Tag Archives: kilkenny

Kilkenny Catwalk 2021


Kilkenny Catwalk is a trail of 21 sculptures painted by local artists. The 5ft fibreglass resin model is based on Pangur Bán, a character from Cartoon Saloon’s first feature animation ‘The Secret of Kells’. The project is a partnership between Kilkenny Civic Trust and Kilkenny County Council. The trail will be launched on 10 October 2021 and remain in place until Easter 2022. The trail is designed to immerse people in Kilkenny’s rich heritage while at the same time supporting the Keep Well Campaign. At the conclusion of the project, all artwork will be auctioned to raise funds for the St Mary’s Almshouses refurbishment project.
I painted the Age Friendly Cat following a series of online workshops promoted by the Older Peoples Council. Through the medium of papercutting, participants explored positive and negative space, colour, pattern and all things Kilkenny. The rich collection of papercuts that developed over a couple of months, became an integral part of the cat design. Early on, one of the workshop participants proposed that the Age Friendly Cat should be a celebration of creativity in older age. Big thanks to the workshop participants: Eimear Burke, Mary Colclough, Bryan Culley, Janice Culley, Joan Fogarty and Mari O’Shea.

Graiguenamanagh Mural

I just completed this mural in Graiguenamanagh, Co. Kilkenny. It is a stylised representation of the town on the gable end of ‘the Anchor’. You’ll see it just before you cross the bridge over the river Barrow into Tinnahich, Co. Carlow. It depicts Brandon Hill, Duiske Abbey, the seven-arch hump back bridge, Abbey Hall, the lock keeper’s cottage in Lower Tinnahich and two local shoppers. This is an initiative of Kilkenny County Council and Kilkenny Chamber supported by the Department of Rural and Community Development.

Butler Gallery Colouring Sheets

Sylvia Cooke-Collis, A Pattern of Fish, 1940

Sylvia Cooke-Collis, A Pattern of Fish, 1940

I was delighted to be asked by the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny to design a series of colouring sheets for all ages, based on works from their permanent collection. A lot of these works will be on display, when they move to their new building after the lockdown. All colouring sheets can be downloaded for free from the Butler Gallery website.

Medieval Mile Museum

Medieval Mile Museum

Medieval Mile Museum

This new papercut installation is on view at the Medieval Mile Museum in Kilkenny City over the holidays.
The two central pieces were created by a wonderful and hardworking group of participants in workshops in the museum during the month of November. The patterns used are inspired by Blackletter – a script used throughout Europe in the medieval period. This script appears in the civic documents on display and also on the stone funeral monuments found throughout the museum and graveyard.
The two outside pieces were made by the Open Circle Community Arts Collective in 2017 and were part of a bigger installation at the Goods Shed, MacDonagh Junction, Kilkenny.
A big thank you to everyone who contributed to the installation, including Kilkenny Civic Trust, Siobhan O’Brien of Kilkenny Carlow Educational Training Board who supported the November workshops, Grace, Alice and all the staff at Medieval Mile Museum and Sheila Jordan of Open Circle.
A special thanks to all who gave their time and creativity to work on these pieces: Ita Bourke, Sophie Butler, Cate Cassin, Carmen Del Poza, Helen Dobson, Aoife Doherty, Fidealis Doherty, Polly Donnellan, Catherine Duff, Fiona Eastwood, Grace Fegan, Anne Marie Fitzgerald, Claire Fitzpatrick, Ann Marie Gray, Claire Griffin, Aileen Kavanagh, Enya Kennedy, Dominika Mlynarska, Lorraine Murphy, Sandra Murphy, Brenda Murtagh, Alice Norwood, Alison O’Flynn, Lisselott Olofsson, Siobhán Pullen, Simone Quinn, Ciara B Stapleton, Fiona Wallace and Zoe Young.

Meet the Makers

Revolve

Revolve, .Obj Digital Handmade, National Design & Craft Gallery, Kilkenny, 2018

I am looking forward to talking about my work which is currently on show at the National Design & Craft Gallery in Kilkenny this Thursday 18 October at 18.30

Free Late Date Event: Meet The Makers
Join artist and designer Paul Bokslag with fellow exhibitor Marius Watz for our late date evening this Thursday. Paul will discuss his inspiration and processes involved in creating his Revolve paper installation. Marius will discuss his site-specific wall drawings and how he uses visual abstraction through generative software. This event is part of our .OBJ exhibition education and outreach programme at the National Design and Craft Gallery. The exhibition is curated by Nora O’Murchu.

.Obj: Digital Handmade

.Obj Digital Handmade

.Obj Digital Handmade

I am looking forward to showing a new large sculptural paper piece at the .Obj: Digital Handmade Exhibition in the National Design & Craft Gallery in Kilkenny, curated by Nora O Murchú. The exhibition will be opened on Saturday 11 August at 2pm and is presented as part of Kilkenny Arts Festival. I will also run a number of children’s wokhops on Tue 14, Wed 15 and Thu 16 August. The exhibition continues until 23 January 2019.

Fennelly’s of Callan

Five of my recent ink on paper works were part of In:Sight, a celebration of the arts in Callan at the wonderful Fennelly’s of Callan: one in the window and four in the snug. The work will remain in Fennelly’s until the end of July. Check out their five star coffee, breakfast and lunch.