126 Gallery

Board of Directors

Members of the board of directors complete a two-year term at 126 Artist-Run-Gallery. They are professional creatives who give their time for free to keep the exhibition space open, to plan and deliver diverse and exciting programmes year in and year out. Democracy is fundamental to the way the Board of Directors operates. Your current board of directors are:

Rachael Ryan

Co-Director
Rachael Ryan is a Galway-born cultural strategist and researcher currently based between New York and Galway. With a background in ballet and a long-standing interest in the role of arts and culture in shaping community, her work explores the intersection of creativity, audience engagement, and cultural impact. Professionally, Rachael has spent over a decade working in research, strategy, and insights, most recently as Head of Research & Insights at TikTok, where she worked closely with creative industries, brands, and cultural trends on a global scale. Her practice is rooted in storytelling, audience behaviour, and understanding how people connect through culture and shared experience. Having spent recent years immersed in New York’s arts landscape, Rachael is particularly interested in how artist-led organisations can foster accessibility, experimentation, and meaningful community engagement at a local level. She joins 126 with a strong belief in the importance of sustaining independent creative spaces and supporting artists at all stages of their careers.

Yana Nungesser

Co-Director
Yana Nungesser is a Galway based visual artist and recent graduate from the Centre for Creative Arts and Media at ATU. Her work explores questions of consciousness, interconnectivity, and inner landscapes. Primarily working within sculpture and ceramics, her practice is informed by familiar elements of rural Ireland, both visual and behavioural. More recently her work is concerned with the act of quiet confrontation, empathy and activism in the age of digital takeover. Her work has been featured in the Clifden Arts Festival, 126 Gallery, and the Ceramics Ireland Botanic Gardens exhibition. She has been the recipient of the 126 Gallery Residency Award, the Mulranny Arts Residency Award, and the Ceramics Ireland Graduate Award, as well as being a longlisted artist for the RDS Visual Art Awards 2025.

Emma Jane Mooney

Co-Director
Emma Jane is a mixed media artist. She graduated with a masters in creative practice in ATU in 2024. One part of her work is creating small scale sets that depict fantastical textured worlds that can be used in stop motion animations. Emma Jane uses different textures and techniques, such as, felt, knitting, embroidery, and dyeing of fabrics to create environments that have a sense of haptic texture to connect to the viewers and add to the narrative of the story behind the animation. She also uses these techniques to create textile pieces using the colours and environments that she researches for her animations. Emma Jane is currently exploring the mixed media and textile sides of her practice in her studio in Barton studios in Galway.

Róisín Doherty

Co-Director
Róisín Doherty is a visual artist based in Galway, originally from Cruit Island in Northwest Donegal. She recently graduated with a Master’s Degree in Creative Practice from ATU Galway. She has widely exhibited both nationally and internationally, being the only Irish Artist selected during COP26 to showcase her work in Transmission Gallery, Glasgow. She is a recipient of the Youth Arts Explorer grant from the National Youth Council of Ireland in 2023, working with young people to combine local environmental knowledge with art therapy. She was granted funding by the Heritage Council in March 2025 to undergo a project on tangible and intangible Island Heritage. She is passionate about collaborative and accessible arts, having received funding from Galway City Council to plan and present a community artwork for Culture Night 2025. Róisín has a multidisciplinary approach to her practice combining drawing, painting, sound and photography along with found objects in her installations. Beach combing, sound recording and walking are essential to her work. She is interested in the connection and disconnection between people and nature. Roisin’s intricate and detailed work reflects the deep connection our ancestors once had with the environment.

Jamie Bigley

Co-Director
Jamie Bigley is a graduate of the MA in Drama & Theatre Studies (2018/19) at University of Galway. Their experience includes administrative and curational roles with Arts Care (2017-2018), an arts in health and social care organisation based in Belfast. In recent years, they have committed to expanding their knowledge and experience within the arts sector, providing programming support for Galway Theatre Festival (2023-2025) and as acting co-ordinator for the Vista Programme (formerly the Visual Arts Invigilator Programme) as part of the Galway International Arts Festival (2023-2025). They continue to build their own creative practice, investigating queer resiliency, intimacies, and care practices through the lens of performance; both as a solo practitioner and in collaboration with performance art collective Fite Fuaite.  Curated projects include: Vibrant Matter 126 Annual Member's Exhibition, co-curated with Hannah Daly, Brass Waterbed, a solo exhibition by Tadgh Ó Cuirrín as part of Galway International Arts Festival, co-curated with Emily Lohan. They are excited to share further curatorial projects in 2027.

