{"id":25027,"date":"2026-04-23T09:28:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/?p=25027"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:28:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:28:42","slug":"ards-arts-centre-welcomes-a-solo-exhibition-by-lisa-ballard-and-a-group-exhibition-by-brain-injury-matters-ni-and-rachel-fitzpatrick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2026\/04\/ards-arts-centre-welcomes-a-solo-exhibition-by-lisa-ballard-and-a-group-exhibition-by-brain-injury-matters-ni-and-rachel-fitzpatrick\/","title":{"rendered":"Ards Arts Centre Welcomes a Solo Exhibition by Lisa Ballard and a Group Exhibition by Brain Injury Matters NI and Rachel Fitzpatrick"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>Ards Arts Centre is pleased to announce the opening of two new exhibitions: <em>There and Back, a solo exhibition<\/em> by <strong>Lisa Ballard<\/strong> and <em>REFRAMING &amp; CONNECTING<\/em>, a group exhibition by <strong>Brain Injury Matters NI<\/strong> and <strong>Rachel Fitzpatrick<\/strong>. Both exhibitions will run from <strong>Thursday 30 April to Saturday 23 May.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong><em>There and Back<\/em> by Donaghadee based visual artist Lisa Ballard, is an exploration into the processes used in her landscape painting, processes that serve to represent the blurred memories we have of places and allows the creation of a new imagined landscape. These landscape paintings will look beyond the physical to draw on emotional experience and memory of place, pushing towards abstraction.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-25028\" src=\"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-8.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-8-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-8-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>Travelling has been vital in Lisa\u2019s personal exploration of painting as a medium. This exhibition will feature a selection of new work inspired by past locations she has visited, both near and far.<\/p>\n<p>Led by artist, researcher and designer Rachel Fitzpatrick, <em>REFRAMING &amp; CONNECTING<\/em> features a new site\u2011specific installation co\u2011created with Brain Injury Matters NI. Drawing on Fitzpatrick\u2019s practice at the intersection of creative health, craft and museums, and her lived experience of acquired brain injury, the work builds on past collaborations exhibited at Roe Valley Arts Centre in Limavady, Trinity College Dublin and Penn State University, USA.<\/p>\n<p>Audiences can expect an immersive installation made from intricate paper crafts, exploring journeys of rehabilitation, reconnection and identity, and revealing often\u2011unseen narratives of life after acquired brain injury through collaborative making and storytelling.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>An opening reception will take place on <strong>Thursday 30 April from 7\u20139pm<\/strong>, where visitors can enjoy a complimentary drink, meet the artists, and explore the work.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on the exhibitions, visit; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.andculture.org.uk\">www.andculture.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ards Arts Centre is pleased to announce the opening of two new exhibitions: There and Back, a solo exhibition by Lisa Ballard and REFRAMING &amp; CONNECTING, a group exhibition by Brain Injury Matters NI and Rachel Fitzpatrick. Both exhibitions will run from Thursday 30 April to Saturday 23 May. There and Back by Donaghadee based &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2026\/04\/ards-arts-centre-welcomes-a-solo-exhibition-by-lisa-ballard-and-a-group-exhibition-by-brain-injury-matters-ni-and-rachel-fitzpatrick\/\">Continued<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25027"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25029,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25027\/revisions\/25029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}