Our Lady of Lourdes Transition Year Workshops

Project Organizer: Carmel Walsh

Partnering Organisation: Our Lady of Lourdes Secondary School, New Ross, Co. Wexford

Duration: 1 day

Group Size: 20

Project Type: education

Services Provided: instruction & lunch

Since 2013, Cow House has hosted several day-long workshops with transition year students from Our Lady of Lourdes Secondary School in New Ross.  Each group of approximately 20 students attended a workshop from 10am until 3pm, where full instruction and lunch were provided.

Short projects were designed to not only improve technical skills, but more importantly to introduce students to contemporary art practice in a fun and collaborative way.

In one workshop, for example, students made a series of “one minute sculptures” based on the work of artist Erwin Wurm, where temporary sculptures were created using ordinary objects and were then photographed. This project allowed students to consider and explore notions of sculpture, permanence, gravity, volume, composition, and the potential of the mundane.

These day long workshops focused on problem solving, observation, independent thinking, and developing a curiousity for one’s surroundings; fostering the idea that the benefits of making art can be carried into any professional path.