Boghanna Báistí Beaga (Little Rainbows) is an interactive display for very young children created by artist Helen Barry and children from Holy Child Preschool. This exhibition has arisen from an artist-in-residence programme undertaken by the artist at Holy Child Preschool at Sean McDermott Street.
Opening on Thursday 26 June 2025
Boghanna Báistí Beaga is an interactive display for very young children created by artist and inventor Helen Barry. This exhibition has arisen from an artist-in-residence programme undertaken by the artist at Holy Child Preschool in Sean McDermott Street. This initiative is a partnership programme between North East Inner City (NEIC) and Hugh Lane Gallery, which ran from October 2024 – May 2025. The residency involved weekly sessions at Holy Child Preschool with three groups of children. Each month the children, their parents and early years’ educators visited Hugh Lane Gallery where they creatively engaged and responded to artworks and the gallery space.
The exhibition Boghanna Báistí Beaga is a vivid expression of the journey of the children, early years educators and families who have been playing and working together since October 2024 with artist Helen Barry. To an early years child nothing is an inanimate object, everything has a pulse and can stimulate the imagination. They think, feel and respond with every pore of their bodies. There is little separation between what is real and what is imagined, in their world everything is possible and nothing is exhaustible.
This artist-in-residence programme has allowed us to observe the child at play, at work and at rest. The rawness of urban facades and industrial inner city soundscape does not stifle their intrinsic desire for exploring, thinking and doing. We have curated a journey that has followed the ebb and flow of their lives. It has asked meaningful questions about and with the early years child. What kind of spaces and tactile environments can we offer to the early years child, that supports his or her inherently curious nature? How can we provide a platform for their voice? How can we best support their need to be themselves and not a version of who we want them to be?
This exhibition features the children’s work and selected documentation of the process of this wonderful project. We would like to invite you and your early years child (5 years and under) to spend time looking, gently touching, exploring and responding to the different things in this room.
Boghanna Báistí Beaga is the second iteration of our early years artist-in-residence programme with Helen Barry. The first artist residency and exhibition was High Expectations with Ozanam House Early Learning Centre. More HERE
In the gallery, March 2025
Charcoal on paper, a delightfully messy session
Building a city
The children giving Helen feedback on their session
Mum and daughter
