Discover and honour your inner goddess on this creative Kilkenny course

The Butler Gallery Kilkenny is encouraging people to join them for a 12 week printmaking course by Michelle McMahon in the Learning Centre. The creative course will  be on Tuesdays from November 8  to December 13, 2022, and January 3 to February 7, 2023

The gallery says this will be an immersive printmaking project to celebrate St Brigid’s day's status as a new bank holiday. It will also amplify the county’s female vibration by inviting workshop participants to design and print their own Brat Bride, with images of female deities, female symbols, pre-patriarchal goddesses or matriarchal figures especially significant to each individual.

The participants will be invited to explore their lineage, culture, identity, and the history of goddesses, saints and female figures of power. They will also be asked to design and create a print, using lino plates and cutters, and then print their designs on to handkerchief sized cotton pieces of material (a Brat Bhride). Through the course,  programme participants will progress to pattern making and culminate in a collaborative art piece encompassing all their designs.

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Benefits for the participants will include printmaking skills, an opportunity for participants to explore their cultural identity and matriarchal lineage and an opportunity to build friendships with other women in their community.

Michelle McMahon is a visual artist, primarily focused on print-making and painting. She draws much of her inspiration from nature and works in a non-toxic studio, using eco-friendly materials. She is passionate about equality and is currently facilitating lino print workshops for women's community groups, with the Brat Bhride Project.

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To view some of Michelle's work, please visit her Instagram page @harmony_designs_kilkenny

This programme is funded by the Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board and is free for participants.