This is my piece for the group exhibition Serendipity in Bologna, which opened on April 13th 2026.
All about the exhibition:
It began with artists from the RiSialto Bottega Creativa, who crafted a series of beautiful handmade pieces. These works were then passed along to picture-book illustrators from the Illustrators Guild of Ireland, who let their imaginations run wild and created brand-new illustrations inspired by them.
The result? A joyful creative conversation—full of collaboration, curiosity, and the delightful surprises that appear when ideas are shared and passed from one artist to another.
The story behind the exhibition is a little serendipitous too. It all started with a chance meeting at the Bologna Book Fair in 2023, when Illustrators Ireland visited an exhibition at the RiSialto Bottega Creativa. A friendly chat with the artists quickly turned into a connection… and the start of a special creative friendship.
For this exhibition, 29 illustrators were invited to respond to a selection of works created by 11 members of the RiSialto Bottega Creativa.
I was paired with artist Carolina Bertolini - Cicindèle ceramica.
Artists RiSialto Bottega Creativa:
Francesca Bono - Maye Sartoria - Locagiuliva - Irene Potente - Graziosaegarbata
Annalisa Bassi - Elisa Stefanini - Danijela Mirkovic - Cristina Kikupaper
Carolina Bertolini - Bianca Kaplan
Artists Illustrators Ireland:
Úna Woods -݀Tatyana Feeney- Tarsila Krüse - Sinéad Woods - Lauren O’Neill
Shona Shirley Macdonald - Seán Casey - Roisin Hahessy - Paul Nugent - Devika Oza
Margaret Anne Suggs - Martin Becket - Mark Hill - Lydia Hughes - Linda Fahrlin- Linda Byrne -Kerry O’Callaghan - Katelyn McKenna - Karen Harte
Jennifer Farley - Enagh Farrell Dermot Flynn - Clive McFarland -
Christina O Donovan - Caitriona Sweeney - Brian Fitzgerald - Audrey Dowling
Ashwin Chako - April Seddendorf
