Two County Galway Schools; Scoil Chroí Naofa and Athenry Boys School, participated in our County Project this year through November 2021 into the New Year. The Project brief was designed by the previous Education Coordinator Dee Deegan and realised by the present, Aoife Natsumi Frehan. The workshop activities were inspired by this year’s Curator’s call’s open letter format. The workshops were delivered in person and with all restrictions considered. Both of these projects were kindly supported by the Arts Office of Galway County Council.

And Somebody, Anybody, Nobody

Visual Artist and Printmaker Aoife Barrett was invited to work with 2 Primary school groups in Athenry, Co. Galway to respond to the curatorial brief. This was done through Aoife guiding the students to write a letter to/from a place that they missed while the restrictions were in place. The underpinning theme of this letter being the sense of longing, the learners had the opportunity to express these through creative letter making. Starting with some paper folding, the students folded their letters into envelopes. After exploring the idea of mail art as another way of communicating/sharing their messages, they used different rubber stamps and printing techniques to create images inspired by their messages. Aoife brought a handmade letterbox, setting up a mini post office where the students stamped and posted their letters to TULCA. 

Images from Scoil Chroí Naofa. Photos: Aoife Barrett

TULCA Festival of Visual Arts
there’s nothing here but flesh & bone,
there’s nothing more
Curated by Eoin Dara
5 - 21 November 2021
Galway, Ireland

www.tulca.ie