In October 2025, I returned to Cill Rialaig Artist Retreat with some of my dear friends I met here in 2019: Eoin Maclochlainn, Jacques Descoteaux, and Jean Sanders. For 6 years, through a pandemic, then grad school and more, I’ve been mentally here and dreaming of this return, so to finally be there again felt quite surreal—a blending of dreams and memories, perfect for the work I intended to create while processing the ancient landscapes, myths, and music of this place. With our new Cill Rialaig friends Fergal Dowling and Carol Anne McChrystal, we adventured through the Iveragh Peninsula together, finding Neolithic rock art and rediscovering the stone alignments of the Moonstones and Eightercua while surrounded by the ever-present wind, shifting rain showers, and reappearing rainbows. Eoin also wrote about our adventures on his blog: Scéalta Ealaíne
This adventure felt like the closing of a circle; a great return. In 2019, my initial residency here inspired me to let go of my daily life in NYC and to seek out landscapes that inspire me. This led to the life I lead now, full of adventures to remote residencies, creating artwork to share the experience with others. But on my trips, I kept in the back of my mind my goal to return to this place with the friends I met, where this chapter began. Finally being here again held a sense of peace and fulfillment. I had completed my goal to return, yet I realized this residency is only the beginning of my adventures here, and I plan to return and continue researching and creating artwork on the mythology embedded in the Irish landscape.
