The Drawing Box pop-up A5 expo of unframed works will be hosted by Inishowen Artists’ Retreat and Studio in Carndonagh, Co. Donegal from March 4 to 20, and will feature a selection of pieces from Fermanagh artists.

Launching on Friday, March 4 from 6pm to 7.30pm, the exhibition will be open to the public from 10am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, or by appointment.

Fresh in from Argyl, Scotland and a successful show with Anoushka Havinden, this prestigious collection of works has had a major physical global tour during 2021-22, featuring more than 322 drawings in all media by 90-plus international and national artists from the collective made before and during the pandemic.

This exhibition has been shown across the world in the following places: Cyprus (February, 2021); Athens, Greece (April, 2021); Germany (May, 2021); New Delhi, India (June, 2021); Lithuania (July, 2021); New Mexico, USA (August, 2021); Australia (October, 2021); Ghent, Belgium (November, 2021); Gronegan, Netherlands (December, 2021); Argyl, Scotland (January, 2022); Carndonagh, Republic of Ireland (February, 2022).

The show will then travel to Lithuania, New Mexico, Australia, Belgium and Netherlands.

The Drawing Box social media artists’ platform was originally established in winter, 2012, with founding members John Crabtree, Andrew Crane, Patil Rajendra and Diane Henshaw.

The idea of the group was to link artists within a national and international context who had an interest in contemporary drawing and global networking; the original Drawing Box expo went to archive and was gifted post-international tour to The National Irish Visual Arts Library in Dublin.

During the lockdown, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland awarded Diane Henshaw some emergency Covid-19 arts funding to administrate a video archive of studio visits with members of the group, and to curate touring shows to both Mumbai in 2021 and this major tour of international arts.

This programming during 2020/2021 has helped to give artists hope and some unique and unusual opportunities to be profiled internationally through the networks created as well as through programming being developed – such as ‘meet the artist’, online studio visits and exhibition experiences.

This exhibition will be hosted by local artist, Sinéad Smyth (Inishowen Artists’ Retreat and Studio, Carndonagh) featuring small-scaled A5 drawings by the 90 international artists made during the pandemic.