Luan Gallery's schedule of free events for Cruinniú na nÓg

Luan Gallery will join in the national celebration of Cruinniú na nÓg on Saturday, June 12, by hosting a series of free virtual events for children from the gallery social media platforms. All the events are supported by Creative Ireland and Westmeath County Council.

Cruinniú na nÓg is an annual national day of free creative activities for children and young people under the age of 18.

It is an initiative set up by Creative Ireland that aims to encourage children under the age of 18 to engage with the arts and local art centres. Luan Gallery is proud to take part in this annual celebration by hosting a series of free creative virtual workshops together with a virtual opening of `Memories’ - an exhibition of work created by children age 4-17 years in response to the gallery’s Cruinniú na nÓg Children’s Art Competition.

The series of events will start at 11am on Saturday with a livestream video of the opening of `Memories’, a temporary exhibition showcasing the shortlisted and winning entries from the Children's Cruinniú na nÓg Art Competition.

The adjudicators had a difficult task shortlisting and selecting the winning works for the exhibition. All the children whose work was selected to be part of this exhibition will join the virtual launch via Zoom as Mayor Cllr Aengus O’ Rourke officially opens the exhibition and artist and member of the judging panel, Michele Fox-Bell will share comments and feedback on the fantastic body of work that was created by local children. Mayor Cllr Aengus O’Rourke will announce the winners of the competition during the livestream.

The children's work will be on display at Luan Gallery on Saturday and Sunday and all are welcome to visit the gallery to see the exhibition.

The live broadcast of the exhibition opening will be available to view on Luan Gallery’s Facebook page from 11am on Saturday . A video recording of ‘Memories’ will be published on the gallery’s social platforms after those dates. Public health guidelines should be observed at all times by visitors to the gallery.

There are three free virtual creative art workshops scheduled in the afternoon.

The first is scheduled at 1pm when, Printmaker Gerard Greene will show children aged 4-7 years how to make creative prints using potatoes, watercolour pencils, a biro, a small craft knife and poster paint. This pre-recorded workshop is inspired by the various colours and shapes of fruit found in the common fruit bowl such as apples, oranges, bananas, pears etc.

The focus of this instructional video is to encourage children age 4-7 years to dabble in the art of pattern-making using printmaking techniques. During this virtual workshop Gerard will guide the children in cutting potatoes into the shape of fruit to create a colourful fruit bowl print, Parental supervision is required during this activity.

At 2pm, Printmaker Gerard Greene returns with a workshop for children aged 8-12 years. During this virtual workshop, Gerard will show children how to make a creative fish tank print using potatoes, watercolour pencils, a biro, a small craft knife and poster paint.

This workshop will encourage the children to think about the various types of fish that live under the sea and consider their different colours and shapes. Parental supervision is required during this activity.

At 3pm, artist Colm Mac Athlaoich will host a virtual workshop for teenagers aged 13- 17 years. Colm will deliver a pre-recorded creative art workshop for teenagers focusing on the theme of memory, which links to ‘Percept’, his exhibition at Luan Gallery and looking at how teenagers perceive the world around them.

The outcome from this workshop will be an abstract artwork; painting or drawing based on the teenager's gathered personal research imagery or photography. Colm will encourage teenagers to look at life before and after Covid, with a focus on the positive aspects we can take from the experience.

The video will begin with a short introduction to Colm and his interest in memory and perception.