An Cúinne Cruthaíochta
Kilglass NS Creativity Corner

Central to our aims of supporting the holistic development of all the children in our care is providing opportunities for their aesthetic development through the Arts-Music, Drama and Visual Arts. In recent years, these subjects areas have been enhanced by our involvement and participation in programmes provided through the Schools Excellence Fund, (administered through Sligo EC) and Creative Ireland.
Our school environment and community has been enriched by our participation in
 TAP-the Teacher Artist Partnership in 2021
 BLAST-Bringing Live Arts to Schools and Teachers-in 2022-2026
 West Sligo Creative Cluster 2021-2023.
 West Sligo Creative Cluster 2023-2025
 Scary Woods Walk un Kilglass House 2022-2025
 Tour of Model Niland Gallery and Art workshops- Rang 5 February 2023
 School Tour and Sketching Workshops in National Gallery-Rang 3 and Rang 4 June 2025
 Fighting Words Writing Workshops -Rang 2 and Rang 3 February 2025
 Art Loan from the Glucksman Gallery UCC- May/June 2025
 Writing and Poetry Workshops with author/poet Gerry Boland-September/October 2024 and 2025
 Music- Weekly Tin Whistle lessons with tutor Aileen Bourke January 2024-present
 Our Gallery at School-Rang 3 and Rang 4 will participate in this in-school event in March 2026.
 Creative Schools-Kilglass NS is a Creative School under the auspices of the Arts Council 2025-2027
 Monthly Tionól/Assembly-children present and perform poetry/rannta/dánta/songs/amhráin/tunes and short plays/drámaí for the school community.
 Monthly music sessions- children play and perform tunes on a whole-school basis from February 2026

Developing, enhancing and inspiring creativity plays a central role in ensuring our children’s wellbeing.
By providing our children with a multitude of experiences that allow them space, voice, audience and influence to develop holistically, in all aspects of their personalities, their sense of self, their world view, their personalities are enhanced. These opportunities allow the children to acknowledge and recognise that they are artists, creators, leaders, problem-solvers, musicians, which is inherently beneficial to our school population.
We are delighted to announce that for a fifth consecutive year our application for BLAST was successful. Ms. Brogan’s Rang 3 &Rang 4 engaged with the artist Rebecca Massey in January and February 2026.
Lóchrainn na Rónta, the event celebrating the legend of the selkies on Enniscrone beach was the culmination of our West Sligo Creative Cluster 2021-2023.
Lorg na Sceálaíochta-The West Sligo Story Trail for one night only in Kilglass Woods was the finale and culmination of the West Sligo Creative Cluster 2023-2025.

Kilglass NS Christmas Concert and Dráma na Nollag is an annual drama spectacle providing starring roles for our multi-talented pupils to tread the boards of our school stage and showcase their acting, dancing, singing, musical abilities in both English and Gaeilge.
An Cúinne Cruthaíochta will document all of our creative endeavours to date and into the future.
Ar aghaidh linn le misneach mór!!

An Buíon Ildánach – The Kilglass NS Creative Collective
Kilglass NS Creative Schools Advisory Group.

An Buíon Ildánach is a group of children representing the overall pupil cohort in Kilglass NS and was convened initially on a pilot basis in March 2025.
These children, in conjunction with Ms. Brogan, worked to support the development of creativity in our school until June 2025.
Kilglass NS successfully applied to become a Creative School in June 2025 and we are part of the Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools programme of the Arts Council from 2025-2027.
Funding will be provided to enhance creative opportunities within our pupil cohort and our school community.
Karen Brogan is our Creative Schools Co-Ordinator and Leslie Ryan is the Creative Associate assigned to support our Creative Schools adventure.
The new iteration of An Buíon Ildánach will represent the Children’s Voice and be central to developing our Creativity Plan as a component part of Kilglass NS as a Creative School community.
Our aim is to ensure that children have a voice in all matters creative, that their ideas/opinions matter and are listened to and that they feel empowered in decisions related to creative plans within our school.
The Buíon Ildánach members will meet with Ms. Brogan to further our Creative School plans.
These intrepid committee members are tasked with gathering information, ideas and opinions from their classmates and will be involved in organising voting and making choices on behalf of and with their peers. They are also recording/ noting places and
occasions where creativity is evident with our school community.
We are endeavouring to implement the Lundy Model of allowing children space, voice, audience and influence, developing cultural and participatory citizenship while attending to the wellness within our school community.
Watch this space!

Art Loan from the Glucksman Gallery in UCC-Education by Róisín Hahessy.

Did you hear about the delivery we received from the Gluckman Gallery in UCC in May 2025? Education by Róisín Hahessy was on display in our foyer from May until mid-June 2025. This was yet another first for Kilglass NS and another first for the West Sligo Creative Cluster.

We had an art exhibit in our school for our school community to enjoy!
Ms. Brogan, as the West Sligo Creative Cluster Co-Ordinator secured an art loan from the Art Library based in the Glucksman Gallery in UCC for all four schools in the West Sligo Creative Cluster. Kilglass NS, Killeenduff NS, Rathlee NS and Stokane NS have all took delivery of individual artworks from the Viewpoints Collection, which were on display in the schools during the
final term in May/June 2025.

