Huge congratulations to the TY's Amelie Slaughter, Zoe Lynch, Zara Jones , Maria Grzeszczuk, Mark Jones, Ben Leo Neary, Ben Hott Chaney who came first in Leinster in the National Gallery of Ireland competition with their cardboard collage artwork. As part of this island-wide competition, supported by Key Capital, schools were invited to engage with the work of Jack B. Yeats and create collaborative artworks inspired by the memories of people in their local area. There are four winning schools in the post-primary category – one from each province – and two highly commended schools. The four winning schools will each receive an exciting prize package worth €1000.
The competition judges were Brian Ranalow, artist; Catherine O’Donnell, Education Officer, National Gallery of Ireland, and Brendan Rooney, Head Curator, National Gallery of Ireland.
There is a write up on the gallery website with a photo of the students work https://www.nationalgallery.ie/explore-and-learn/schools/yeats-competition/shortlist-post-primary-school-entries The artwork is very meaningful as it depicts memories and landmarks from both St. Josephs and the local area. Old photos of staff and students from the 70's/80's were used as reference.
Community and Identity in Rush
Ms Brady described the artwork "Our inspiration was sparked by looking at our community and identity as a school. The students filtered through old photos and selected images that represented the community ethos in our school. The three buildings in the background are local monuments: our current school building, Kenure House, and the Anchor. This artwork memorialises our current school as our new school is being built. Kenure House was demolished in 1978, due to disrepair, and the strange sight of an enormous portico puzzles many people, standing alone against the sky. Local people often talk of their disappointment that the building wasn’t saved. The Anchor is a monument in Rush which represents a local tragedy – a shipwreck off the coast in 1854. The shipwreck was rediscovered in 1959 and the anchor is now displayed on the Square.
The students discussed each of these stories and chose these particular monuments as they feel local people are connected to them and the history they bring to the area. We chose the medium of cardboard as we felt it was a natural and delicate medium which erodes with time. We felt working with the layers of cardboard, peeling them away and manipulating them, took the concept of ‘memory’ to the next level."
The Dublin Gazette are also writing a piece about the winners so keep an eye on their website for when that is published later today! https://dublingazette.com/