Open Call: “Teach Allais” – An Chéad Tine Art Gallery Summer Exhibition
- ancheadtine
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
An Chéad Tine Art Gallery invites artists to submit proposals for our Summer exhibition titled “Teach Allais” – Irish Sweathouses.
These ancient structures, known as teach allais in the Irish language, meaning "house of sweat," are the traditional saunas of Ireland. Scattered across the rural landscape, over 300 have been recorded in the Sites and Monuments Register. Often tucked into hillsides, camouflaged with moss, lichen and grass, these humble stone domes once served as places of cleansing and healing.
Built using dry stone techniques, their shapes range from circular to oval or sub-rectangular, typically featuring a single chamber with no windows. Some have a small hole at the apex of the roof to release smoke. Roofs may be corbelled or supported by stone lintels. The entrance is deliberately low and narrow to retain heat, and many were situated near rivers, lakes or streams, allowing bathers to plunge into cold water after the intense heat.
There was a time, barely more than a century ago, when people still came to these places seeking healing. Fires of turf were lit within to heat the stone walls. Once hot enough, the embers were scraped out and the scorched floor was layered with green rushes, allowing bathers to crawl inside.
We are asking:
How do you, as an artist, respond to the Teach Allais?
Does your practice engage with the themes, textures or materials found in or around the sweathouse?
Do you work with stone, charcoal, scorched surfaces or natural vegetation like moss and lichen?
Have you created artwork inspired by a local sweathouse hidden in the hills?
Does your practice include performance, ritual or spoken word exploring themes of healing, fire, heat, purification or renewal?
Have you engaged with the folklore or mystical elements tied to these structures and the surrounding landscape?
The origins of the sweathouse are still debated. Some suggest Roman missionaries introduced the hot-air bath, others point to Viking influence, while some believe they trace even further back to our Celtic ancestors. In Celtic traditions, the landscape was a living map – rivers, springs, caves, burial mounds and stone domes like the teach allais were portals to the Otherworld (Aos Sí), a liminal space between worlds.
Remarkably, in 2003, archaeologists uncovered a 3,000-year-old Bronze Age sweat lodge in Rathpatrick, Co. Kilkenny – the oldest of its kind ever found in Ireland.
Whatever your medium or interpretation, we welcome your artistic response to the Teach Allais.
Submission Guidelines
Deadline: Saturday 29th June at 5pm
Fee: €20 per artwork (up to a maximum of three artworks per artist)
Selection Panel: Mary Doyle Burke
Notification: All artists will be contacted by 2nd July
Delivery: Selected works must arrive at the gallery by Monday 7th July
Exhibition Dates: 11th July – 2nd August
Collection: Works to be collected on Saturday 2nd August, 4pm – 7pm
How to Enter
Step 1: Pay your €20 entry fee per artwork through this Open Call link
Step 2: Email a jpeg of your artwork to: an.chead.tine@gmail.com (Note: The file should be named with your name and the artwork’s title.)
We look forward to your submissions and interpretations of this ancient tradition.
