin (2024); Grief Weaving, Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny (2023); Shadow and Fold, Arts Itoya, Japan (2023); To Guide Shadows, Old Church Grangegorman, Dublin (2023). Her work was also exhibited in IMMA as part of the RDS Visual Arts Awards exhibition.
Emily Waszak
Solo Exhibitions
2026 Ancestors, Lovers, Kin, Southwark Park Gallery, London, UK
2026 Cailleach Dhubh, Regional Culture Centre, Letterkenny, Ireland (Upcoming)
2025 Enchanting, And Then What Sorrow, Courthouse Gallery, Clare, Ireland
2024 The land and others, including the dead, Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin, Ireland
2023 Grief Weaving, solo exhibition, Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Ireland
2023 To Guide Shadows, TU Dublin, Grangegorman Campus, Dublin, Ireland
2023 Shadow and Fold, Arts Itoya, Takeo, Japan
2022 Factory Trash, Culture Night, DCU, Dublin, Ireland
2016 Moon Obscured by Clouds, Japanese Film Festival, Dublin, Ireland
2015 Aizome, Japanese Film Festival, Dublin, Ireland
Group Exhibitions
2026 The Future Is Open, Solstice Arts, Navan, Ireland
2025 Faigh Amach, Temple Bar Gallery+Studios, Dublin, Ireland
2025 The Home That Held Us, Fire Station Artist Studios, Dublin, Ireland
2025 Soft Surge, Luan Gallery, Athlone, Ireland
2025 URGENCIES, CCA Derry, Derry, Ireland
2024 Thresholds to the Unseen, Solstice Arts, Navan, Ireland
2023/2024 RDS Visual Art Awards Exhibition, IMMA, Dublin, Ireland
2023 Gaffer Tape, PhizzFest, Dublin, Ireland
2022 Delineations Are Lines That Cut and Connect, 126 Artist Run Gallery, Galway, Ireland
2021 Eggs & Butter, glór, Ennis, Ireland
2021 Críoch, Site-specific Installation on the Royal Canal, Dublin, Ireland
2016 Talking in Circles, Seminar/Exhibition, A4 Sounds, Dublin, Ireland
2013 Spring Group Exhibition, Capi Gallery, Shimonoseki, Japan
Awards
W.J.B. Macaulay Bursary Award, The Arts Council (2025)
RDS Visual Art Awards Exhibitor (2023)
Artist Bursary, Donegal County Council (2022, 2023)
Visual Arts Bursary, The Arts Council (2020, 2022, 2023)
Agility Award, The Arts Council (2021)
Artist in the Community Research and Development Award with Create, The Arts Council (2021, 2016)
Residencies
Fire Station Artist Studios Residential Award, Dublin (2024-2025)
Askeaton Contemporary Arts, Welcome to the Neighborhood, Askeaton (2024)
Self-Directed Sculpture Residency, Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Manorhamilton (2024)
Artist in Residence, Arts Itoya, Takeo, Japan (2023)
Artist in Residence, Dublin City University (2022)
Talks/Workshops
2026 Ancestral Technologies of the Sacred and Profane, Southwark Park Galleries, London
2024/2025 Shimenawa: Threshold to the Sacred, Solstice Arts, Navan, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin
2024 Reclaiming and Reimagining Ritual, Common Knowledge, Clare, Ireland
2023 Textile Ecologies, TU Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
2023 Grief Weaving, RCC, Letterkenny, Ireland
2023 Ritual Objects, Ritual Imaginaries, TU Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
2022 Weaving is Not a Metaphor; the Soft Power of Textiles, TU Dublin, Ireland
2022 Ritual Objects, Ritual Imaginaries, DCU All Hallows, Dublin, Ireland
2021 Exploring Socially Engaged Art Practice, SCCAS, Sligo, Ireland
2021 Ballyogan Weaves, DLRCC, Ballyogan, Dublin, Ireland
2020 In Conversation, Angelica Network, Dublin, Ireland
2020 Remembrance/Resistance, Science Gallery, Dublin Ireland
2020 Art, Activism and Representation, Irish Writers Centre, Dublin, Ireland
2020 Art, Activism and Representation, A4 Sounds, Dublin, Ireland
2019 Art, Activism and Representation, Create Networking Day, Cork, Ireland
2017 Indigo Shibori Dyeing Master Class, Print Block, Dublin, Ireland
2016 Japanese Tea Ceremony Workshop, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Ireland
2016 Indigo Shibori Dyeing Workshop, Dublin, Ireland
2013 WAYO Textile Workshop, Capi Gallery, Shimonoseki, Japan
Exhibition Mediation/Consultation
2024 Mediator, Ireland at Venice, Romantic Ireland, Eimear Walshe, Venice Biennale
2022 Consultant, The Red Thread, Kerry Guinan, The Complex, Dublin
Publications
2026 A Waulking Set: Meditations on the Fabric of Life, ACA Public
2025 Pliable Planes, The Visual Artists’ News Sheet, VAI, May/June 2025
2023 Grief Weaving, The Visual Artists’ News Sheet, VAI, July/Aug 2023
2023 To Guide Shadows, Exhibition publication
2023 The World as Imagined: Grief Ritual as a Threshold into the Unseen, Airmid’s Journal, Spring 2023
Education and Training
2023 Master of Arts, Fine Art (First Class Honours), TU Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
2021 IMMA International Summer School, Dublin, Ireland
2020 Create Autumn School on Cultural Diversity and Collaborative Practice, Dublin, Ireland
2013 Japanese Textiles Course, Fujino, Japan
2011 Master of Textiles, NC State University, College of Textiles, NC, USA
2004 Bachelor of Arts, Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Associations
The Arts Council Peer Panel
Praxis- The Artists' Union of Ireland
Japanese Tea Ceremony of Ireland