The Viewpoints Collection is a touring exhibition with learning resources for all ages and abilities.  The Glucksman commissioned seven Irish picture book authors to respond to different themes within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  Artists Kathi Burke, Peter Donnelly, Chris Judge, Roisin Hahessy, Chris Haughton, Mary Murphy and Niamh Sharkey created new illustrations which were originally installed in the gallery spaces as large-scale mural paintings and now make up the Viewpoints Collection.

Cluster Co-Ordinator Ms. Brogan who successfully applied for the Art Library loan on behalf of the four schools in the Cluster, co-ordinated their arrival and delivery in May 2025. The Art Library is an innovative approach to sharing art and knowledge driven by the principles of creativity, inclusion and participation.

This is the first time that the Glucksman Gallery has loaned artworks this far west and Kilglass NS with the West Sligo Cluster schools were thrilled to house and exhibit these pieces from the Viewpoints Collection from May until their return to Cork in June 2025.

Education by Róisín Hahessy was on display in Kilglass NS.
Creativity and Play by Niamh Sharkey was located in Killeenduff NS
Justice and the Right to be Heard by Peter Donnelly was situated in Rathlee NS.
Family and Identity by Mary Ryan was exhibited in Stokane NS

Creative Schools/Scoileanna Ildánacha
Kilglass NS is a Creative School.

We are delighted to announce the fantastic news that we in Kilglass NS are now a Creative School and are participating in the Creative Schools programme from 2025-2027. Ms. Brogan is the School Co-Ordinator of the Creative Schools programme in Kilglass NS. Leslie Ryan is our Creative Associate.

This marks the natural next step for our school community on our creative path as we progress from being the Lead School in two West Sligo Creative Clusters, and Ms. Brogan having served as Cluster Co-Ordinator, while working with three other local schools, as we aim to provide a multitude of creative opportunities for our pupils and develop a Creativity Plan for our own school community in Kilglass NS.

Creative Schools a flagship of the Creative Youth plan – led by the Arts Council in partnership with the Departments of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media , Department of Education and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Since its inception in 2018, over 900 schools including primary, post primary schools, DEIS, special
schools, and alternative settings have joined the initiative.

Creative Schools aims to give our children and young people the opportunity to experience creativity as an integral part of their education placing the arts and creativity at the centre of school life. Each school is supported by a Creative Associate who supports the development of an individual school plan, and creates and strengthens links between the school and arts &
cultural organisations, in conjunction with the School Co-ordinator.

The long term aim is that every school will be able to fully embrace the arts and creativity, ensuring a positive experience and strong outcomes for children and young people. It is well recognised that engagement in the arts can nurture a child’s sense of confidence and well-being. Creative activity also enables communication and collaboration, stimulates imaginations and harnesses curiosity; all necessary skills required for successful learning.

The initiative recognises that schools play an important role in providing opportunities for children to participate in arts and culture and doing so also develop socio-emotional wellbeing, cognitive development, and positive attitudes towards school.

Watch this space as we document our Creative Schools adventure in Kilglass NS.

BLAST 2026 – Exploring Kilglass Woods through the Lens of Texture and Print
Ms. Brogan’s Rang 3 and Rang 4 in collaboration with Visual Artist Rebecca Massey.

BLAST is an Arts Residency provided by Creative Youth, Sligo Education Centre and ESCI to all schools in Ireland. BLAST is the acronym for Bringing Live Arts To Students and Teachers which commenced in the school year 2021/2022. Ms. Brogan, with Mr. Brennan’s support, has successfully applied for a BLAST Arts Residency every year since this scheme’s inception.

2026 marks Ms. Brogan’s Room fifth consecutive BLAST Arts Residency. We were fortunate to have collaborated with Karen Webster on our inaugural Residency in 2022, when Rang 3 created the ‘Life in Kilglass 2022 Mural’ which graces two walls in our Infant Yard, brightens the area beside the Buddy Bench and draws the junior pupils to this area like moths to a flame! In 2023 Rang 3 and Rang 4 collaborated with Anna Faye to create our second mural, a shell mosaic of Queen Meadhbh which reigns over the far corner of our Infant Yard and the side entrance to our yard.

In 2024 Rang 3 and Rang 4 discovered the joy of Land and Landscape Art in conjunction with environmental artist, Dr. Jo Lewis. This third Arts Residency contained numerous temporary artistic creations that emulated the Green Code of leaving no trace and culminated in a plaster of Paris Tile Sculpture inspired by items collected in Kilglass Woods on our Landscape Art Day there at the beginning of our BLAST journey that year.

The Kilglass NS Dúchas Collection stories inspired the fourth BLAST Residency in 2025. Under the guidance and inspiration of award-winning Sligo-based illustrator, Linda Farhlin, five of these stories were brought to life over the course of five weeks in January/February 2025. The completed works of art are displayed on rotation in the school in the short term as we prepare to frame these heritage stories and find a suitable permanent display area in our school where they can be admired.

