New Exhibition Marks 100‑Year Anniversary of Rockwell Kent’s Glenlough Visit

Donegal artist Kevin Lowery opens a major new exhibition at the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, on Saturday 3 October 2026, commemorating the centenary of American artist Rockwell Kent’s stay in Glenlough in 1926.

Titled “Land’s End – An Artist’s Journey to Glenlough 100 Years After Rockwell Kent”, the show presents a body of work developed over three years of repeated foot journeys into the remote coastal valley of Glenlough, one of Ireland’s most isolated landscapes.

Lowery, who lives in Bundoran and is known for expressive paintings of the Atlantic coast, aimed not to copy Kent’s images but to explore how the same terrain might speak to a contemporary artist. The creation process involved carrying paints, brushes, food, water and two large canvases across steep ground for ten to twelve hours at a time, with the physical effort influencing the resulting canvases.

During the project Lowery spent several weeks living in McGinley’s Cottage overlooking Port Bay, a site linked to Kent’s time in Donegal. Without electricity and using mountain water, he worked by day and reviewed his paintings by the turf fire each evening.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated hard‑back publication that combines Lowery’s paintings with location photography and reflections on the three‑year undertaking.

Source: Donegal Daily. Photo: Tuan Vy / Pexels.