Our Per Cent for Art Scheme was inspiring for all of us especially the children who got to work with the artist Joseph Hillier.
The Public Art Working Group was established last year with representation from each group in the school- BOM, Parents Together and teachers. What an exciting project we took on under the guidance of Rina Whyte our Project Manager. Rina advertised. Twenty seven artists applied. Shortlisted to four who sent in scaled maquettes of their proposal. The selection panel chose Joseph Hillier who impressed with his understanding of our ethos and his proposed sculpture which spoke to us of children developing and changing, of the contours of the environment here in "Droim na Gaoithe"- Ridge of the wind and of diversity as exemplified by three distinct metals.
As he worked Joseph sent us vimeos from his workshop in London to show in all classes. He discussed making the first mould. We saw "Elemental" at a very early stage. He talked the children through each process involved. Then Joseph arrived in Ireland to stay in Claregalway (thanks Brendan for looking after him in the Arches). While here Frank treated Joseph and I to a lovely meal and chat in Ard Bia. Joseph took delivery of his three sculptures and worked during our Mid-Term to install them.
We were greeted on November 1st to "Elemental" in situ at our entrance and a day of workshops with Joseph. He asked the children to explore tesselating shapes on stone using acrylics. They sketched designs of their patterns first then worked on their stones. Damien took photos of them engrossed in their work. Joseph was so kind and adapted to each age group effortlessly. Eilís organised the room for the workshops, kept the momentum going, and set up ahead of each group. My abiding memory is of Joseph telling me the sink was too low for me so he would take over the brush washing and water replacing! A true gentleman. Before sending the stones home with each child Damien used his drone to catch images of their stones placed in flowing patterns around the sculptures.
Joseph touched our hearts and inspired young minds. We hope to see him again when we get an opportunity to celebrate "Elemental".
Terri
