Students new art exhibition engages diverse audiences

A NEW exhibition titled ‘Surface Beneath – Faoin Dromchla’, which includes works from local secondary school students, is now on display in the Pearse Museum in Rathfarnham until April 4.

The display comes from Creative Campus, which is an annual site-specific arts programme supporting emerging artists to create work that engages diverse audiences in South Dublin County.

The exhibition works are described as being an exploration of the physical and mythical landscape of St Enda’s Park, where the Pearse Museum is located.

The featured works also contain personal responses to the park and the imaginative worlds that exist, just below the surface, according to the artists.

The artists were Brianna Marshall Crowe and Kate Power who are both recent graduates from the National College of Art and Design (NCAD).

Local pupils from Deansrath Community College, Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh, and St Aidan’s Community School also took part.

The students worked collaboratively under the guidance of the graduate artists to collect and gather primary sources from St Enda’s Park.

These objects were used to form the foundation of their lino print designs, and they explored the ancient practices of natural dyes.

Their primary sources were then placed on top of naturally dyed cloth and left in the sun to create anthotype prints or sun prints, which are a feature of the exhibition.

Three of the secondary school students, Hung Manh Nguyen from Deansrath Community College, Ollie Delsart de Búrca from Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh and Misha Singh from St Aidan’s Community School, have received scholarships to NCAD’s portfolio preparation summer course.

This year’s programme was curated by Tony Fegan, director of Tallaght Community Arts and produced by Jennifer Webster.

Creative Campus is an initiative of Tallaght Community Arts, South Dublin County Council Arts Office and Noise Dublin in partnership with the National College of Art and Design.