Coláiste Muire (Ennis) and Scoil Mhuire (Ennistymon), Co. Clare – Aidan Power

The following blog posts have been written by art teachers Aidan Power and Mary Fahy along with their 5th Year class students in Coláiste Muire (Ennis) and Scoil Mhuire (Ennistymon), Co. Clare. They share their experiences of collaborating with artists Mitch Conlon and James Moran on the project Keystone, commissioned by Clare County Council to celebrate and mark 20 years of artist in schools programming by Clare Arts Office. The curatorial framework Art School, directed and curated by Jennie Guy, were invited to deliver the project, along with co-curator Fiona Gannon. This project is one of the recipients of the 2023 Portal Documentation Award, read the announcement here.

The new Leaving Certificate Art specification focuses on art as social commentary, political and social art and artists in the community, for this reason, the 5th Year students from the respective schools were selected to participate in the project. 

A graduate of Limerick School of Art and Design – Honours Degree in Ceramics and HDip in Art Education, Aidan Power is a member of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland Education Panel and worked as Regional Co-ordinator for the CraftEd primary school programme. He is currently a full time Art, History and CSPE teacher at Colaiste Muire Secondary School, Ennis and also continues to work on his own pastel chalk practice.