Portnablagh - an exploration

This five day project with the children of Faugher N.S. involved three day trips within the local area to explore their place and the natural habitats in the area as well as some of the ancient remains of structures left by their ancestors in their locality.

Most sites were within walking distance which helped with the sense of where things were in relation to each other, their homes and the school. The children also climbed Muckish Mt and, whilst this was not within the project days it also added to their sense of where things were and the mountain is represented in the final piece. It is very definately a local presence for everyone.

We visited Ballymore Court Cairn, Sessiagh Crannog, Sandhill Mass Rock & the Souterrains out in the dunes on the way to Tramore beach. We visited forests, beaches, sand dunes, meadows, hills and streams and brought back images from each place.

These images were translated first into blocks of colour with coloured paper and later into coloured felt which they made with soap and water from carded wool.

A picture of all the images big and small was drawn on a metre square surface and the felt images put in place. These were backed with more wool and the whole pice felted into a large image to represent their place.