Work of Gallen students features in exhibit at National Museum
The artwork of two Gallen CS students features in a new exhibition which opened at the National Museum on Friday last, May 30.
Ferbane students Ava Murray and Aideen Flynn will have their work on display as part of the 'Words on the Wave: Ireland and St Gallen in Early Medieval Europe' exhibition, which focuses on early medieval Ireland and its profound impact on ideas in Europe.
At the exhibition's heart are 17 manuscripts on loan from the Abbey Library of St Gallen in Switzerland, a seventh-century library - in a city named after the Irish monk, St Gall - that is home to one of the world's most significant collections of early medieval manuscripts. This exhibition is a world-first, marking the largest-ever loan of these manuscripts.
These priceless, handmade manuscripts on display reflect the journeys of Irish monks like St Gall and St Columbanus, who travelled to Europe seeking exile, refuge, and learning. Their journeys involved not only the movement of people but also ideas and artistic traditions, connecting the small island of Ireland to a much larger continent.
An important legacy of the exhibition will be an international school project led by the National Museum of Ireland and the Abbey of St Gall involving second-level students from Irish schools, including Gallen CS in Ferbane, and the Catholic Cantonal Secondary School ‘flade’ in St Gallen.
Over the last academic year students from Ireland and Switzerland took part in a project to create artwork for two books within the Words on the Wave exhibition, including Aideen and Ava.
The two teenagers participated in workshops at the museum, in their classrooms and online, with Museum staff, and learnt the ancient art of medieval calligraphy. With replica objects and materials, they created oak-gall ink, ground plants and minerals to make pigments, and mastered medieval writing styles and artistic design.
The students were given a brief to create art inspired by their thoughts about the world, the natural world, their culture, and what writing and art they find inspiring. Their work shows great creativity and breadth of interest, and care about their world and fellow human beings.
The 65 designs created by 160 of the students are inspired by a multiplicity of thoughts about sport, music, poetry, pastimes, experiences and nature. There was such depth of thought and time spent creating these documents that we invited each student to write a label, or 30 words about their art.
The students from at Ferbane were inspired by song and used quotes from them in their art which was completed in medieval writing style with the ancient recipe for ink.
Ava Murray explained: "For my manuscript, I wanted to pay homage to one of my favourite artists, David Bowie. Bowie is known for his outrageous style and bold use of colours. For example, hot pink gogo boots, which I have interpreted into the interlace of this piece."
She described taking part as an incredible opportunity.
Aideen Flynn said: "My page is a song about Ferbane. I chose to use the song as Ferbane is where I grew up as well as my Dad and Grandad too. The song also mentions Gallen in it so I thought it would be good for that reason too."
Their work will be on display as part of the 'Words on the Wave' exhibition, which runs in the National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street until October 24. Admission is free.