Maeve McCann hanging the art mural at Irvinestown Library. The mural represents the Irvinestown, Kesh and Ederney area and was completed by Maeve and 12 other GCSE Students from NW Fermanagh as part of the “Part to Play” scheme: the students were assisted by the artist Annie Callaghan
A canvas mural entitled ‘A Cross-Section of Who We Are’ was presented to Irvinestown Library by the local National Citizen Service ‘Part to Play’ group last Saturday for public display.
The social action group, comprising of thirteen teenagers who live across North-East Fermanagh and Enniskillen, created the piece with local artist Annie Callaghan.
This art project was funded by NCS and facilitated by the Share Centre, Lisnaskea and Orchard Acre Farm, Lisnarick.
After distributing and analysing dozens of questionnaires that were given to people in the Kesh-Ederney-Irvinestown area, it was acknowledged that many feel that the three villages are very polarised in their attitudes towards each other as well as in their demographics and there isn’t a sufficient level of interaction.
The group then, for their first of two social action projects, organised a youth disco in Ederney to provide a social opportunity for the whole community with all proceeds going to Autism NI. For their second project, they created a mural that encapsulated the cultural entities shared and marked many historical and geographical features such as Drumskinny Stone Circle and Necarne Castle.
The group, who met Prince Andrew, Duke of York at a graduation ceremony last month, wanted to get across in their mural ‘the clear consensus for focus on the future rather than the past,’ explained Maeve McCann, member of the group.
“We were really delighted with the final outcome, it represents in a very positive way all our communities have to offer and we encourage everyone to come out and see it!”
The mural will be displayed for the next few months in library before being moved to permanent housing in the Share Centre.