Ms. Brogan’s Class fifth BLAST journey commenced on Friday 09 January 2028 and concluded on Friday 06 February 2026 with the creation of our class-created Kilglass Woods Diorama. Rebecca Massey, our BLAST Residency Artist, visited our classroom on Day 1, to introduce herself and her art practice to us. Rebecca is a visual artist and works in print and all aspects of Visual Art.
We were amazed when she showed us pictures of her latest exhibition and even more thrilled when she introduced us to the technique of Blind Drawing and Dot Drawing.

Day 2 of the BLAST Residency was spent crunching on the frosty grass in beautiful Kilglass Woods, trading through the mud and muck, having great fun observing, drawing, collecting and making rubbings! Print was a new area of art for us to experience and create. The drawings made in our Doodle Diaries, the tree rubbings and the natural objects collected in Kilglass Woods all formed the nucleus of our Kilglass Woods Diorama.

Each child had chosen a tree in the woods and on Day 3 drew their trees, printed their designs onto cardboard and cut them out.

Day 4 saw the children learn about another aspect of print- using a foam plate to design their tree texture, which was inspired by their tree rubbings in Kilglass Woods. Using rollers, they learned the skill of rolling their chosen design onto their cardboard trees which, as the pictures will attest, are extremely effective.  Next step in their printing journey was learning to print the natural objects collected in Kilglass Woods- ferns, ivy and leaves.

On Day 5 the whole project came together. Under Rebecca’s expert guidance, the children completed the foliage on their tress, learnt how to make props and stands for their trees and ad details like swings. Rebecca placed each tree individually, deciding on placement with the children and to our satisfaction, pride and delight, the Kilglass Woods Diorama was almost complete!

It is on display in our classroom, but is awaiting a few final finishing touches, that the creative people in my room are currently mulling over before a class decision is made and the diorama is deemed fully complete. Each child kept a Doodle Diary for the duration of the BLAST Residency to capture their thoughts, designs, ideas and inspirations.

BLAST Residency Number 6………watch this space 2027!!!!

Lorg na Scéalaíochta-The West Sligo Story Trail
For One Night Only- 05 June 2025

Showcase event of the West Sligo Creative Cluster 2023-2025

The dust has settled on what was an amazing production in Kilglass House Woods, and all visible traces of Lorg na Scéalaíochta have disappeared, leaving only the tracks of our toes imprinted on the West Sligo Story Trail. It is a fair assessment of our West Sligo Cluster finale that our Theatre Promenade was a huge success.

Lorg na Scéalaíochta was the showcase event of the West Sligo Creative Cluster and the culmination of two years collaboration between Kilglass NS, Killeenduff NS, Rathlee NS, Stokane NS and the professional puppeteer, Carmel Balfe.  Events such as Lorg na Scéalaíochta are organised for the benefit of the children in our schools and depend upon the support of our parents and families to succeed.

As the West Sligo Cluster Coordinator, bringing Lorg na Scéalaíochta from its genesis as the spark of an idea last July, to Story Trail performance on 05 June 2025, within the backdrop of Kilglass Woods, is a personal and professional highlight that I will forever cherish. Lorg na Scéalaíochta succeeded not only because of the excellent ensemble cast of actors and puppeteers, the combined choir and fantastic musicians, but because of the unstinting support of our parents and families, who provided
support and assistance in various different ways. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.

While Lorg na Scéalaíochta was initiated, steered by and produced by the committee of West Sligo Creative Cluster, in conjunction with Facilitator Leslie Ryan and Cluster Co-Ordinator, Karen Brogan, without the support and assistance of our school communities, of staff, pupils and parents, Lorg na Scéalaíochta would not have been realised.

To all the children who sang their hearts out, played with such gusto and were the beating heart of Lorg na Scéalaíochta- maith sibh a pháistí!!

It is a fitting tribute to the West Sligo Creative Cluster 2023-2025 that our vision of providing the children in the four Cluster schools with access to and experience of puppeteering over the course of two years culminated in a finale that was a living art exhibition as well as a community-based puppet theatre production which was child-led and child-centred; what an achievement! The Infant to Second classes in the Cluster schools were enthralled by the professional puppet shows held in Castleconnor Community Centre in March 2024. Carmel Balfe entertained the children with her puppet shows, as is evidenced by the accompanying photos.

In June 2024, children from Rang 3-Rang 6 in the Cluster schools attended in- school, in-class workshops with Carmel and created Shoebox Puppet Theatres based on the Dúchas Folklore Schools Collection. Each school researched stories collected from their own schools and these provided the basis for the puppet workshops.  Lorg na Scéalaíochta was born out of these workshops and brought the stories of Fionn and the Split Rock, Aengus Benadonner, The Scottish Giant and Dubhán Muc Dubh, The Black Pig of Enniscrone, to life on June 05 last.

