Tea Houses | 14–21 March 2026
In partnership with Butler Gallery, the Tea Houses presents Reading Room: I Took a Hammer in My Hand, a week-long public reading room curated by Rachel Botha and artist Jan McCullough as part of the artist’s current exhibition.
The Tea Houses will feature books from the artist’s collection – including the 1973 ‘Women’s Build-It and Fix-It Handbook’ which the exhibition is named after – alongside maquettes, manuals, zines, films and local publications about woodworking, DIY culture, labour, class, gender and domesticity. Research materials can be perused on a newly commissioned communal table, inspired by the furniture factory and workshop Callaghan & Connolly, once located just metres from the Tea Houses, where Dunnes Stores now stands.
This is a free event and all are welcome to attend, read, and reflect.
Join us for the opening on Saturday 14 March, 11.00–13.00.
Generously supported by Arts Council Ireland Project Award, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny Arts Office and Kilkenny County Council.
Opening Hours:
Tuesday–Saturday: 10.00–17.00
Thursday (Late Night): 10.00–20.00
Sunday: 11.00–17.00
📷 Design by Alex Synge First47
Detail of photographic illustration from ‘Joinery (Teach Yourself Series): A Practical Guide to Woodworking’, by T. O. Howard (1951).
https://www.butlergallery.ie/whats-on/reading-room
Support Structures: Zine-making Workshop
Sunday 15 March, 18.00 – 19.30
Very Limited Capacity, book via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/support-structures
Join curator Rachel Botha and artist Ameila Caulfield for an evening of readings and zine-making that reflect on ideas surrounding the concept ‘support structures’ as inspired by artist Celine Condorelli’s book. We’ll be looking at the aesthetics of instruction manuals as we elaborate on some of the themes that emerge, producing a zine using the in-house photocopier. This workshop celebrates the Tea Houses’ unique history as a public site of gathering, hospitality and communal exchange.
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Amelia Caulfield is a socially engaged artist, filmmaker, and facilitator from Kilkenny, based in Dublin. Her practice explores divergent methods of relationality, communication and collaboration. Working through participatory methods, film, publications and facilitation, she invites people to notice the patterns that shape everyday interactions and experiment with new ways of relating. Amelia is currently undertaking an MFA in Media at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and has an MA in Social Practice and the Creative Environment from TUS. She has facilitated creative programmes at the National Gallery of Ireland and her work has been supported by IMMA and ArtLinks.
Design by Alex Synge, First47. Detail of photographic illustration from Joinery (Teach Yourself Series): A Practical Guide to Woodworking, by T. O. Howard (1951).
Tea Break: Storytelling Event
Friday 20 March, 18.00 – 19.00
Very Limited Capacity, book via Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/tea-break-storytelling
Join us for an evening of storytelling with curator Rachel Botha, artist Jan McCullough, historian Ann Tierney from the Kilkenny Archaeological Society and special guests. Reflecting on Callaghan & Connolly, a workshop and furniture factory that operated for over 100 years, located where Dunnes Stores now stands, metres from the Tea Houses – retelling tales of apprentices in the city, life in the workshop and the characters who passed through it.
Design by Alex Synge, First47. Detail of photographic illustration from Joinery (Teach Yourself Series): A Practical Guide to Woodworking, by T. O. Howard (1951).
Generously supported by Arts Council Ireland Project Award, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny Arts Office and Kilkenny County Council.
