Over the last year, participants on the Arts for Health programme worked alongside artist Michael Greenlaw to create a number of public artworks.
To celebrate and include them in our Bealtaine exhibition, a series of information panels showcasing each piece are on display at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre.
The public artworks include Beara Map Mural, Dunmanway Life, and Through the Window.
Beara Map Mural
Castletownbere Community Hospital
April – September 2023
Beara Map Mural is a map of the Beara Peninsula, painted directly onto the wall adjacent to activities/dining room at Castletownbere Community Hospital. The interactive project initiates ongoing conversation with the hospital community bringing about storytelling and song around life on the Beara peninsula.
Inspired by the stories, Arts for Health musician Ecki Krupp has begun to make a film journeying around the peninsular. His project brings the map to life with a cultural journey of the residents’ archive of song and folklore.
Dunmanway Life
Dunmanway Day Care Centre
Summer 2022 and 2023
Healthcare staff and participants at Dunmanway Day Care Centre worked alongside artist Michael Greenlaw to create a large mosaic artwork. The project sought to tell the stories of life in Dunmanway with the added bonus of brightening up a concrete ramp at the side entrance of the Centre.
Taking place over two years, Michael and the participants began by creating a series of small mosaic panels that reflected images of local significance to life in Dunmanway, as well as reflecting on sentimental personal experiences. Working collaboratively, the group chose the images through lively discussions. Michael learnt a great deal about the locality, cultural and significant moments in the lives of the community. When the individual panels were complete, Michael installed them over two days, with participants coming out to see their work in its final place.
Through the Window
Dunmanway Community Hospital
April – September 2023
Through the Window is a glass sculpture created by residents and staff at Dunmanway Community Hospital, working with artist Michael Greenlaw as part of the Arts for Health Partnership Programme, West Cork. The project aimed to engage participants at Dunmanway Community Hospital in creating a glass sculpture to brighten up the hospital’s outdoor space. In the final piece, participant’s individual glass panels came together to form one communal structure.
Artist Michael Greenlaw introduced the theme of ‘birds in the garden’. He encouraged lively discussions around bird species, songs, sayings, and poems. Participants learned different techniques for working with glass. This included drawing and painting onto glass, and using smaller colourful pieces of glass to create designs in a mosaic style. These would later be fused in the kiln.
The final structure included birds, flower motifs, GAA county colours, and an extract from ‘The Wren Song’. It stands in the garden of Dunmanway Community Hospital.
