Artist Daniel Chester returns to Mayo with new solo show

Sligo-born artist Daniel Chester will unveil his first solo exhibition in over six years at the Custom House Studios + Gallery in Westport on this Friday, January 23. The show, titled “Thread Softly”, opens at 6pm with an official launch by Gallery Manager Katriona Gillespie and runs until March 1.

Originally from Enniscrone, Co Sligo, and now based in Dromahair, Co Leitrim, Chester has produced a new body of 17 paintings over the past 12 months. The works explore the rural Irish landscape, capturing the delicate balance between land, water, and sky, across Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, and Fermanagh.

In Thread Softly, Chester’s delicate brushwork and nuanced palette evoke both the resilience and fragility of native flora, shifting weather, and traces of human presence. The exhibition encourages viewers to look more closely to all living things and their relationship with the land that sustains them.

Chester is a visual artist with a Masters in Visual Arts Practices from IADT (2009) and a Fine Art degree from Sligo IT (2001). His work has been widely exhibited in Ireland and internationally.

He has been selected for the RUA Awards for the past four consecutive years and has received multiple bursaries from Leitrim County Council and the Arts Council.

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The Custom House Gallery will also host a group exhibition upstairs, “Through a Different Lens”, featuring the Carrowbeg Artists, a collective of artists with intellectual disabilities. Their work has been cultivated over 16 years with support from Mayo County Council Arts Service, the MSLETB, the Arts Council, and Pobal.

Exhibition Details:

Thread Softly – Daniel Chester
Dates: Friday, January 23 – Sunday, March 1
Opening Reception: Friday, January 23, 6pm–8pm
Venue: Custom House Studios + Gallery, Westport, Co. Mayo