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.