Taisce Lú Collection Projects

In 2015, the Arts Service initiated a pilot project which saw artworks from Taisce Lú travelling out to three schools in the county.  Under the guidance of visual art educationalist, Lynn McGrane, the participating students from Scoil Uí Mhuirí, Dunleer, St. Oliver’s Community School, Drogheda, and Ó Fiaich College, Dundalk, selected, learned about, and responded to artworks from the collection.

The project’s title, Irish, Alive and Mostly Female, refers to the composition of artists represented in Taisce Lú, a situation at odds with traditional state collections where the artists represented are often male, dead, and foreign.  To strengthen the perception of visual art being relevant and contemporary, a number of the artists whose work was selected visited the schools and spoke to the students about their work, their experiences of being an artist, and how they came to create the work being explored. A short film was made about the project, which was co-funded by the Arts Council.

Subsequently, in 2016, Irish, Alive and Mostly Female took to the roads of the county again, and pupils from Sacred Heart Secondary School, Drogheda, Ardee Community School, St. Vincent’s Secondary School and Coláiste Cú Chulainn, both in Dundalk, viewed up close, discussed and debated works from the Collection, under the guidance of artist, Claire Halpin.  A blog was created where the responses and experiences of the students was recorded.

For 2017, a decision was taken to extend the reach of the outreach programme of Taisce Lú to primary schools.  Three schools will be participating – the CBS Primary and St. Joseph’s National School, both in Dundalk, and St. Paul’s National School in Grangebellew, near Drogheda.  The programme has been amended to suit younger children, and this new primary school initiative is now entitled Picture This.