Hannah Daly

Co-Director
Hannah Daly is a recent first-class honours graduate from ATU School of Design and Creative Arts. She lives and works as a Visual Artist in Galway City.

Hannah is primarily focused on painting and photography, with some form of manipulation happening within the making process. She is interested in the exploration of architecture by fracturing and disassembling the built environment and reconstructing its various forms. She is fascinated by optics and chooses to deceive the eye of the viewer by painting with vibrant patterns and colour which compliment and contrast one another.

Hannah’s recent exhibitions include ‘Next Wave’ and ‘OXO 2024’ at Outset Gallery, Galway—the latter earning her one of six artist awards. She has also shown work at 126 Gallery and Studios, participating in their 2025 Members’ Exhibition, ‘Ties that Bind’, as well as ‘Creative Connections’, a collaborative exhibition with Artspace Studios for Culture Night. Notable achievements include receiving the Residency Award with 126 Gallery and Studios and being longlisted for the RDS Visual Art Awards.

Hannah will present her first solo exhibition in August 2025, followed by a group show with fellow BACA Collective members in September 2025. Her work is held in both public and private collections.

Ciara Corscadden Hennessy

Co-Director
Ciara Corscadden Hennessy is a Galway-based visual artist and curator whose practice explores the ongoing impact of colonial and technological legacies and the systems of power they support. She uses artistic practice as a tool to examine how identity, memory, and embodiment are shaped within broader social and material infrastructures. Currently a co - director  at 126 Artist- Run Gallery and Studios, Galway Ireland,  Visual Arts Invigilation Programme Co – Ordinator for the Galway International Arts Festival and previously working with TULCA Festival of Visual Arts as the Irish Language Education Officer/ Oifigeach Oideachas in 2025. Curated projects include Fite Fuaite, a performance art event 2025, 126 Artist - Run Gallery and Studios 2025, included as part of Still we Gather in the Galway Arts Centre 2026. Anarchive, Artlink Fort Dunree, 2025 and  Pry, A solo show by Avril Corroon, 2026.

Advisory Board

The advisory board maintains the long-term memory of 126 gallery. As well as advising the Board of Directors on a range of issues, they actively advocate for the gallery to support its work.

Previous Directors

Location 1 – 126 Laurel Park – 2005

Austin Ivers, Ben Geoghegan

Location 2 – Ballybane Beg – 2006

Eileen Healy, Aideen Barry, Megs Morley, Niall Moore, Sharon O’Grady, Norma Collins, Martin Rochford, Aoife Cassidy, Linda Monks, Jojo Hynes, Jim Ricks.

Location 3 – Queen St. – 2009

Dave Callan, Alwyn Revill, Ann Maria Heally, Gina Ruane, Grainne McHale, Simon Fleming, Victoria Smith, David Finn, Jeroen van Dooren, Lisa Sweeney, Matthew Doherty, Allison Regan, Siobhan McGibbon, Zulaikha Engelbrecht, Anne O’Byrne, David O’Malley, Noel Arrigan, Tadhg Ó Cuirrín.

Location 4 – Flood St. – 2014

Anne Marie Mc Kee, Bernie O’Donnell, Katriona Gillepsie, Ramona Burke, Martina Finn, Cormac O’Neill, Shelly McDonnell, Marie Hannon, Martin Rochford, Helen Caird, Joan Sugrue, Carol Anne Connolly, Adriana Betancourt, Grace Mitchell, Marcel Badia, Eoghain Wynne.

Location 5 – St. Bridget’s Pl. – 2016

Lucy Elvis, Johanna Kavanagh, Louise Spokes, Gino Querini, Joanne Couch, Phil Foley, Cliodhna Timoney, Blaithin Hughes, Stephan Roche, Victoria Furey, Connor Robertson, Rita McMahon, Ronan Connor, Emma Zukovic, Meadhbh McNutt, Sarah Keenan, Simon Fennessy Corcoran, Tom McLean, Kaitlynn Webster, Emily O’Brian, Emily O’Flynn, Morgan Madison, Mary McGraw, Méabh Noonan, Liz Curran, Lindsey Merlihan, Sona Smedkova, Naoise Sheridan, Conor Burke, Vanessa Jordan, Kate McSharry, Amy Kramer, Eva O’Byrne, Emily Lohan.

 

 

Interns

In June 2014, 126 launched an internship programme in partnership with ATU’s School of Design and Creative Arts (formerly GMIT’s Centre for Creative Arts & Media). The internship is awarded to those who apply through an open call and runs for six months every year. Those selected have the opportunity to take on tasks and learn new skills, they then have the task of curating an exhibition in the 126 Gallery at the end of the internship.