New Leitrim exhibition explores what survives in the boglands
Leitrim-based artist Lindsay LeBlanc explores the strange life of abandoned objects through glass and installation art
A new exhibition at the Leitrim Sculpture Centre in Manorhamilton is inviting visitors to step into the haunting ecology of the Leitrim borderlands through glass, sculpture, sound and archival material. The Long Pause: Ecology of Ruins I by multidisciplinary artist Lindsay LeBlanc officially opened on Friday, April 24 and continues until May 23.
The four-room installation explores a blanket bog in Kiltyclogher on the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland, examining the landscape as a living archive shaped by memory, survival and time. Working with reclaimed materials, foraged glass, moving image and sound, LeBlanc traces the strange continuity of abandoned and discarded objects scattered across the bogland landscape — from buckets and bottles to trailers and rusting axles.
The Leitrim-based artist said her practice is rooted in paying close attention to the places she inhabits and the ecosystems that surround them. Using glass as her primary medium, LeBlanc explores what survives within landscapes and how environments quietly preserve traces of human presence over generations.
The exhibition presents the bog not as a dead or forgotten place, but as a living system constantly transforming under pressure, decay and growth. Originally from the United States, LeBlanc has worked with glass since 2009 and specialises in glassblowing, kiln-forming, flameworking, casting and large-scale installation work.
She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Art and Ecology from the Burren College of Art and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture and Glass from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Her work has earned international recognition, including the Jutta Cuny-Franz Talent Prize and the Sculpture in Context Goodbody Award, with exhibitions staged across Europe and the United States.
LeBlanc also serves on the board of the Glass Society of Ireland and has recently expanded her curatorial work through projects at the National Botanic Gardens. The Long Pause: Ecology of Ruins I runs at at The Leitrim Sculpture Centre in Manorhamilton until May 23. The gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday from 11am to 1pm and 1.30pm to 4pm.