A crowd gathers at Mullaghfad Church
AN ARTS group in the Roslea area – Sliabh Beagh Arts – has been coming up with a new and quirky way of introducing art into the rural communities. The organisation has been running for 13 years and continues to find unique ways to bring communities together through art.
To celebrate the end of the Sliabh Beagh Arts programme for 2016, the organisation held a unique event, ‘A forgotten song’ which was a memorable night at Mullaghfad church.
The church is nestled deep in the forest, is now unused and has no access to electricity. This created the perfect setting for an exhibition of sculptures, puppets, photography and film. The audience were also treated to live performances by Sonic Lotus, Tully and Cup o’Joe along with local young musicians Louie Bannon and Casper McCabe. The disused church – All Saint’s Church of Ireland – was dotted with candles, Swedish lanterns and fairy lights which provided a tranquil backdrop for storytelling through song and quality community arts.
As part of their ‘Growth & Decay’ project, Sliabh Beagh Arts have been sprinkling colour through the fields, with their latest on going graffiti bales project. One of the North’s leading graffiti artists Kev Largey is currently transforming hay bales into works of art throughout the countryside.
The hay bales have been decorated with colourful cartoons animations. The hay bales have become a bit of an attraction with many motorists stopping to take pictures of some of the bales on the main A4 outside Fivemiletown.
The aim of the ‘Growth and Decay’ project is an attempt to enthuse, inspire and bring art into the everyday lives of rural communities. This project will to run into next year so people in the rural communities should look forward to seeing a lot more colourful bales throughout the countryside.
“Sliabh Beagh Arts are passionate about developing rural arts at a grassroots level, ensuring the organisation develops programmes which are relevant and meaningful to those in the area. We aim to create access to the arts for all, allowing local people to engage and participate. Our main objective is to create quirky unusual creative additions to the rural environment for everyone to see and enjoy,” said Donna Bannon, project co-ordinator.
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere