SENIOR citizens from Ballymun showcased their talent for art at NCAD recently after taking part in a creative ‘Engage the City’ programme.
The locals created some masterpieces with Dublin artist John Conway as part of Dublin City Council’s Culture Connects initiative.
Conway expressed an interest in developing art with older people and the Culture Connects team put him in touch with U3A Ballymun.
U3A stands for University of the Third Age, which began in France but now has over 20 groups in Ireland.
Conway worked with the Ballymun U3A crew in 10 workshops over six months, sharing stories and exploring themes of legacy.
This led them to writing letters to themselves in the past; learning how to make paper and transcribing their stories onto the parchment they created.
Conway then brought them to NCAD where they transformed their paper into artworks, even making a bespoke archive box to hold their wonderful artworks and memories.
The group went back to NCAD to mark the end of the programme where U3A Peter Brannigan, spoke about the project.
“Being involved with Engage the City and working with John Conway has opened my eyes to a new world of creativity and possibility,” he said.
Peter has been so inspired by the experience that he is now considering enrolling in NCAD to continue his creative journey.
Over the past 10 months, Culture Connects artists have run almost 100 Engage The City workshops with more than 1,000 participants in 33 city communities.