The work of the West Sligo Creative Cluster 2023-2025 has sown seeds of creativity that will continue to bloom in our school community for many years to come.  Enjoy the attached video which captures the essence of Lorg na Scéalaíochta and the photos which document the puppetry journey from puppet show to puppet theatre promenade!

BLAST – Landscape Art in Kilglass Woods

On Wednesday last, 21 February 2024, Ms. Brogan’s class decamped to Kilglass House Woods for a field trip under the artistic direction of our resident BLAST artist, Jo Lewis. Our mission was to create the first ever piece of Landscape Art in Kilglass House Woods, inspired by landscape artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Spencer Byles

Landscape Art by its nature is temporary and is created using objects/found materials in the landscape. After its creation, landscape art is photographed and either left to decompose naturally or returned to where it was sourced. 

As we are a Green School, we are delighted that our Landscape Art Day was also a Leave No Trace event-apart from our muddy footprints!

Our arrival at Kilglass House Woods was greeted by the melodic warbling of a trio of robins which, coupled with the azure-blue sky, augured well for our field trip.

After a quick walk around the wood, we had a quick break before we began our day n earnest. In pairs, we had fantastic fun completing a worksheet for Jo. As we were answering questions, we were observing, searching, thinking, finding, discovering and learning about the flora and fauna of the clearing we were working in.

Then came the exciting part-creating our inaugural piece of Landscape Art. Jo had chosen a piece of path which we stood on either side of. Then we cleared the path of leaves and debris. Everyone chose 3 items that spoke to them. When we had all re-convened back at the path, one at a time, we placed an object at a time to construct our Class Landscape Art piece. What fun we had! The photos tell the story of our fab art creation.

Working in smaller groups we also created collaborative Landscape art pieces. It was amazing fun!

Before returning to the bus, we deconstructed our landscape artwork by returning all the materials to where they had been sourced.

Enjoy the photos of our amazing day creating Landscape Art in Kilglass House Woods.

We are waiting for Day 3 next week with bated breath!

Watch this space…………..

BLAST – Charcoal, Clay and Collaboration.

BLAST Day 3 was consumed by clay, charcoal and collaborative creations.

Our first activity was to create and design a collaborative mural/frieze that contained abstract drawings from our field trip to Kilglass Woods as the background for images of memorable objects/plants/shapes/patterns from last week. Using charcoal, we created the background first and then drew in our pictures. Jo is going to create a book using our artworks.

Working with charcoal that was created using willow and collaborating was fun but our next activity was even better!

Using clay and natural materials, we each designed and made our own individual realms or kingdoms, which were in the main inspired by last week’s amazing spent creating our inaugural pieces of landscape art.

The photos tell the story of our visually stimulating, creative and imaginative day.

Watch this space for more!

BLAST 2024 – Our Journey Begins!!

Ms. Brogan’s Rang 3 and Rang 4 in collaboration with artist Jo Lewis

Ms. Brogan’s Class third BLAST journey commenced today, 14 February 2024. Jo Lewis, our assigned artist, visited our classroom this morning to introduce herself and her art practice to us. Jo works in the landscape and uses natural materials in her creations. We were amazed when she showed us pictures of her latest exhibition which used dried roots to create prints among other fabulous artworks. Land Art is a new area of art for us to experience and create. Jo explained what it entails and showed us lots of beautiful photos from artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Spencer Byles. These beautiful photos of artworks crafted entirely from natural objects generated lots of reaction and discussion in our classroom as well as a whole new lexicon of related vocabulary. Jo’s visit today really whet our collective class appetite for the 2024 BLAST experience. Watch this space for weekly updates!!

Creative Schools- An Overview

Kilglass NS was part of the West Sligo Creative Cluster 2021-2023, with our partner schools-Killeenduff NS, Leaffoney NS, Rathlee NS and Stokane NS in conjunction with our Cluster Facilitator Leslie Ryan. Ms. Brogan was the Cluster Co-Ordinator in our Creative Cluster and Kilglass NS was the Lead School.

Creative Clusters is an initiative of the Department of Education and Skills, led by and in partnership with the 21 full-time Teacher Education Centres (Education Support Centres Ireland – ESCI) and funded through the Schools Excellence Fund – Creative Clusters Initiative.

Creative Clusters is an important initiative of Creative Youth – A Plan to Enable the Creative Potential of Every Child and Young Person, which was published in December 2017 as part of the Creative Ireland Programme/

The purpose of Creative Clusters is to demonstrate how the creative practices can support clusters of schools to work together to address common learning challenges over a two-year period.

The Creative Clusters scheme provides schools with access to creative people, skills and resources and supports them to draw on their own skills and experiences and those within their wider communities.

Kilglass NS has also successfully applied for and been awarded a second consecutive Creative Cluster which will run from 2023-2025, in conjunction with our partner schools Killeenduff NS, Rathlee NS and Stokane NS. We are fortunate that Leslie Ryan will continue in her role of Cluster Facilitator.

As our Cluster project emerges, it will be detailed and documented on this section of the website.

West Sligo Creative Cluster 2023-2025

We are delighted that our application for a new Creative Cluster has been successful and includes the following partner schools-Killeenduff NS, Rathlee NS and Stokane NS.

