helenfarrellart

Arts in Healthcare is a little recognised, but expanding and important area in Ireland today, having the potential to transform healthcare experiences and societal health through the Arts. I was fortunate to gain valuable and enjoyable experience in this field while working as a Creativity Facilitator for a year in a Residential Care Hospital in Dublin in 2014.  This post gives a brief overview of a wonderful and innovative summer long Outdoor Art Exhibition which we curated in the hospital courtyard. Some of our residents chose to give a comment on their input into this show -  I have included these in itallics. "Pillowcase project" "Love" - Mosaic on wood. Comment by artist "Wow!"  Our "Outdoor Art Exhibition" was especially popular, so I am uploading some images of this event, which will give a flavour of some of the work we made. "Blue Tree" - Watercolour on weatherproofed paper. Commen...

  Exciting to receive- ".Dear Landfillart Artist: Today , World Environment Day of the United Nations—an annual celebration to encourage positive environmental action—is the perfect time to inform you that the artwork you created and donated to the Landfillart Project will be included in the exhibition  Second Time Around: The Hubcap as Art. The exhibition will open  September 7, 2014 , at  The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley  (MSV), in Winchester, Virginia, USA, and be on exhibit through  March 1, 2015 .  Yours is one of 287 objects selected out of more than 1,000 artworks now in the Landfillart Collection.  The exhibition presents work from artists in every U.S. state and 35 other countries.  The dense, visually exciting installation has a strong environmental message and will incorporate WASTE NOT from the Green Revolution “eco-zibit,” which is based on an exhibition originally created by the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, and ...

One rainy, cold day in Spring 2013, a few of us were sitting in the back office of Ranelagh Arts Centre, wrecking our heads trying to think of new projects to put forward for Ranelagh Arts Festival later that year. Mountpleasant Mural Project was  an idea we felt might work. It would involve  collaborative  Community Paintings, which would eventually be on display as outdoor art in a local area. We proposed  that we would  create 4 -6   permanent outdoor 2D artpieces for the enjoyment of local community for display in Mounpleasant Park in Ranelagh, Dublin...and that we would involve the   the local RMDS Primary school, local community and park visitors in the creation of some of the pieces. At the end of it, we hoped to have  a few o utdoor permanent paintings in the park for all to enjoy, and  which would hopefully inspire community and other artists to the potential of projects like these in the city/country. We felt ...

Post- script: In 2013, Moynalty won the National Tidy Towns award. The following community arts project was mentioned on the adjudicators report, and we like to think that the community energy involved in this outdoor art exhibition contributed in some small way towards that award! http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/moynalty-co-meath-named-ireland-s-tidiest-town-1.1521107 Left to right-  Helen Farrell, John O Brien, Heather Buchanan, Catherine Mc Cormack, Deirdre Gilsenan. Weighed down by the gloom of a long winter in 2012, our thoughts went to dreaming of longer days when leaf buds would form on trees, birds would start to look for materials with which to build their nests and a certain light would appear in our daylight hours. A notion formed of creating outdoor artpieces alongside  nature, as she created the following season. A brave or foolish notion ? I wasn't sure , but it didn't go away. It became stronger, and we began to conside...