Bringing Bailieborough's folklore to life

SHOWCASE Artworks by Bailieborough Community School students gets national platform on the Creative Engagement Exhibition

Folk stories from Bailieborough were brought to life through the beautiful paintings of local students. The artworks were amongst those by schools across the Republic to feature in the eighth 'Annual Creative Engagement Exhibition 2021'.

The exhibition, which got underway online today and runs until Saturday, features contributions from a dozen Bailieborough Community School students. It is the culmination of work which began with research by the students on local folk stories on Duchas.ie and, when it was open to the public, in Bailieborough Library.

Coordinated by teacher Grace McNally the school hosted a series of workshops with professional artist Jackie O'Neill.

Folklore is a frequent source of inspiration for the Cavan artist, as displayed in the magnificent Dreamscape Trail in Belturbet. Jackie shared her experience in capturing one scene that resonates with a particular folk story, and then gave tips on watercolour techniques for background.

“On meeting the students of BCS I wanted to share my experiences of how to interpret their chosen stories, how to pick out images from the writing and how to illustrate them in their own unique styles.”

The artist took away the works on paper and printed them on canvas. Another dimension was brought to the work as, under Jackie's tutelage, the students used embroidery to emphasise certain aspects of the image. As Jackie says, the framed final images are something of which the students can be justly proud.

“Overall the students engaged really well and were very enthusiastic about their chosen stories. They seemed genuinely interested in the process from start to finish.

“The students should be very proud of their finished artworks. They really capture the essence of Bailieborough folklore and showcase their talents as budding young artists.”

Ms McNally was impressed by the final works, which have gone on display online.

“We got to explore different folklore stories of our local area, Bailieborough. It was interesting to find out about different people who lived in he area at the time. It was great to to have a cross curricular link with history whereby students came up with their own interpretation of an historical story."

The work will continue until Saturday. For more, see www.creativeengagement.ie