To celebrate the arrival of spring, the National Gallery of Ireland invites you to take a closer look at a recent addition to its collection, The Plants We Played With, by Yanny Petters (above). Petters is a botanical portraitist from Co Wicklow and this work, which combines painting and drawing, evokes memories of childhood games like “whistling grass to sound like a pheasant or [blowing] the dandelion clocks to check the time.” To read more about Petters inspiration visit www.nationalgallery.ie.

On a weekend walk along the Grand Canal this weekend, look out for “One Lock Further”. This is a temporary outdoor photographic exhibition celebrating Dublin’s Royal and Grand Canals which has been unveiled at Charlemont Mall along the Grand Canal, Circular Line. Commissioned by Waterways Ireland, this is the ?rst of a series of outdoor installations featuring photographs by Dublin based photographers. This exhibition contains new work by photographer Allen Kiely, taken last summer. These works explore what’s to be found at Dublin’s outer reaches, along these stretches of water which link Dublin to the River Shannon and the Atlantic. The second exhibition, featuring work by photographer Therese Rafter, will be installed in different locations along the Grand Canal and the Royal Canal in the coming weeks. For those who can’t travel, the photographs are also available via Instagram on @onelockfuther.

This week there is an opportunity to get to know Irish artist Hugh Frazer, who is presenting unseen works online at The Doorway Gallery until April 14. Frazer works mainly in oil and his main subject matter is the urban environment, particularly Dublin, Belfast and Brussels. He is particularly interested in the contrast between the old and new and the drama of light and shadow and the abstract shapes they create. In his paintings he also explores the isolation and loneliness of urban landscapes. There is often a sense of stillness, suspense and foreboding in his work. www.thedoorwaygallery.com

Are you up to speed on NFTs? For those, like myself, who are confused, NFTs are mostly digital creations (video, photography, digital painting and drawings) that are minted into the form of a token that is registered on a cryptocurrency network such as Ethereum. The creator is then able to sell, trade or distribute this token (which contains the artwork). Transactions such as this are all recorded on the Ethereum blockchain so anyone is able to see who is the creator of the item and who currently owns it or who has bought it. Transparency is an important factor within the NFT world; they are released on an open ledger viewable to anyone giving the provenance of the work and who has owned it. In an example of an established artist embracing the newest technologies, Irish artist and Royal Academician Hughie O’Donoghue is launching a series of six digital artworks as NFTs in a virtual gallery, Greenfuse NFT in Cryptovoxels on April 9. O’Donoghue’s richly layered paintings reference history, identity and universal human experience and can be viewed on www.opensea.io.

For those itching to be creative, why not check South Tipperary Arts Centre’s new programme which engages audiences with online activities such as its “Connect, Create, Inspire” classes and workshops, specifically targeting wellness themes, supported by Healthy Ireland Tipperary. The programme launched this week with Dara McGrath’s Project Cleansweep (until May 1). This exhibition asks audiences to think about the legacy human activities can have on the landscape. For further information visit www.southtippartscentre.ie where you will also find the centre’s podcast.

Do you like heist movies? Of interest on Netflix is This Is A Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist. Over St Patrick’s Day weekend in 1990, works by Rembrandt, Vermeer and others worth over half a billion dollars today were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by two men dressed as cops. This four-part documentary series from director Colin Barnicle covers the leads, dead ends, lucky breaks and speculations that characterised the investigation of this still unsolved mystery. www.netflix.com

Time to register for the four day online art auction Scoop and support a good cause. Founded by brothers Andrew and Calvin Sweeney, Scoop features 400 artworks by contemporary Irish or Irish-based artists who are donating works to raise funds to support displaced young people at home and abroad. (Last year’s online auction raised €88,600). The event will be held in The Copper House Gallery, Dublin and will be hosted live online through the website and mobile app on April 23 – 26. Interested bidders can register and leave pre-bids at www.invaluable.com.

Looking to refresh or update your gallery wall? Hang Tough Editions have launched a collection of affordable prints by Irish and international artists called”New Beginnings”. All prints are produced with archival pigments on 310g, museum standard, cotton rag. Each print is limited to an edition, signed and numbered in pencil by the artist, embossed with the gallery seal and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. Prints can be collected from the gallery at 25 Lennox Street, Portobello, Dublin 8; www.hangtough.ie.

Susannagh Grogan has added two more prints to her pretty silk scarf collections. In two colourways, of coral and emerald, they comprise Grogan’s floral illustrations in a variety of mixed media – painted gouache, a tablet and pen/stylus, photography and pencil and watercolour – transposed onto silk with a bright lace border. Perfect for stepping out in spring this is wearable art from €135. www.susannaghgrogan.com

The Rug Company has launched a collection of five limited-edition rugs in collaboration with American artist Dale Chihuly. This collaboration transposes his glass designs and artisanal techniques and captures the fluidity and detail of Chihuly’s work. Each of the five designs, worked in silk motifs on wool backgrounds, is limited to 250 pieces and are based on Chihuly’s Persian, Cyclinder and Macchia series. Pictured is Rosette from the Persian series – a celebration of form, scale and colour with swirling rings which play with the illusion of transparency; www.therugcompany.com.

From a globally renowned glass artist to celebrating two emerging talents. Just before Easter, five of Ireland’s most talented emerging craft makers were recognised with a €10,000 bursary each for the development of their craft as part of the 2021 RDS Craft Awards. Among this year’s recipients are glass artist Jenny Mulligan, who has recently completed her studies in Riksglasskolan, the National School of Glass in Sweden with a focus on both hot and cold glass. Her finished forms are exquisite. Her high-polish and deep-cut series “Confluence” explores the movement and essence of line. Mulligan ultimately wants to build a workshop that enables her to take coldworking commissions from other glass artists. www.jennymulliganglass.com

Katie Spiers graduated from NCAD in 2019 with a degree in ceramics and glass. She specialises in lampworking and painting on glass. Spiers draws with glass to create beautiful sculptural birds which she incorporates into dramatic installations with sound and lighting. The fragility of the sculptures speaks to the pressures the modern world has exerted on the dwindling numbers of birds in Ireland. Her work specifically looks at endangered bird species in Ireland such as the Curlew and Corncrake. www.instagram.com/katiespiersart/

Finally, do you have a budding artist at home? The National Gallery is inviting submissions for this year’s Zurich Portrait Prize. The winner of the competition will receive a cash prize of €15,000 and will be commissioned to create a work for the gallery’s collection, for which they will be awarded a further €5,000. The Zurich Young Portrait Prize, now in its third year, is open to young people up to the age of 18. Winners in four age categories and an overall winner will be chosen from a shortlist of 20 works and will receive a bespoke art box and a cash prize. The closing date for entries to the Zurich Portrait Prize and Zurich Young Portrait Prize is June 23. Details of both competitions can be found at www.nationalgallery.ie.