with Kildare County Council Arts Office
As part of the Kildare County Council 'Arts in Schools' programme, these workshops were offered to schools in the county from 2009-2011
Objective of this workshop. To stimulate interest in, and promote a knowledge and appreciation of, architecture through art.
Summary:- By giving the children a structure to explore and investigate the visual elements of their built environment, they learn to recognise shape, form, colour and texture. In addition, by getting involved in spatial organisation they increase their sensitivity to their surroundings.
This workshop is a stand-alone project designed to be a companion to the current primary school curriculum, and is an enriching visual arts experience. By exploring the shape, form, and function of the buildings around them, the workshop is designed to enrich the children's appreciation of their manmade environment both through observation and the use of their imaginations.
It aims to help the children look at buildings with fresh eyes and
with an enriched understanding of both the aesthetic and functional elements of
architecture.
National Drawing Day
2009-10
with the OPW Castletown House Co. Kildare.
As part of a national celebration of drawing, Fifi ran open-air impromptu drawing workshops at the invitation of the Office of Public Works.
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O'Connell Court Cork
workshop 2005
Objective:- To produce an innovative artwork (installation) based on the process of the artist's interaction with the residents of O’Connell Court, Cork, Ireland,
Participants:- 8 elderly homeless residents with mental health difficulties.
Time scale:- April-Sept 2005
Funded by:- National Lottery & Health Board.
This residency was set up to have a two-way effect. Both the artist and the residents grew through the interaction – a process using a series of 18 workshops, in which the residents explored their own creativity with the artist. From the interaction in the workshops the artist produced an installation The installation consisted of a 2.4m high octagonal space with walls of backlit magnified skin photos, with the artefacts from the residents being incorporated on shelves.
_______________________________The Butterfly Boat, St Patrick's Festival, Dublin. 2003
Jan-March 2003 – Gay Pride float for the St Patrick's Day Parade (Dublin)
Participants - 10 Members of the Lesbian and Gay Community increasing to 24 by the end.
Funded by Café (now Create) and St Patrick's Day Festival .
Description:- Cáfe (now Create) the national development agency for collaborative arts invited Fifi to participate in the 'Artist in the Community Programme' attached to the Dublin Pride Parade 2005. Twelve people were selected to participate. People who had little or no contact with the arts were deliberately chosen.
The concept of the Butterfly Boat was developed from collective interactive explorations of gay themes at a series of workshops run by the artist at Outhouse (Dublin LBGT community centre). Fifi sketched the ideas that had developed during the workshops and because the group were so enthusiastic, and because some funding was available from the Dublin Saint Patrick's Day Festival, the group decided to physically build the product of their imaginings.
The boat was completed and featured in the 2003 Dublin St Patrick's Day parade.
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Outhouse Residency Workshops. 2002
Sept-Nov. 2002 at Outhouse South William St Dublin (centre for the gay and lesbian community in Dublin). Time scale Sept-Oct 2002 a series of 5 workshops
The workshops were advertised in the Gay press and at gay venues. Ten respondents who had little or no contact with the arts, but who showed real curiosity about the visual arts were selected.
In an 8-week programme that included a visit to IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin) the participants explored the visual arts.
The objectives of the programme were threefold:-
1. Get non-artists to explore their own imagination, and to find and express their individual creative abilities.
2 To get the group to work as a team, and in this way to investigate their collective creativity.
3 To gain an ease with the visual arts that would enable and encourage them to frequent art galleries and exhibitions after the project was finished.
Outhouse: http://outhouse.ie/2011/overviewvenue.html