Hedge School 06

carlow | arts and media | event notice Thursday September 28, 2006 00:02 by Ciaran Walsh - Project Curator c_walsh123 at hotmail dot com

Art / Education Project in Rural Carlow

A temporary public art project in Leighlinbridge (County Carlow) by Dublin-based artist Glenn Loughran. Working with the local community , the project commenced by collectively building a school-house using straw-bale eco-building techniques. This space then became the site of an education exchange between the artist and a group of local young people - touching on isses of identity, community, class, race and post-colonialism, delivered to the young people through the metaphor of “The Neighbour”. The project concludes on the 7th of October with a public exhibition.

Facilitated by artist and educator Glenn Loughran, Hedge School 06 has been running since the 24th of August; starting with a collaborative building event - the construction of a temporary school building from straw bales, built by the artist alongside a group of young people and members of the local community.

This temporary construction is currently facilitating a six week education exchange between Loughran and the participating group of young people, utilising discursive and art processes to investigate a series of issues informed by the context of the Hedge School. In its historical context hedge schools were particularly Irish in name and nature, they were fluid make-shift schools that emerged at the time of the Penal Laws in Ireland when English speaking schools restricted the teaching of Irish language and culture. Loughran internationalises this context by drawing a contemporary parallel with the “Itinerant Schools” of the MST (Movimento Sem Terra) Landless Workers in Brazil. As such the education exchange touches on issues of identity, community, class, race and post-colonialism, delivered to the young people through the metaphor of “The Neighbour”.

Hedge School concludes on October the 7th with a public exhibition from 4pm to 6pm at the Hedge School site, of works produced by the artist and young people during the course of the project, as well as documentation of the Hedge School building process and context. Everyone is welcome, check out the website for more info.