Craic Theatre Coalisland
Date: 2021
Dimensions: 4 circular artworks 1-1.5 diameter
Materials: Artwork in ceramic.
Techniques: Printed and impressed ceramics with coloured slips and glazes. Plaster casts of shuttles and stamps from the museum were used to make clay elements for the final artwork.
Commissioned by: Lough Neagh Partnership through The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Great Place Scheme, with additional support from Mid Ulster District Council.
Location: Foyer of Craic Theatre in Coalisland
Description: The aim of the art commission is to provide an opportunity for artists, to develop a new work, influenced by the history of the rich industrial setting of Coalisland.
“InterAct” is a ceramic wall sculpture located in the Craic Theatre in Coalisland. This artwork is made from a number of different elements which combine to create an interlocking design which connects with the history of the town, through exploration of the manufacturing processes, place names and photographic records. It celebrates the rich industrial heritage of this area and highlights the manufacturing past of East Tyrone, when textiles, glass, brick, coal, and pottery was exported from here across the world, leaving Coalisland by canal and railway.
Maps of the various manufacturing areas were used as part of the design and show where Queen’s University archaeology digs took place at Fowler’s Pottery and in Newmills spade mill, as well as showing where the coal mining took place. Prints of tools used in different manufacturing processes add to the patterns and include spanners, cogs, gear wheels, taps, cut glass crystal prints from Tyrone Crystal, different types of spade shapes and photographic images of the canal.
Shuttles, spools and stamps borrowed from the linen factory were used to make plaster moulds to make clay replicas. These were then printed with townland names and meanings. (see www.place-namesni.org)
See all the images of this commission below:
