'Tools of the Trade' 2019: The River to Open Seas
A multidisciplinary Art Project designed and coordinated by Artists Leah Murphy and Susan Walsh.
This years project follows the River to open Seas.
Pupils from Greenmount NS. Green Street and Bunscoil Chríost Rí, Turners Cross go on board with Meitheal Mara Community Boatyard, find out all that's fishy with Ballycotton Seafood and take a voyage of discovery with MaREI-the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine.
In this project school children explored ideas from the river side to the sea and open ocean from traditional boat building to the newest technology in Marine research.
Beginning with a school based introductory workshop the children were introduced to the tools in everyday use at these places of work.
Site Visit to Meitheal Mara
Site Visit and behind the scenes view of Meitheal Mara Community Boatyard. Talks and demonstration about traditional coracle, currach and wooden boat building. Model coracle building with Marie Drew.
Site Visit to Ballycotton Seafood
Ballycotton Seafood in the English Market. A talk with Alan about sustainable fishing and the different species on display, followed by observational drawing workshop.
Site visit to MaREI
Site Visit to MaREI- the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine in Ringaskiddy. A tour of the facilities, a talk by the professionals and an in-house hands on workshop. Detailed talk on ocean health with Aoife Deane. Great excitement to see the wave pool in action and a chat with Ian about the research and tests carried out at the facility.
A series of creative workshops
This year the children also had a slide show by Joanne Hughes exploring historical and archeological aspects of the Mesolithic river Lee and its coastal dwellers.
The Children were encouraged to record all the site visits with small sketches and notes which were elaborated on at a later stage and continually referred to throughout the workshop series.
In this series of workshops the children experienced a wide range of materials and artistic techniques including observational drawing, printing and large scale collaborative paintings culminating in an exhibition of the children's work at Cork City Hall Atrium.
