The Buildings
Cultural Buildings
Backwater Artists Group, Cork Printmakers, CIT Wandesford Quay Gallery
Contact Details
| Address | Backwater Artists Group, Cork Printmakers, CIT Wandesford Quay Gallery, Wandesford Quay, Cork |
| Telephone | 021 - 4961002 |
| Opening Hours | 10 a.m. - 12 noon |
The CIT Wandesford Quay Gallery, also part of the complex, will also be open on Cork Heritage Open Day with a special exhibition on the Cork Month of Craft.
The Backwater Studios, Cork Printmakers and CIT Wandesford Quay Gallery are located on Wandesford Quay set back from the road and accessed through the courtyard. It is a significant warehouse building on one of Cork’s primary quaysides, which has been sympathetically converted and extended by Jack Coughlan architects.
Interesting architectural features include limestone and sandstone walls to main and rear blocks, a hoist canopy to front elevation with camber-headed loading doors to each floor on front elevation. This three-bay, four-storey warehouse was originally built circa 1840. Its first use was as a grain store probably for the nearby distillery. It was then used as a timber yard and went on to become Coleman’s Printers. It is currently in use as an art gallery, artist studios and a fine art print workshop.
The Backwater Artists Group is one of the largest artists-led studio groups in Ireland, with 28 studios and over 30 artists working from the complex. They are open to the public for Cork Heritage Day, Cork Culture Night and for guided tours, artist’s talks and exhibitions during our annual Open Studio Event, in November. An exhibition of works by Brigid Delahunty is available to view on the first floor.
Cork Printmakers is an open access fine art print workshop for professional artists, offering facilities in etching, photo intaglio, screen print, digital, lithography and relief printing. The workshop also run printmaking courses for adults and facilitates education programmes for schools and special events. Visitors are welcome to visit the 2nd floor print display room.
The CIT Wandesford Quay Gallery, also part of the complex, will also be open on Cork Heritage Open Day with a special exhibition on the Cork Month of Craft.
The building retains much of its original fabric, as well as a sense of its original scale and form. It is important for its location, its successful conservation and re-use, and as one of a group of surviving industrial buildings in Cork City.