The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum to open its

2026 Season with a new exhibition on Irish American Art in

collaboration with Quinnipiac University

Norwalk, Conn. January 5, 2026 – On March 12, 2026, 12-4 p.m., The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion
Museum, in collaboration with Quinnipiac University and Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield,
will inaugurate its 2026 Season with the opening of a new exhibition titled, “A Journey of Hope: The
Irish American Immigrant Experience,” followed by a reception at 5:30-7:30 p.m. generously sponsored
by O’Neill’s Irish Pub and Restaurant. The show will run through May 17, 2026, and feature paintings
and sculptures displayed in the Mansion’s Art Gallery as well as in the Servants’ Quarters. Viewing will
be included with the purchase of a guided tour. Please visit www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com for
additional information.

“We look forward to this collaborative exhibit that touches upon themes that are timeless and universal. I
am certain that visitors will be thrilled to have an opportunity to see this outstanding art collection,” said
LMMM Chairman of the Board Douglas Hempstead.

Former President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgin stated that “The Irish Famine of 1845 to 1852 was the
greatest social calamity, in terms of morality and suffering, that Ireland has ever experienced.” From 1845
to 1855, over 1.5 million people emigrated from Ireland to America searching for a better life. This
exhibition will highlight the topic of Irish immigration in the 19th century to America using art as a visual
reference. This exhibit will connect directly to the history of the Mansion in the 19th century, when most
of the domestic staff was Irish and where visitors will have an opportunity to revisit the Servants’
Quarters featuring an installation of sculptures by Irish American artists.

Loretto Leary, Co-Chair of the Connecticut-Ireland Trade Commission said: “Forced from their homes
by forces beyond their control, seeking not pity but the chance to forge new lives in an unfamiliar land,
Irish famine immigrants set out on journeys that still echo today. From 1845 to 1852, this watershed
moment in Irish history sent ripples across the Atlantic, shaping America in ways that are still felt, and
mirroring the experiences of refugees around the world today.”

Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield contains the world’s largest collection of Great Hungerrelated
art by noted contemporary Irish and Irish American artists as well as several period paintings by
some of Ireland’s most important 19th-century artists. Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield exists
at the intersection of art, history, and moral imagination. Rooted in the story of Ireland, but speaking to
the wider world, the museum strives to remember what happens when a society turns away from its most
vulnerable – and to honor the resilience of those who endure.

John Foley, President of Ireland's Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield (IGHMF) said: “We are
honored to collaborate with the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum and Quinnipiac University on an
exhibition that brings together art, history, and place. This partnership allows these works to be
experienced in a setting that mirrors the lived realities of Irish immigrants in nineteenth-century
America.”

This exhibition will be curated by Ryan Mahoney who is the Project Manager at the Springfield
Museums in Springfield, MA. A graduate of St. John Fisher College (BA) and the University at Albany
(MA), Mahoney has over 15-years of experience working in the museum field, including serving as
Executive Director for both the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany, NY and Ireland’s Great
Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT.

Active in the Irish American Community, Mahoney has served as a national board member for the Irish
American Cultural Institute and as a board member of the United Irish Societies of the Capital District.
He also was an active member of the Albany St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee. In 2016, Mahoney was
named a recipient of the 40 under 40 Award by the Irish Echo.

LMMM’s contemporary art exhibits are sponsored in part by Designer/Artist/Author Gail Ingis,
and Kathy Olsen, CPA.LMMM’s 2026 programs are made possible in part by LMMM’s 2026 Season
Distinguished Benefactors: The City of Norwalk, The Maurice Goodman Foundation, Inc., and
Lockwood-Mathews Foundation, Inc.; LMMM’s Leadership Patrons: Dr. Michele and Attorney
Miklos Koleszar; and The Sealark Foundation. For more information on tours and programs, please
visit www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, email info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, or call 203-
838-9799.