1st October 2026
Causeway Coast and Glens Arts Service recently supported a week-long artist residency by Joan Alexander at YARN in Ballycastle, which ran from 13th-19th September.
During the week, Joan worked on her project, Proof of Ghosts: The Postal Darkroom, while opening up the residency to local people. Visitors could drop into YARN, meet Joan, see the work as it developed and take part in creative activities.
Joan’s practice combines photography with other creative processes to explore memory, loss and our connections with people and places. Open studio sessions and workshops throughout the week gave visitors a chance to experience that work first hand and get an insight into Joan’s creative process.
The Arts Service supported the residency as part of its ongoing work with artists, creative spaces and communities across the Causeway Coast and Glens. While much of the Arts Service programme takes place at both Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart and Roe Valley Cultural and Arts Centre, Limavady, workshops and projects are also happening in towns and villages throughout the Borough.
There’s plenty coming up this autumn.
In Ballycastle, poet Moyra Donaldson will lead Poetry of Place at Sheskburn House on 16 October. The following day, on 17 October, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Cathal McNaughton will deliver a Street Photography workshop with at YARN. Younger participants can get involved too, with the Not-So-Scary Halloween Art Club at Sheskburn Recreation Centre on 29th and 30th October.
There are more workshops planned for Ballymoney, Feeny and other locations over the coming months, with workshops including painting, glass and willow work for adults, alongside creative activities for children.
Joan Alexander’s residency is one of a number of projects being supported by Arts Service across the Borough this autumn, working with local artists and venues to bring more arts activities into different communities.
