Brian Kennedy is an independent curator working predominantly in the craft and applied art area. Between 2002 and 2010 he curated a series of major exhibitions for the Crafts Council of Ireland, including “Forty Shades of Green” at the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork and “Crafted Creatures” in conjunction with the Ark – Children’s Cultural Centre, Dublin.
Following this, he curated the highly acclaimed exhibitions, “Material Poetry” and “Dubh – Dialogues in Black” at the American Irish Historical Society, New York. In 2014 he curated the critically acclaimed exhibition “Vase Vessel Void” for the Oliver Sears Gallery and in 2015/16 “In Residence I & II” for the same gallery in London. Other notable projects are Walpole’s “Crafted – Makers of Excellence” exhibitions at Somerset House, London in 2013 and at the Royal Academy, London in 2014.

From 2015/20 he curated Taste – Contemporary Craft’s booth at Art Geneva and Art  Monte Carlo. 2016 also saw him return to the National Craft Gallery Ireland with “VASE,  Function Reviewed” a major survey exhibition of international contemporary ceramics. In October 2016 Kennedy was appointed Artistic Director for the TRESOR – Contemporary Craft Fair, Basel, Switzerland, which was launched in September 2017. In  2018 he curated a major exhibition “Dialogues Through Time” for TRESOR, Basel,  Switzerland.

In 2019 he curated a booth for Taste Contemporary at MIART, Milan, “Five Cubed” a major  exhibition in Geneva, and a series of four exhibitions at Rear Window, London. In 2020  he curated a booth for both Ting-Ying Gallery and the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust  at Collect Fair, Somerset House, London.

2021 saw the launch of an exciting new exhibition, “Crafting a Difference”, featuring the work of 70 artists across 5 floors of a London Townhouse, SoShiro, which coincided with both London Art Fair and Collect Fair.