The year began with the annual Senior Art History Trip to Dublin. On Tuesday 12th September senior Art students left Sligo for Castletown and Dublin city at 7.30am and returned at 7.30pm. Accompanied by their soon-to-retire Art teacher Ms Máire Hynes and by the incoming Art teacher Ms Laura McGowan, they visited Castletown House and the National Museum of Ireland. The visits form part of the Leaving Cert programme of study. Leaving Certs are studying Georgian Ireland while fifth years will study Early Irish Art. Seeing the artefacts and buildings in “real life” makes a huge difference to the students’ understanding of the different periods of art and will stand to them in their Leaving Cert exams. The trip finished with an all-too-brief visit to Liffey Valley shopping Centre! Thanks to everyone for an enjoyable day out!
2022 – 2023
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
For the past number of weeks the fifth year Art class has been involved in the BLAST Residency Initiative. This is a National project designed to bring practicing artists into schools to work with students. The fifth year students have had the opportunity to work with local artist Lorna Watkins. Based in Sligo Lorna works in a wide variety of media and her work has been exhibited in Ireland and abroad. The fifth year students had a great experience working with her. The work they have produced is fresh and full of vitality and has helped them understand why we “do” Art. Ms Hynes, their Art Teacher said “The students experienced how Lorna approaches her work and this has really opened their minds with regard to the artistic process. The way their work has evolved and changed throughout the course of the Residency has been very interesting and it has taught them that all work is really a “work in progress”. It will really help them in their own work and in the Leaving Cert Visual Studies section”. The students themselves found the project great fun and a bit of a revelation. Lorna’s mantra “what if….” has become part of their vocabulary and has really helped them become more curious and enquiring artists. A great experience!
MERRY XMAS SLIGO UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL!
Sligo Grammar School TY art students were invited to share their artistic expertise with patients and staff of Sligo University Hospital. Rachel Craig, Almha Walsh, Síofra O’Donoghue-Symmons and Sarah Prince designed, planned and painted Christmas scenes on windows ion the ground floor of SUH. The Grammar School donated the paints for the project and the girls spent two days at the work. SGS has had a long-standing connection with the hospital, with their work on display for many years in the Emergency Department. It was a pleasure for the girls to work in SUH,as well as being a fantastic educational experience! Well done girls, and happy Christmas to all in SUH.
First Year Art students got busy helping to paint a set for The Foreigner, a play that was staged in The Hawks Well Theatre in September by local group. Sligo Drama Circle.
Sixth Year Art students started the year with Life Drawing
2021 – 2022
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
This term our 5th year art students got the chance to work with practicing artist Kiera O’Toole as part of the BLAST Artist in Residence programme. During January Kiera visited the school to discuss and plan the project with the students. She showed the students her own work and the 5th years were particularly taken with site-specific work – that is art work that was done at chosen sites, and using the environment as a canvas. The artist and students discussed a few possible sites around Sligo and on a very stormy day they went on a reconnaissance visit to some of the possible sites for the project. Eventually the pier at Rosses Point was selected, and, on a very sunny morning in early March the students and Kiera set to work on the pier and its surroundings. Using environmentally-friendly materials – chalks, charcoals and chalk pastels – the students recorded and responded to the forms and colours in the environment, using the pier, slipway, steps and rocks as their canvas. The beauty of the work was that it was transitory and, by now, will be washed away by sea and weather. The students really enjoyed the work and found the experience very eye-opening, challenging the accepted notions of what Art is all about. Several of the students hope to apply for Art College next year and the experience of working in this very exciting way will stand to them in the making of their portfolios. Thanks to Kiera for her wonderful work with the students and to Angela Currid in Sligo Education Centre for organising the BLAST project in Sligo.
See the video below.
Art Assistant
This year Ms Hynes welcomes Elena Reinhardt from Germany who is acting as Art Assistant for the year. Elena is also helping out in the Boarding House. The extra help in the busy Art room is fantastic and Elena is getting stuck into the life of the school, even dressing up for Hallowe’en along with the rest of the school population! Here she is with the 6th year Art Students and Ms Hynes.
VISITS TO GALLERIES
As ever, Ms Hynes has taken Art Students from different year groups to see exhibitions in The model Arts Centre and the Hamilton Gallery.
MASK ON/MASK OFF:
This October, the finished “Mask On/Mask Off” whole-school art/photography project was installed on the main stairwell of the school. The ten 4ft x 4ft panels display photos of virtually all the school population taken in May 2021 during Creative Schools Week. The photos give us a snapshot of the impact of mask-wearing in school in 2020 and 2021. Mask-wearing changed the way we saw one another, often only half-recognising people who were familiar the previous year. New students in the school did not know what their teachers looked like and vice versa. This was the inspiration behind the “Mask On/Mask Off” whole-school art project. Almost every student and member of staff had their photo taken by a committee of TY students under the direction of Máire Hynes, Art teacher. Everyone had two photos taken, one with and one without their mask. The photos are scattered across the ten panels, so we have to search for ourselves and one another, mask on and mask off! The work will be a permanent fixture in the school, reminding us of these strange times.
