Grennan students hold successful exhibition

An exhibition of Japanese woodblock printing, done by the Transition Year Students of Grennan College with local artist and print-maker Debra Bowden, opened at the Hub Thomastown on Wednesday evening.

It was a real pleasure to have Debra Bowden join us for this project with Transition Year students. It was an honour to be able to see her expertise and experience in this craft in action .

Another very important aspect of this project is the subject matter, Thomastown itself –in many ways the silent star of this project.

For all of us, a sense of place is very important, also a sense of belonging. We all identify with the streetscapes and the buildings of our own area – here in Thomastown.

The distinctive and historical buildings, streets, roadways and laneways are all part of our daily lives. Students enjoyed drawing on the streets, engaging and focusing on their choice of image — before working with that image and developing it under Debra’s guidance.

Many thanks to Debra for passing on the techniques and skills of this ancient Craft. Thanks also to Tony Spooner, whose hard work placed all the works here on the wall this evening, and that’s no mean feat.

Thanks to: Nicola Murphy our TY Co Coordinator who supported the project from the outset, along with Sean O Sullivan, ourprincipal . Also a huge thanks to Sarah Fitzpatrick our Music Teacher and Aviva Walsh who, along with all our fantastic staff in Grennan College are always so supportive of all we do in the arts.

Thanks to Shem Caulfield for opening the exhibition – Shem has such knowledge of the town and it’s wonderful to have him here to launch the exhibition. He met us on the street while some of the students were drawing and it seemed very fitting that he would open the Exhibition this evening.

Thanks too to Marie and Arlie Croft and the members and staff of the Hub for hosting the exhibition. I look forward to many more connections between our Students our School and artists and craftspeople from the locality.

We have enjoyed other wonderful collaborations over the years Joan Fitzgerald Cahill did a Weaving Project with Students a few years ago and we also took part in a Project called Fine Art and Craft Together FACT, a collaboration between The Butler Gallery, The National Craft Gallery and local Kilkenny schools