Karen Brogan will continue in her role as Cluster Co-ordinator, Kilglass NS will be the Lead School and Leslie Ryan will be our Cluster Facilitator.

As our new Cluster project emerges over the next two years, the events will be documented on this section of our website.

Watch this space!!!

The West Sligo Creative Cluster 2021-2023

Dúlra agus Dúchas- The Ties that Bind Us.

Our Creative Cluster project encompassed local ecology; marine mythology contextualized within a strong sense of place as a coastal community in the West of Ireland.

Year 1

Workshop 1: Foraging for materials on Enniscrone Beach with artist Kari Cahill.

Workshop 2: Making pigments and ink with Kari Cahill

Workshop 3: Cyanotype workshop with staff from all Cluster schools.

Year 2:

Scary Woods Walk, Kilglass House

Model Niland Gallery tour and workshops with Lorna Watkins and Andy Parsons

Vocal workshop with Rossa ó Snodaigh to create a soundscape for Lóchrainn na Rónta

Lóchrainn na Rónta- a celebration of the legend of the Selkie as a light installation creating sculptures in collaboration with Tom Meskall.

We explored these themes through sculpture, a light installation, a soundscape workshop, ink and pigment making using materials foraged on the seashore, visiting the Model Niland Art Gallery and working collaboratively as a group of 5 rural schools with artists including Kari Cahill, Tom Meskell and musician Rossa Ó Snodaigh.

Lóchrainn na Rónta, – a light installation and performance celebrating the legend of the Selkie- took place on Enniscrone beach at sunset on May 14 2023 and was the culmination of our two-year creative cluster, documented through stills photography and drone video footage.

Our successful application afforded us the opportunity  not alone to develop new and innovative ways of working co-operatively, to develop friendships as teachers and pupils, but to forge relationships and new ways of approaching creative projects with the guidance and expertise of artists such as Tom Meskell, Kari Cahill, Andy Parsons, Lorna Watkins, Rossa Ó Snodaigh, while allowing us to initiate the formation of a relationship with the Model Niland Gallery through their Education Officer, Marie Louise Blaney.

We foraged on Enniscrone beach for materials, made pigments and inks, leaned about cyanotypes through a staff CPD event and visited the Model Niland Gallery in Sligo.

The culmination of our cluster was the once in a lifetime opportunity to collaborate with Tom Meskell and produce our Lóchrainn na Rónta event at sunset on Enniscrone beach, which involved every child from Infants to Sixth Class in all 5 schools, parents and families as well school staff. This was a particular highlight for the cluster committee, bringing together sculpture, mythology, performance art under the direction of musician Rossa Ó Snodaigh, encompassing our cluster ideals of ecology, locality, mythology and a sense of place.

It brought the creative, cultural and educational aspects of our project together in a memorable experience for all involved and inspired us to continue our new, innovative ways of collaboration into the future.

The children experienced different workshops/methods of working, using different media and an art gallery visit to the Model Niland Gallery which included an exhibition tour, a portrait workshop and an artist workshop tour. Through all of these activities, while working with Kari Cahill, Tom Meskell, Lorna Watkins, Andy Parsons, Rossa Ó Snodaigh, the children were involved in various creative processes and were afforded the opportunity to discuss/ask/inquire about the tasks at hand with the artists involved. Many interesting observations were made and deep discussions held between the children, the teachers and the artists involved.

Not only did the children forage on the beach for materials, they made their own pigments and ink which were then used for painting, an experience that was completely different to opening a pot of paint for colouring. While working with Lorna Watkins, they imagined and created self-portraits. Working with Tom Meskell they created wire sculpture seals, lanterns, jellyfish, rocks, starfish and a lighthouse. The children imagined, designed and created Halloween -themed artefacts for the community-based artistic event in Kilglass House-The Spooky Scary Woods Walk.

Every child in Kilglass NS created/designed a jam jar lantern that was part of our beach light installation. 16 seal sculptures were made by the pupils in the 5 schools as well as individual creations in each school- pyramid lanterns, jellyfish, rocks, starfish and a lighthouse. All children in Kilglass NS participated in a vocal workshop and performed their sound scape accompaniment to the song which was central to our light sculpture installation on the beach. As a result of participating in the ink and pigment workshops children were inspired to make their own at home.

A reflective booklet was designed and created by Ms. Brogan to allow the children to think, ponder and respond to the Model Niland visit. Based on developing disciplinary literacy through visual arts, it provided various ideas and opportunities for the children to respond to the workshops, visit and galley tour through drawing, answering questions, completing sentence stems, composing a poem amongst others. It provided valuable insight into the children’s reactions to the workshops, exhibitions and visit itself. Through the informal discussions the children had with the various artists that they worked with they expressed their interests, offered opinions, discussed solutions/ideas and thoughts in a creative, safe, respectful environment. This allowed the children to develop their reflective skills, abilities and critical responses to the various endeavours in the context of a creative framework that recognised their space, voice, audience and agency.

