CREATING CONVERSATIONS
THE guest curator of ‘Crocodile sky, an exhibition by 40 County Wexford artists and writers in The Street at County Council headquarters in Carricklawn came up with a novel way of displaying poetry in the venue. instead of boringly circulating black and white sheets of words, Dominic Thorpe decided to have the poems printed on internal windows at first and second floor level in the massive space and the result was ‘inspired’, according to County Wexford Arts Officer Liz Burns who welcomed a large crowd of people to the official opening.
The artists involved are all participants in a long term ‘Arts Ability’ programme, now in its 15th year which is run by the Arts Department of the Council in partnership with the Arts Council and HSE Disability and Mental Health Services.
They attend art workshops in Killagoley Training and Activation Centre (KTAC)in Enniscorthy, County Wexford Community Workshop (CUMAS), New Ross and Wexford Residential and Intellectual Disability Services ( WRIDS).
The workshops in painting, drawing, writing, sculpture, film and ceramics are run by professional artists and supported by dedicated teams of staff members in the centres who provide a person-centred programme celebrating the creative imagination of each individual participant.
The resulting work includes paintings, drawings, sculpture and poetry dealing with a variety of subject matter from the deeply personal to the observational and political. Some of the larger pieces were created by groups of artists working together.
The exhibition co-incided with the launch of a first publication by the artist and writer Thomas Martin of CUMAS, New Ross which was published at the Arts Department.
It was officially opened by Cllr. Paddy Kavanagh, chairman of Wexford County Council who congratulated the artists on their ‘amazing’ work and wished them success in the future.
Sinéad O’Reilly, Head of Local Arts and Arts Participation in the Arts Council of Ireland attended the launch and said the Arts Council is delighted to have been in a position to offer funding to this programme for the past 15 years, in parthership with the HSE and the centres.
‘From the Arts Council perspective, good arts and health practice is characterised by a clear artistic vision, goals and outcomes and that is very evidence here today.
She congratulated the curator Dominic Thorpe and the artists Kathleen Delaney, Declan Kennedy and Sylvia Cullen who conduct the workshops.
‘ The arts are far more than an ‘add-on’ to the important medical and technical stuff that is also required in our lives. The creative arts have a central role in a person’s journey towards health and integration.’
‘ This is not an activity about ‘passing time’. This is valuing time passed, taking time and creating times, creating conversations’.
‘ The work and words on the walls are far more than marks on paper or canvas. They are conversations.It’s the new detail in the same landscapes you’ve been looking at for years; the compositions that you frame on your journeys to treatment; the colours of previous journeys and memories that you fondly recreate.’
‘As you find these new ways of seeing, others will see you differently too. Seeing you for what you can do now. Remembering who you have become, not what became of you,’ said Sinéad.
During the launch, there were readings by the writer John Doyle and by Thomas Martin.
The exhibition will run until May 19 and will be open daily during office hours.