ARTIST Megan Luddy loves cooking and so set out to develop a more joyful visual language for Irish cooking.

She uses traditional craft methods of patchworking and Irish lace with painting and ceramics, but it's the textile work that dominates her exhibition currently on at the Cultúrlann. She wants to help us reimagine the patchwork history of cooking culture in Ireland, to  ease the painful cultural memory of famine, fasting, hunger strikes, institutionalisation and food insecurity.

The result is a joyful exhibition with yellow, red and blue dominating the narrative. Cooking with friends with darker undertones fills the space. The painting on fabric is enhanced by the stitching and Irish lace formed around some of the pieces. The blue and white of the ceramic pieces trick your eye to overlook the fact that some of them are actually oyster shells.

Luddy references a great debt to – among others – www.Duchas.ie  Schools, a collection of folklore which she draws on for inspiration.

In the Smoke of a Little Sugar by Megan Luddy is at the Cultúrlann until September 12.

Many people find some contemporary art difficult to understand, and when that happens to me I've found it useful to keep an open mind and go to artists' talks.

Colin Darke, who is currently showing at the Dillon Gallery at the Cultúrlann, will deliver a talk about his work this Saturday at the gallery at 1pm. Colin will talk about his previous practice as well as the work shown and will stress the important influence of Marxism and significant historical  events on his work. 

Iris McWilliams is one of the Belfast School of Art's global icons for their 175-year celebration and is currently being exhibited in Ulster University's exhibition space.

The textile artist's show – curated by Dr Cherie Driver – spans her life's work and shows the range and particular fabric obsessions at different parts of her life, from optical illusion quilts in black and white to the glorious colour combination of layered shapes  inspired by aboriginal art. A key organisational artist in all the art associations she belonged to at different times her career, her passion and precision are glaringly obvious in the exhibition, which is a rare opportunity for quilt lovers and textile enthusiasts to admire a full range of her work.

Iris McWilliams' The Threads of Witty Discernment is at the Ulster University Gallery, Block BC, York Street, open 9.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday.  

The next exhibition in the art gallery space will be Basil Blackshaw Selected Works, opening on Thursday, September 12.