Our children see themselves as artists, creative beings, creative thinkers, with voice, space and agency in this area as well as enhanced self-esteem.

We applied twice for the Documentation Award and were shortlisted this year.

Being a Creative Cluster is a source of pride, for us as teachers, for our pupils, our school staffs and has enriched our creative lives

Each of the Cluster events is documented separately on this page.

Spooky Scary Woods, Kilglass House

2022 & 2023

Kilglass NS were active participants in the inaugural Kilglass House Spooky Scary Woods Walk in 2022. We were delighted to be involved with other local schools, including our creative Cluster partners, to provide newly-created designs for this community art celebration.

Magnificent spooky creations were designed to enhance the Halloween atmosphere which was enjoyed by Rang 3,4 & 5 on the day of mid-term break. The teeming rain couldn’t dampen our Halloween spirits and added immensely to the enjoyment of this inaugural event.

Our creations tied in seamlessly with our Green Schools as we needed to use sustainable materials which would withstand the elements, would be re-used in the future and showcase our commitment to upcycling, sustainability and bio-diversity.

In 2023, all Kilglass pupils from Infants to Rang 6 were involved in designing creations to decorate the second Spooky Scary Woods Walk. Wearing Halloween costumes the children walked the Spooky trail and soaked up the fabulous Halloween atmosphere throughout the morning of midterm break.

We had fun spotting the new creations from this year and have many ideas percolating for next year’s event.

Congratulations to all involved in organising this now annual and much anticipated event in Kilglass House which gets bigger and better every year. It truly reflects what can be achieved when like-minded people work together to bring a germ of an idea to fruition for the benefit of all. The spark of creativity is well and truly ignited in Kilglass!!

BLAST Overview

BLAST stands for Bringing Live Arts to Students and Teachers. It is an initiative funded by the Department of Education, through Creative Ireland and organised locally through Sligo Education Centre.400 schools, both primary and post-primary were involved in BLAST in 2022. BLAST provides the opportunity for children and schools to create and complete unique art experiences. The aim of this scheme is to give students in schools all over the country the opportunity to work with a professional artist on unique projects to be planned and developed between the artist, the teacher and the school under the co-ordination of our local education centre in Sligo. This initiative supports children for the future, where skills like the ability to connect and collaborate with others, engage in creative and critical thinking and practice inclusivity at every level will be paramount to peace, stability, sustainable economic growth and equality.

Once an application to participate in BLAST is approved, a professional artist is appointed to work with each successful school. Not all BLAST projects are murals. BLAST projects have been based in various artistic disciplines including visual arts, crafts, music, dance, drama, literature and film. In Kilglass NS, we have completed two murals which now grace our Infant yard.

We have been fortunate enough to participate in two consecutive BLAST projects which are detailed below.

Our third consecutive BLAST residency has been awarded to Ms. Brogan’s Rang 3 and Rang 4 and will commence in early 2024. Follow our progress on this page.

BLAST 2023

Our second BLAST journey began last September. Ms. Brogan and Mr. Brennan both decided that it would be an exciting creative project for us to undertake again this school year. Ms. Brogan filled out the application form which said that we wanted to create a mural that would complement our 2022 mural and hang on the shed wall in the school yard. We wanted to it to reflect our locality, heritage and environment. We waited with bated breath and fingers crossed until the good news arrived that our application had been successful. We were delighted, excited and thrilled that we would be creating another mural with artist Anna Faye.

Nothing happened immediately, as it was November and not suitable weather for painting outdoors. Finally, finally, finally, the first day of our BLAST project arrived. On February12, Ana came to our classroom and spent the day working with us. Ana explained to us that she was a fashion designer and has a business making hand-made leather bags. We began by discussing what our mural design would be like. Instead of painting, this year we would be creating a mosaic, using shells. The Romans paved their streets and roads using mosaics. Instead of paint, the colour in a mosaic is provided by broken tiles, glued to a background. Ana and Ms. Brogan had decided that we would create our mosaic using shells!

Ana showed us various images of Queen Maedhbh and we discussed Knocknarea, the legends associated with Queen Maedhbh and her burial ground.

First, we drew our designs on paper. Ana gave every one of us a piece of wood and using lentils, different coloured beans, sugar, salt and PVA glue we created mini mosaics which were then used by Ana to create the design for our big mural.

We learnt a very important lesson that day. Mosaic pictures and designs need to be very simple as complicated details get lost in a mosaic.

Over the next 3 weeks, we worked with Ana creating, designing and completing our BLAST mosaic. Ms. Brogan had set up a space in our classroom where the mural took shape. The paster board had been delivered and was in place in our room, ready to be transformed into our Queen Maedhbh mural. We worked in groups every day with Ana. While one group was gluing shells to the plasterboard, under Ana’s watchful eye, other groups were creating jewellery and leather mosaics. We had collected shells and pebbles which had to be sorted, washed and prepared for gluing to the mosaic.

Our classroom smelt like the seashore all during the BLAST process but we didn’t mind as we were delighted to see our mosaic taking shape, day by day.

