Monday 12 September 2011

Nenagh Art Classes



Children's Art - Saturday Afternoon
Explore a range of craft and art based activities. Children are encouraged to discover their own creativity and interests. We will be using a range of meduims and also looking at the work of well known artists.
Ages 5 to 7 yrs @ 2pm, Ages 8 to 12 @ 3pm.
Eight weeks, cost €85, Starts 1st October

Adults Art Workshops - Thursday Evenings
Get in touch with your iner artist and find your own inspirations. Open to all abilities for a relaxing and social evening.
Eight weeks, Thursdays 7.30 to 9pm
Starts September 29th, Cost €110

To book a place call Olivia ph: 087 6380201 or email olivia@creativehouse.ie. All materials included, cost can be paid in full or by installment.

New Art Classes

Clay Mask -

Creative House are now running art classes in the recently opened Nenagh Arts Centre. I am really excited about this. The new centre currently don't have any ongoing visual arts program and I am hoping that I can carve a place there for our courses. With the new baby I will be bringing in some help with the wonderfully creative Aisling Finucane  running the start of the children's classes. We are going to explore a range of mediums and craft projects. As always I will be bringing in ideas from well known artists but also encouraging the kids to find their own inspirations. Some of the art work will be displayed here and I will also post some tutorials so you can do the classes with your own kids.

The adults workshops will focus on helping people to get in touch with their creativity. I often find when working with adults who don't paint at home, they have a reluctance to let go and allow what ever is inside to come out. They can often spend a lot of time trying to get something 'right' and be 'good'. I suppose if the last time you did art was in school if can be very hard to shake that internal teacher. I hope to make the class a relaxing place where people are happy to explore and experiment without the inner critic.

I am looking forward to getting my hands messy.

Community Sculpture - Update


My Wabi Sabi Sphere


I have been very busy of late, our baby was born three weeks ago so my motivation to update the blog has been taken away by a very cute little girl. I was unable to get the sculpture into the cathedral for July so I am hoping to have it in for October. I did however have it displayed in the local gallery during the festival, where it got a great response.
To be honest I had my doubts, doubts in buckets. I wasn't sure if anyone would quite get what I was trying to do or what the Wabi Sabi Sphere meant. I also was worried that no one would turn up to the workshops. But most of all I didn't know how I was going to pull it off in the end. What was it going to look like? After a short little meltdown in a room full of styrofoam painted balls and 30 metres of tangled wire, I called in my ever helpful husband and two designer friends for consultation. Once I got my head in the right place I was able to pull it all together in a very short time. The result is the long intertwining piece that can be hung in different places and manipulated into different forms. I must say I felt very proud when it was hung in the gallery.

Below are some images from the workshops and gallery.
Community Workshop

Children's Workshop
Jess the Artist
If anyone is interested in how I made the sculpture drop me a line and I will give you all the details and list of materials.