Participatory Mural Project ‘Baldoyle Birds’ at Bayside Dart Station
Bayside/Baldoyle Dart Station Creative Participation Workshop & Mural Making
June 2022 I designed and delivered a participatory workshop on ‘Mural Design & Creative Process’ assisted by Artist (and Friend) Catherine Geaney (ninearrow) with a local Secondary School (Pobalscoil Neasain, Baldoyle) 5th year Art Class Group students guided by their teacher Ms Louise Kelly. Sustainable art practices were used throughout the course of the project by design: from recycled paper, reused materials to eco-friendly paints combining low carbon emissions graphenstone paint & recycled paint from The Rediscovery Centre, Dublin.
Four workshops took place throughout May-June 2022 once a week, kindly organised by local community group Baldoyle Tidy Towns (co-ordinated by member Aoife Cannon) and funded by Iarnrod Eireann & Fingal County Council. The collaborative workshops covered creative inspiration, ideation, involved citizen science seeing the students submit Flower Insect Timed counts to the Biodiversity Data Centre, more info here. We then co-created a mural inspired by our work during the workshops & painted it. Together, the highly creative participating student group, their art teacher and the two artists Catherine and I created this new ‘Baldoyle Birds’ piece at the Bayside Dart Station facing Seagrange Park inspired by the hum of locally occurring birds including Brent Geese, Swallows, a Starling, a Blue Tit, a Pied Wag Tail and Black Bird chatting. I’m really grateful to have been given the opportunity to organises and completed such a fun project & work with such a creative group.
A little bit more about myself and Catherines collaboration
Artists Catherine Geaney (Nine Arrow) and Marie Gordon mild.ie) have a shared interest in sustainability and biodiversity in their artistic practices. In recent years they have worked alongside each other, developing a supportive creative community and are now together developing workshops to facilitate creative experimentation and participation in groups.
About Marie Gordon: Having recently graduated from an MSc in Climate Change Media, Policy & Society at DCU. Marie’s art (illustration, design and mural art) is inspired by our natural environment and climate action. In 2021 she completed a large outdoor mural (20 sq m) celebrating Pollination and Biodiversity funded by Creative Ireland. Participatory practices, innovation through sustainability and minimizing waste are key themes in her work, where she uses recycled products, ecological paints and salvaged materials as much as possible. Marie has been involved in other outdoor painting projects such as the Dublin Canvas Project and is currently delivering a participatory workshop (based on social art practices) for children exploring pollination and the wonders of nature through creativity with D13 primary schools in 2022.
About Catherine Geaney: Catherine Geaney, also known as Nine Arrow, explores Irish, language and nature through art and illustration. Using everyday subjects in nature (such as flora and fauna) and in daily life, Catherine shares her journey re-engaging with Irish folklore and relearning the Irish language through her artwork and creative products, and has built a successful following of over 9k followers, promoting an understanding and love for the Irish language. Her interests are also focused on Irish history, folklore, paganism and spirituality in a contemporary context, with the intention of expanding our understanding of Irishness. Catherine is very concerned with sustainability in her business and uses recycled materials and eco alternatives as a preference in her products. Her work can be seen at NineArrow.com or on her instagram page.
