2023-2024
Ballymurn N.S, Enniscorthy / Gaelscoil Moshíológ, Gorey / St. Aidan’s N.S., Enniscorthy / St. Anne’s N.S., Rathangan
In 2013, the Living Arts Project was established as an artist-in-residency scheme in primary schools, supporting the existing partnership between the Arts Department of Wexford County Council and Wexford Arts Centre. The aim of this project is to provide children with an understanding and appreciation of contemporary visual art. The Living Arts Project exhibition represents a selection of work produced by the participating primary schools and offers pupils a chance to see their work presented in a professional gallery.
The following artists and schools were selected for the 2023-24 programme: Caoimhe Dunn and Ilaria Berardi with Ballymurn NS (Enniscorthy), Deirdre Meehan-Buttimer and Mandy Galvin with Gaelscoil Moshíológ (Gorey), Kate Murphy and Kate Tyrrell with St. Aidan’s NS (Enniscorthy), and David Begley and Hanneke van Ryswyk with St. Anne’s NS (Rathangan).
By learning new techniques and embracing creative practices, pupils were encouraged to experiment and play, discovering their own artistic potential. Themes from mythology, folklore and the history of ancient Ireland were explored through puppetry, sculpture, printmaking, painting and drawing processes. This has resulted in a playful and experimental exhibition filled with storytelling and joyful investigation.
A mentorship programme ran alongside each residency which helped to ensure the effectiveness of the project while also providing a positive critique for the resident artist. In addition, it served to refine methods of engaging with the children throughout each residency. The mentors involved were Frank Abruzezze, Hilary Fennell, Martina Furlong, Eamonn Maxwell, Emma Roche, Karla Sánchez Zepeda, Sarah Scallon and Gerda Teljeur.
The Arts Department of Wexford County Council and Wexford Arts Centre would like to take this opportunity to thank all schools, artists and mentors involved in the project, and the local community for their support and interest in the project to date.
The Living Arts Project exhibition will run in the lower and upper galleries of Wexford Arts Centre from Saturday 30th March to Saturday 27th April 2024. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Friday from 10am-5pm, and Saturday from 10am-4pm.
If your school is interested in participating in the Living Arts Project 2024-25 please contact Curator Catherine Bowe on +353 (0)53 9123764 or email catherine@wexfordartscentre.ie or visit www.livingartsproject.ie.
The Living Art Project is funded by the Arts Department of Wexford County Council, The Arts Council and participating schools. The project is prorgammed by Wexford Arts Centre.
Ballymurn National School
Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford
Caoimhe Dunn
Lead Artist
Caoimhe Dunn is a Wexford based artist with nearly 20 years of experience working in the arts. An IADT graduate of both Fine Art and Model Making, she has been involved for many years in street arts and spectacle, community, and youth arts.
Caoimhe is continually fascinated by science, history, and folklore and takes inspiration from these subjects for her work. Her street theatre show ‘A Snail’s Tale’, premiered at Spraoi Festival in Waterford, and was inspired by the margins of medieval manuscripts and the fascinating biology of snails.
Read MoreIlaria Berardi
Assistant Artist
Ilaria Berardi, an Italian artist based in Wexford, graduated in Art and Design from South East Technological University in 2023.
She works across multiple mediums such as photography, painting, and sculptural installation. Through research and documentation, she aims to explore the connections between humans and nature from different perspectives, be it cultural, sociological, or environmental.
Read MoreGaelscoil Moshíológ
Gorey, Co. Wexford
Deirdre Meehan-Buttimer
Lead Artist
Originally from Dublin, Kate now lives and works in Wexford. She holds BA in Fine Art from the Nationa College of Art & Design, Dublin. She has had solo exhibitions with the Stone Gallery and the Talbot Gallery in Dublin as well as at Wexford Arts Centre. In 2019, Kate took part in the RHA Annual exhibition and Cairde Visual at The Model Gallery, Sligo. She exhibited at BEEP Painting Biennial in Wales in 2020 and her work was included in Wide Open Spaces (2022), a selection of work from Wexford County Council’s Art Collection, curated by Eamonn Maxwell. Kate is looking forward to a 2-person show at Claremorris Gallery, Mayo this June.
Read MoreMandy Galvin
Assistant Artist
Mandy Galvin’s journey into the arts began while living and travelling in her bus; it was accidental and organic, connecting with various creative outlets but primarily with contemporary circus’ Mutoid Waste Company and Archaos, forerunner to the now better-known Cirque du Soleil. It was with the aforementioned that working with metal became a passion, learning to weld and fabricate, gaining qualifications along the way.
Read MoreGaelscoil Moshíológ
Gorey, Co. Wexford
Kate Murphy
Lead Artist
Kate Murphy graduated from the National College of Art & Design in 2000 with an Honour’s Degree in Fine Art. She has held a number of solo exhibitions in galleries in Dublin and Wexford and has shown nationally and internationally. Most recently she exhibited her work at Claremorris Gallery, Co. Mayo in 2023 and had a solo show at the Molesworth Gallery in Dublin in March 2024.
Kate’s paintings have been purchased by the Office of Public Works, Bank of Ireland, Wexford County Council, Wicklow County Council and by private collectors.
She has worked collaboratively with communities, schools and institutions for the past 13 years.
Kate Tyrrell
Assistant Artist
Kate Tyrrell has been an educator and practising craftswoman for over a decade. She had a solo exhibition titled Found at Presentation Arts Centre in 2021.
Kate’s work has roots in her home by the sea and takes on a therapeutic nature. Seaweed, shells and organic matter are collected and go through an industrial curing process before use. Her process is habitual, reminiscent of the collecting habits of an animal preparing for winter. This process of collecting, taking home and being with the items, gives her work an unusual, familiar, almost historic quality.
Kate’s experience to date working with children and community groups has benefited her in many ways and allowed her to engage fully in the Assistant Artist strand of the Living Arts Project.
St. Anne’s National School
Rathangan, Co. Wexford
David Begley
Lead Artist
Hanneke van Ryswyk
Assistant Artist
David Begley is a visual artist, writer, and arts educator. He has exhibited his animations, drawings, paintings, monotype prints and films nationally and internationally since 1996.
David has held solo exhibitions at Wexford Arts Centre, The Linenhall, Mayo, Cross Gallery, Dublin, and was Ancient Connections artist-in-residence (Ferns, Co. Wexford) from 2020-2023. His work can be found in the Collections of Wexford County Council, OPW, EPA, INTO, and Contemporary Irish Art Society.
Read MoreHanneke van Ryswyk is a Welsh-Dutch visual artist living on the Wexford coast. She paints the natural world, its vulnerability, beauty, and the effects of extreme weather on land and sea.
She has held eight Irish solo exhibitions and has been selected to exhibit in the UK, Australia and nationally at the RHA, Dublin, VISUAL Carlow, The Model, Sligo, The Lavit Gallery, Cork and at Wexford County Council.
Read More