In March 2026, Arts for Health visual artist Emma Scully organised an exhibition of Arts for Health work at the Green Dot Café. Part of the Clonakilty Arts and Minds Festival, the exhibition showcased work created by participants at Clonakilty Community Hospital.
Returning for a second year, Clonakilty Arts and Minds Festival took place from 27 to 29 March this year. The programme included a wide selection of music, poetry, theatre, visual art exhibitions, philosophy lectures, and children’s literature! The festival showcased the abundant creativity of the town, and the work of Arts for Health participants was right there beside it.
The exhibition featured four projects by residents of Clonakilty Community Hospital; Stitch by Stitch, Dath, Ceramic Village, and Leaves of Gold.
Stitch by Stitch – A Painted Bunting
Created with artist Emma Scully, participants began this project by looking through art books to gather inspiration and colour combinations. Each resident chose their favourite painting from the book to base their own painting on. They painted a square of canvas in response to their chosen painting. Once all paintings on canvas were complete, Emma stitched them together into bunting. Some of the panels were inspired by paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso.
Dath
The title of this project, ‘Dath’, is the Irish word for colour. Clonakilty Community Hospital residents created each piece using oil pastels. They focus on expression through colour and texture.
Leaves of Gold
Residents of Silverwood, Clonakilty Community Hospital worked with artist Sharon dipity to create Leaves of Gold, a series of prints inspired by the falling leaves of autumn, and Robert Frost’s poem ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’. Using leaves chosen by participants, the group produced richly textured prints embellished with gold ink and layered relief patterns, bringing the colours and joy of the natural world into the sessions.
Ceramic Village
This project was a joint collaboration between Emma Scully and the residents of Silverwood, Clonakilty Community Hospital. The project spanned over a number of months in 2025 as the residents were taught how to build miniature ceramic houses from scratch. Each piece on display began from a single ball of clay. The residents then moulded, cut, designed, and glazed the clay into a beautiful collective piece of work.
A big thank you to Emma for putting this exhibition together! Some of these pieces will also be part of Uillinn’s Bealtaine exhibition, opening on Friday 1 May. Come along to see the work in person.
Images by Emma Scully.