One of the venues where I teach children’s art classes is My Place Hall in Midleton. During the summer I was asked if I would like to participate in a group art exhibition entitled ‘I T-SHIRT’. It would be an exhibition of East Cork Artists of varied disciplines where the theme and material/media used for the design would be up to the artist. Each artist would be given a plain black t-shirt to work on.
This was an interesting challenge. I could tear it apart and do something sculptural with it, or paint a landscape or still life, like the ones I teach in my art classes. The design would need to be bright and colourful to stand out against the black background. Taking inspiration from home, what better than the bright poppies I’d painted on utilty boxes in Glounthaune? I also love painting birds, like those in Harpers Island. As I had seen a kingfisher there last year, its bright blue and orange feathers would look striking for the t-shirt design. I used several layer of acrylic paints to achieve the strong colours I had in mind. The exhibition took place on October 18th. Sure enough, there was a wide range of work and artistic interpretation, and it was wonderful be part of this creative project.
In addition to my children’s art classes, I ran a three week art course for adults in Glounthaune on Saturday mornings in October where we looked at still life, landscape and perspective. I may hold a similar course for adults in Glounthaune Community Centre in Spring 2025. If you’re interested, follow me on Facebook at facebook.com/frazzledmammy, visit my website at frazzledmammy.com/art-classes, or contact me at 087 6684021 for more information.