LEAVING CERT ART 2021
2020 – 2021
LOCKDOWN #3
Art classes continued in real time on-line. The normal timetable was implemented with live classes throughout. See some of the work produced here…
Other work produced on-line included self portraits by TY Art Module students…
Batik work completed by 6th Year students was finished off, ready for hanging in St Paul’s Church, Collooney to mark the 300th Anniversary if the building of the Church.
First Year Artist students have been hard at it this term and have these fabulous group paintings of Sligo Landscapes to show for it. Well done all!
GET CREATIVE, FEED YOUR SOUL!
Creativity is central to our wellbeing, and the satisfaction and sense of achievement we get from creating something is second to none. Below are links to different sites that will get you making and creating, so have a look!…
MAKE MUSIC
Follow Bressie’s lead and learn the ukulele! LOCKDOWN UKULELE ROCKDOWN CLASSES
LEARN HOW TO DRAW A PORTRAIT WITH THESE TUTORIALS, THEN DO A SELF-PORTRAIT OR A PORTRAIT OF SOMEONE SPECIAL!https://youtu.be/1kHzAh9sCH4. This shows you the basic proportions of the face.
OCTOBER SCENES, SGS First year Art Students can be very proud of their group paintings of SGS. The art class was divided into two halves and each half produced a version of the same view of the school in early October 2019. Each students got a “slice” of the scene to interpret in paint. The project aimed to develop the students’ understanding of colour mixing and brushwork, while at the same time encouraging them to work together to produce a single finished piece. And the outcome……excellent!! Well done all!
The art department in the school is a very active and vibrant one. The art room is always a hive of activity with students coming in and out on various projects – art students and non-art students alike!
Students study the subject at Junior Cert and Leaving Cert level, enjoying consistently good results. All TY students get a chance to work in the art room as they do a module in art, incorporating photo editing skills and screen printing . Some students elect to do the Junk Kouture Fashion Design competition while others are involved in designing and editing the school newsletter. All TY students also do crafts in the Art Room. They vary from year to year and include batik, tie-dye, jewellery making and felting.
Students work is always on display around the school and in recent years samples of SGS students art work has been exhibited in the ER department of Sligo General Hospital.
LEAVING CERT PROJECT WORK
FIRST YEAR ARTISTS PAINT SGS!
WELL DONE TO OUR VISITING SPANISH STUDENTS WHO CREATED A GROUP PAINTING OF KNOCKNAREA WHILE THEY WERE IN SLIGO. Sept-Oct 2018
JUNIOR CERT 2018
Visits to Exhibitions
TY students are taken to local art galleries as part of their Art module. As well as visiting local galleries, 5th Year and 6th Year Students are taken to Dublin every year on a History of Art Educational Trip. They get a chance to see the buildings and works which are part of their Art History course. Castletown house, The Casino, Marino, No 27 Fitzwilliam Street the National Museum, National Gallery and Royal Hospital, Kilmainham are among the places they visit over the two years
JUNK KOUTURE
Junk Kouture is a national competition to encourage recycling. It does this by challenging students to create an outfit out of recycled materials. Students work in teams of up to three to design, make and model the outfit. Below are the designs entered in 2018/19.
When the competition is over students learn how to make their own garments from scratch. some students also opt to re-purpose existing clothing.
JUNK KOUTURE DESIGNS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS
A previous National Finalist is pictured below.
After the excitement of getting through to the Regional Finals of the Junk Kouture competition was over, the Junk Kouture class decid- ed to dedicate this term to learning how to make their own garments from scratch. Their teacher took them on a field trip to visit our local fabric shop the Craft and Sewing Basket. There the girls looked at different fabrics and patterns and decided which pattern and fabric to chose for their own creation, many opting for vintage looks. A busy term’s sewing followed with Ms Hynes teaching them how to interpret and adjust patterns as well as teaching them sewing skills. The results were fantastic and the girls can be justifiably proud of their achievements.
Art On View
Ms. Hynes makes a consistent effort to keep the work of her pupils on view throughout the school and has frames around the walls to display their work. This changes a few times a year as the students produce new work. After the Junior Cert results are out the 3D work of the art students is displayed in the hall outside the Staff Room along with work from HE and woodwork students. All parents andfamilies are welcome to drop in to see what their sons and daughters have produced.
