CORNERSTONES LUISNE ART PROJECT

Exploration and creativity are at the heart of the Luisne Art Project, which provides a long-term arts project for people with intellectual disabilities from Crannmór Centre, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo.

CORNERSTONES is the culmination of creative projects that took place throughout 2023.

Drawing has been the cornerstone of all the work throughout the year. Luisne artists have explored different techniques and the resulting work centres around an animation that was initiated by their new drawings. The artwork was made in the Luisne art studio in TACÚ Family Resource Centre with artist facilitators Breda Burns and Pamela Grey.

Earlier in the year, insects became a subject of choice through conversation and art making. These ideas were developed for Dúiseacht, an exploration of Springtime and awakening for Onsight 2023 at The National Museum of Country Life. Subsequently, this led to the development of stop motion/animation pieces, which are part of the Cornerstones exhibition.

Artist Breda Burns has been working with the Luisne artists since 2021. She was involved in the initial project which led to the setting up of Luisne in 2005. Artist Pam Gray has also been working on several projects with Luisne in 2022/23, the MSLETB drawing project, Onsight 2023 and UPSTART 2023. Luisne is also celebrating the launch of the new website www.artluisne.ie which showcases artwork by the artists dating back to the project’s beginnings in 2005 and up to the present day.

The Cornerston artists are: Aisling Walsh, Collette Moran, Eoin Karney, Gerardine McDonagh, John Walsh, Mairead Coyne and Triona McAveety.

Thank you to Mary Jackson and team at TACÚ Family Resource Centre, to Mayo County Council and Western Care for ongoing support and to MSLETB and UPSTART for project support. Thank you also all at Linenhall Arts Centre for hosting this exhibition.