Patrician Academy Art Exhibition open

The Patrician Academy launched its first exhibition in the beautiful West End Art Studios Mallow on Wednesday, 17 th January, entitled ‘The River Blackwater: A Canvas Of Life’.

The launch was carried out by Miriam Dawson, a retired English teacher from the school. The Masters of Ceremonies were David O’Riordan, representing the Global Citizenship Class, and Jamie Buckley, representing the Student Council. Music and poetry formed part of the exhibition.

The music set the tone of the evening with David Lannon playing ‘River Flows In You’ on piano and Jack Herlihy playing the ‘Rakes of Mallow’ on his concertina. The Trad Group also participated.

The English Department, who are responsible for the poems, started back in September. The students were given the Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation; SDG 13 - Climate Action; SDG 14 - Life Below the Water. They were also given the theme of ‘Mallow’s Blackwater River, its park, the wildlife and the structures within’. Congratulations to them and their teachers on the magnificent and original poems they created.

The Batik Project started last year with Aine Andrews. She worked with the different classes and assisted us with the project. We first took the classes to Mallow’s beautiful town park, sketching and taking photos of the trees, the river, bridges, castles and the wildlife.

Working from research and the photos, the students produced these drawings and watercolors. The different drawings were then put together to create the four large panels.

These were then covered in wax and then dipped in different dyes to create beautiful batik panels.

The TY students also used the park as a source of inspiration for their acrylic paintings. Examples are the magnificent ‘Mallow Castle’ by Evan Buckley and ‘The Otter’ by Rory Kelleher.

The Second Years have been working on the theme of the Lion King’s African birds, making bird masks and puppets using paper mache. Congratulations to all the artists.

The exhibition can be viewed at West End Art Studios, Mallow from today Thursday, January 18 to Tuesday, January 23 (closed on Sunday); opening times: 11am - 1pm and 1.30pm - 4pm.