St Mochta’s National School – Clonsilla Dublin
Date: 2020-2022
Dimensions: Interior 2m x 12m / Exterior 12m
Materials: Artwork in ceramic
Techniques: Printed and impressed ceramics with coloured slips and glazes. Various printing techniques with exterior finishes in high fired stoneware.
Commissioned by: Board of Management, St Mochta’s NS through Percent for Art
Location: Main entrance corridor in the school, external courtyard with two additional artworks made by the pupils in different locations
Architects: Coady Partnership Architects
Description: The school was aiming to commission a set of artworks that were reflective of the spirit, diversity, and energy of the school. The proposed process involved the artist making new work as a central aspect of the commission and involved input from the pupils and the wider school community. The children were asked to design their idea of an art piece for the school. The dominant themes which arose were sport, music, books, the world, children, and the willow tree.
Willow Weave
Interior – The 12 m long artwork made from flat relief ceramic shapes with illustrations on their surfaces forms a series of trees with a woven pattern linking their trunks and unraveling to form three strands representing the school, community, and locality. Each tree depicts activities from the school curriculum (Maths, English, Irish, History, Science) or extra interests such as games, sports, and drama which were generated from workshops with the school children and staff. The three strands show the surrounding area including the canal with its varied wildlife, the nearby railway with heritage buildings, and routes into school with various modes of transport (walking, cycling, skipping).
The school is situated on Weavers Row with the Royal Canal nearby and the artwork draws on the name of the locality of Clonsilla, meaning ‘meadow of willows’, with the pattern of weave inspired by basket making.
A Seat for Nature
Exterior – The 12 m long artwork consists of a series of individual ceramic seats with textured printed images of local plants, animals, birds, fish, and insects. Each seat measures 400 mm high and is topped with a curved circular dome.
The top images show familiar flora and fauna – Common Frog, Long-eared Owl, Mallard ducklings, Sleeping Fox, Badger, Red Squirrel, Fish, Common Snail, Nesting Wren, Hedgehogs, Hare, Ladybird, Dragonfly, Daisy, and Red Admiral Butterfly. All the bases have imprinted images used from wildflowers and the textural surfaces encourage children to seek out tiny details and can be used to create rubbings for further art projects in school.
Children’s Artwork
Part of this commission involved input from the children and the wider community, and at the beginning, all pupils were involved in a design process to create a leaf-shaped pattern with interests that each individual cared deeply about.
Approximately 900 pupils took part in the drawing of leaf shapes, with one class from each year group picked to participate in a clay workshop recreating their designs in ceramic tiles, which took place over 2 weeks in the school. Pupils’ ceramic tiles had a wide range of subject matter—sports, nature walks, comics, the universe, friends, family, and singing, to name a few. These were finished in the workshop and installed in three different locations inside and outside of the school.
See all the images of this commission below:
