'Buzzing' - a Community Art Project in collaboration with Kiltiernan NS as part of Galway2020 - Capital of Culture 'Small Towns, Big Ideas' Programme.
Bee-Loud! is an environmental art project developed by Kiltiernan National School in collaboration with Visual Artist, Veronika Straberger.
Highlighting the importance of honeybees as pollinators the children take on the role of global citizens, petitioning the creation of biodiverse habitats in vacant spaces and along motorway embankments. In workshops with local beekeeper Cllr. PJ Murphy, biologist Éanna Ní Lamhna, Seed Savers Ireland, Green Sod Ireland and Burren Beo the school develops environmental strategies to create a ‘Bee-Loud-Glade’ planting indigenous, pollinator-friendly hedgerows and herb gardens. Inspired by the poet W.B. Yeats and collaborating with writer Denise Blake the children manifest their imagination in words. With a ‘Buzzing’ visual art trail through their local landscape Kiltiernan NS students share their visions and concerns through art and poetry with visitors and local communities alike. Come follow this Nature Art project on our blog:
I am what I eat
The Flight of the Bumblebee
A painting and story telling workshop. Inspired by Rimsky Korsakov's 'Flight of the bumblebee' the children of Kiltiernan National School let their paint brushes dance to the music. When we finished painting, we had a good look and we saw many bumblebees flying around through meadows, storm clouds and forests.
Pollinators like bees play an important role in food production. Without them we would not have any apples, lemons, bananas, melons, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, almonds, cashew, coconut, avocado, beans, vanilla, grapes, tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, turnips, beetroot, pumpkin, tea, coffee or most importantly chocolate! Without bees to pollinate food crops, we would lose vital minerals and vitamins in our diet. This gave us lots of food for thought. Inspired by the work of Renaissance painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo we created self portraits using a collage technique. Cutting out images of our favourite foods from shopping catalogues we made our own still life art works.
Living Willow Sculpture
Willows flower early in the year, and are very important for pollinating insects. Their catkins are rich in pollen and provide food for starving pollinators following their winter hibernation.
To make our willow sculpture, we planted living willow rods. We first formed a large circle and each child planted one willow rod into the ground. We then tied the tips together to form a dome.