Everyone in Rang 3 and Rang 4 was involved. Eventually, our mural was finished to our delight. Ms. Brogan varnished the mural at night as the smell of varnish was very strong. She painted the shed to match the wall behind last year’s mural.

Our second mural is a collaborative piece and we are very proud of our artwork.

Queen Maedhbh is visible with her long, lustrous locks, flowing into the Atlantic Ocean. In the background Knocknarea and the path to the summit is clearly visible.

Why did we choose Queen Maedhbh? Knocknarea is an important landmark in County Sligo. Legend tells us that Queen Maedhbh is buried, standing up, with her back to Ulster, in the cairn on Knocknarea’s summit.

Who was Queen Maedhbh? She was a warrior queen who reigned over Connacht for 60 years, between 50BC and 50 AD. Her father was the High King of Ireland- that’s why she was a queen. Maedhbh was born in Rathcroghan and was married to Aillil. He became King because she was a Queen- the opposite of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

A brown bull is clearly visible in the foreground of the mural. This is the Brown Bull of Cooley or Donn Cualainge to give him his proper name. He roamed the forest and mountainside in the Cooley Peninsula, County Louth, home of Joe Biden’s relations. He was the largest, fiercest and most valuable bull in Ireland at that time. One night, long ago, when Conor Mac Neasa ruled Ulster, and Maedhbh ruled over the West of Ireland, Maedhbh and Aillil sat boasting of their riches. They compared their clothes, their gold, their horses, everything they had. They both were equal until Aillil boasted he had a great white bull. This white bull of Arilli’s was called Fionnbheannach.

Maedhbh fell silent. She filled with rage and jealousy for she had no bull to compare to Fionnbheannach. The only comparable bull to in the whole of Ireland was Donn Cualainge. Maedhbh decided to take Donn Cualainge from Ulster, to fight against Fionnbheannach. This decision caused one of the most famous battles in Irish Mythology- Táin Bó Cualinge. The men of Connacht marched to fight against the Red Branch Knights of Ulster. Having being placed under a spell, Cú Chulainn was the only Ulster warrior left to single-handedly fight the men of Connacht. Ferdia, Meadhbh’s greatest warrior and Cú Chualinn, had been childhood friends and refused to fight each other. Maedhbh lied to Ferdia and the two champions fought for three days and three nights. Eventually, using the magic spear, the Gae Bolga, Cú Chulainn killed his childhood friend in the place we now call Áth Fherdia, Ardee, Co Louth. It is a tale of sadness and woe, as both bulls die after fighting each other. At the end of an epic battle, one of the most famous battles and one of the greatest legends in Irish mythology. Queen Maedhbh of Connacht and her husband Aillil were none the richer.

Our mural, therefore celebrates the infamous warrior Queen Maedhbh of Connacht and her involvement in the notorious Irish epic saga, Táin Bó Cualainge. It places her firmly atop Knocknarea.

The compass points North, according to her legend, buried with her back to Ulster.

The spear, sword and compass are colourful and beautifully designed by the children.

In the top right-hand corner is a beautiful Celtic, spiral motif, surrounded by three lines of pebbles, as three was a powerful, magical, symbolic number in ancient Ireland.

We are artists and creative collaborators and we hope that our BLAST mural will bring further colour and fun to our school community. We are proud of our beautiful artwork.

We hope it complements last year’s mural and brings our glorious historical past to life in a colourful manner for our whole school community to enjoy.

Queen Maedhbh ensured that Sligo will always be immortalised in story through the Táin. She is still holding court, as a warrior queen, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

It is our wish that she is proud of mural and our effort to keep her warrior spirit alive.

BLAST 2022

Rang 3’s BLAST journey began in September 2021 when Ms. Brogan had a conversation with Mr. Brennan and they decided that it would be an exciting creative project for us to undertake. Ms. Brogan filled out the application form. Our application said that we wanted to paint a mural on two walls in the school yard.

We wanted to it to reflect our locality, heritage and environment. The internationally-acclaimed artist Jack B. Yeats has strong links to Enniscrone, on our doorstep. With such strong local and Sligo connections, we wanted the mural to reflect his style of painting. After a few weeks the good news arrived- our application had been successful. We were delighted, excited and thrilled that we would be creating a mural. More good news followed that Karen Webster would be our BLAST artist.

On April 26, just after the Easter holidays, Karen Webster came to our classroom and spent the day working with us. She showed us her own beautiful artworks and we discussed how they were created. Karen loves nature and paints using natural materials.

Jack B. Yeats artworks were next. He is internationally renowned for his beautiful paintings, which are valued at millions of euros. We first looked at ‘The Liffey Swim’ and discussed the colours and style of the painting. Next, we viewed some of his Sligo-inspired and West of Ireland paintings. The Metal Man of Sligo depicts Rosses Point. Knocknarea is a beautifully evocative watercolour of Queen Maeve’s final resting place. The two men in the painting’ A Western Town, Evening’ generated quite a lot of chat! But, our stand-out favourite was Memory Harbour, inspired by his memories of Sligo harbour. We discussed Jack B. Yeats’ use of colour, the construction of the piece, the manner in which he had laid out and painted the different elements of the picture. Rang 3 really adored this painting. We also learned about the Model Niland Gallery in Sligo and the connection with Jack B. Yeats.

