We are currently working on our re-enactment of scenes from the Rising involving the History and English Departments. This will culminate in performances for the whole school population and for a public audience in the evening. Never ones to shy away from an educationally worthwhile opportunity and with a multi-disciplinary angle in mind, Miss Farrell’s fifth year art group decided to commemorate the Rising through sculpture. “We decided on a three dimensional sculpture of a Soldier’s Jacket through which we could represent our thoughts and feelings on the plight of Ireland in 1916. The students had covered the Rising as part of their studies in History class. The sculpture became a wonderful medium for the students to express their reactions to what they had been exposed to in other subjects and on the national airwaves concerning the Rising. The students were set an extra challenge whereby they were only to use found materials to build and create the sculpture. Materials to hand were: wire, plastic, tea stained tissue paper, packaging, old leather articles and hessian woven fabric lying around in the art room. The soldier’s hat is made from a discarded ‘Celebrations’ sweet tin! Limiting the students in this way forces them to become more resourceful and creative with their designs and surface treatments.” “The one hundred year old jacket is old and worn away depicting memories of the men, women and children whose lives became intertwined in the chaos. Our collection of imagery and text are collaged and layered over each other. They almost appear woven into the fabric and materials as if the wearer is carrying their plight with him. The images seem to fade in and out as they do in our consciousness. The scenes of destruction are visible and so too are fragments of text from the Proclamation. Snippets of text from the proclamation and phraises in Gaeilge are visible as are the names of the poets who wrote so eloquently on the subject. These poets were familiar to the students from their English class.” The students are so looking forward to the unveiling of their sculpture during our commemoration celebrations in the school and to the public in our local library on culture night.