As a platform for emerging artists in Ireland, The LAB Gallery is proud to present New Beginnings, an exhibition of seven recent female art graduates to mark this inaugural festival. All seven artists take a different approach to painting and come to their work at different ages and stages of their lives but share a potent potential energy as they emerge into their art careers. The beginning of February marks the Spring Equinox, when the earth begins to warm and prepare for new shoots. Imbolc, the Celtic festival on this day means the belly of the mother and the LAB has sought to be a site for nurture, to support artists to develop and grow their art practice. New Beginnings brings together work by Juliette Morrison, Karen Ebbs, Kym Tracey, Jessica Daly, Polly Maher, Sarah Beegan and Shannon O’Reilly, offering the viewer a chance to experience the energy, potential and promise of freshly made artwork as these artists launch their careers.

Speaking about the exhibition, artist and co-curator Karen Ebbs described her response to the call “To emerge – at whatever stage in life – one needs to shed all perceptions of certainty, to embrace vulnerability and to take a risk. After a period of gestation or incubation, what is then required is courage and resilience. The young sapling takes this risk when it is time to birth itself, to push through the bedrock.”

This exhibition acknowledges the power in the vulnerability of showcasing new work and bringing it to a public after a period of immersive challenges and growth in the studio. The artists' styles and themes vary, inspired by their life experiences and research but combined the experience feels like a celebration of paint, art and fresh starts.