Karen showed us how to do an activity called Blind Drawing which was challenging, but fun.

Our next activity was the real start of the mural design process. What does live in Kilglass mean to me? was what we discussed and brainstormed.

Having each been given a sheet of A3 paper, we folded it into 4 squares. Using special fine-nibbed pens, in each square, we drew a picture of what living in Kilglass meant to each of us. It was fun using the special pens and even more fun drawing our pictures. We drew the school, the church, houses, the shop, the football pitch, the pier, tractors, cows, cars, the Hilltop, Burke’s bridge, flowers, trees and much much more. After lunch, we each chose one of the 4 pictures and drew it in more detail.

Karen explained to us about watercolours and primary colours. After drawing our pictures in greater detail, using the fine-nibbed pens, on special watercolour paper, we then got to paint our drawings using watercolours. Karen then made a plan for our mural with us. We realised that we had forgotten a few things, like the stop sign at Burkes bridge that said ah stop lads, the windmills at Lacken and some other bits and pieces. These missing items were al drawn and Karen departed, laden down with our sketches, drawings and paintings.

It was an agonising wait until her return 2 weeks later with our mural plan, design and paint! Upon her return, Karen explained to us how she had used all of our paintings to plan and make the mural. She photocopied, enlarged and used our drawings to create a small-scale version of the mural on 2 sheets of A3 paper. This was then photocopied onto acetate sheets. With the help of an overhead projector, our drawings were transferred to the two large pieces of marine plyboard that are now proudly hanging in the Infant Yard.

Ms. Brogan had set up a space in the classroom and we worked in small groups. The floor under our mural sections was carefully covered in paper, plastic and large sheets of durable cardboard. Everyone wore old clothes, which were covered by a plastic apron, created by Ms. Brogan using a clear bin bag and scissors!!

The Kilglass section of the mural was painted on Tuesday and the Beach section on Wednesday. Once again, we experimented with mixing the primary colours to create all the other beautiful colours that you will see on our mural. The background is always painted first, then the foreground and finally, the finer details are carefully added. As we were painting, we were learning from Karen. We learnt about vanishing points, collaboration and perspective! Eventually, our mural was finished.

We were thrilled with our collaborative piece and we are very proud of our artwork. Facing Mrs. Meenaghan’s room is the Kilglass panel. It starts at the Hilltop and the road continues past the stop sign at Burkes bridge. It passes houses, the school, the church and the shop in Kilglass. The football pitch is there and a cow! The sun is shining in the big blue sky and there is a feeling of happiness, contentment and peace in Kilglass.

The second panel connects with the first and it brings us from Kilglass to the beach. Notice the Rathlee water tower, the Lacken windmills and the airplane glinting in the sunlight.

Children are playing on the beach and don’t forget the Massey Fergusson!! Beware of the octopus and the shark! Surfer dudes are cruising the waves and boats are anchored at the pier. As the glowing sun prepares to travel further afield at the end of another glorious day, the vibrant orange sunset is reflected in the pier.

We hope that our BLAST mural will bring colour and fun to our school community We are proud of our beautiful artwork as  it reflects what our school, community and locality mean to each of us in Rang 3.

Jack B Yeats lived in and loved Sligo. His amazing, colourful artworks displayed that love of Sligo through his use of watercolour. Our mural displays our love of Kilglass and county Sligo.

We hope that our BLAST mural will bring colour and fun to our school community We are proud of our beautiful artwork as  it reflects what our school, community and locality mean to each of us in Rang 3.

TAP 2021

Teacher Artist Partnership (TAP) is an arts-in-education initiative where Artists and Teachers train to work in partnership.

Ms. Brogan participated in the TAP summer course and as a result is now a TAP trained teacher.

During the school year 2020-2021, she hosted a fully funded artist residency with her Rang 4 and Rang 5.

Ciara O’Hara was the artist who collaborated with MS. Brogan and her 27 pupils for our TAP Residency.

All our sessions were conducted via Zoom, as per Public Health Guidelines at that time.

As a result of the discussions between Ciara and the class, the theme of Journeys was decided upon as our focus and we chose to interrogate this theme by creating individual, personal books.

The journeys involved could be personal, auto-biographical, imaginative, based upon a character, or whatever their choice was!

Mediating the sessions through Zoom was quite a challenge, but the children and Ms. Brogan rose to the challenge!

Through the residency, guided by Ciara, we investigated various artists who used books as their medium of expression. Responding to the images of the various book creations generated intensive discussion as the children made decisions around their own personal Journey books.

The children learnt about designing covers, endpapers, binding and methods of making books.

The fantastic creations speak for themselves.

To conclude the TAP residency, Ciara facilitated an outdoor Temporary Art workshop with the children. Pictures were created using items from nature that were available in the school yard environs.

It truly was an amazing creative experience.