Participants in community arts project showcase their work in Carrick-on-Suir exhibition

The walls of Carrick-on-Suir Youth & Community Centre are adorned at the moment with beautiful paintings, lino prints and a large mosaic created by a group of adult students for whom an interest in art has become a means to improve their mental health.

The art works along with a booklet of poetry are the creations of six adults from Carrick-on-Suir and its hinterland who took part in the community arts based mental health and well-being programme run by the Suir Valley Community Based Drugs Initiative, a service that helps people struggling with addiction issues and their families.

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The art students worked under the guidance of Tipperary ETB art tutor Jackie Fehilly every Thursday morning for three hours between February and October to produce this body of art for the Bridging the Gap exhibition, which was officially opened at the New Street based community centre on Thursday, October 23.

The Bridging the Gap mosaic created by the programme's art students. Picture Anne Marie Magorrian 

The centre piece of the exhibition is a striking mosaic called Bridging the Gap on the exterior wall outside the community centre. Carrick-on-Suir’s Old Bridge and a Sun God are featured in the mosaic composed of broken up pieces of old tiles donated to the art programme.

Landscape paintings, sketches and lino print pictures line the walls of the community centre’s interior while the Bridging the Gap booklet featuring poetry written by the art group’s members and the programme’s facilitators in their creative writing sessions has been published by Swift Print.

Exhibition visitors, art programme participants, Gail Sheridan of Suir Valley CBDI (back second from right), Tipperary ETB art tutor Jackie Fehilly (front far right) and Conor Harris (back far right) of The Other Side of Life Programme, who has supported the arts programme and Suir Valley CBDI at the exhibition opening night.

Gail Sheridan, community drug worker with Suir Valley CBDI, said taking part in this art programme is a way of helping reduce stress, anxiety and isolation felt by people who attend the service.

She points out programme’s participants have felt a sense of accomplishment from they art they created.

Among them is Peter Houlihan from Carrick-on-Suir, who has a number of striking paintings and lino prints in the exhibition and also contributed to the Bridging the Gap poetry booklet.

He said he enjoys getting the colours right when he is painting a picture and definitely plans to keep it up as a past-time.

This is the third year of the arts programme. It has been funded from the beginning by Tipperary ETB but this year extra funding from the REACH Fund enabled Suir Valley CBDI to expand the programme.

“This funding meant we were able to get more materials and have Jackie for longer and do a few different group projects such as the mosaic,” explained Gail.

It also enabled the arts students to spend a day in Mount Congreve on a field trip and guided tour getting inspiration for their art from the estate’s stunning gardens and mansion.

Gail paid tribute to tutor Jackie Fehilly for providing such a safe space for the art students to express themselves creatively through art.

She also thanked Tipperary ETB Community Education Officer Veronica Crowe who has been very supportive of the programme.

Gail said it looks like more of their service users will be interested in joining the arts programme next year and hopefully they will be able to secure the necessary funding to keep it going.

She pointed out there will be an opportunity for the general public to view the Briding the Gap exhibition when it is on public display in Carrick-on-Suir Library during the last two weeks in January.

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