Rathangan gets a glimpse of ‘Tales and Tastes from the Bog’

Tales and Tastes from the Bog was a free art and ecology event for children and adults on held on Sunday, October at the Old Schoolhouse, Rathangan.

The event is part of the Gnáthóga Nádúrtha/Natural Habitats project funded by the Arts Council’s Invitation to Collaboration Scheme.

It was led out by Carlow County Council with Kildare and Meath County Councils and links the work of artists from Meath, Carlow, and Kildare.

On the day, Monica de Bath asked ‘Who else lives here’ and invited participants to bug hunt, draw and weave a creature or its habitat.

Monica is a visual artist and educator living in Rathangan. She engages creatively with communities using conversation, drawing, painting and/or weaving, as a way to explore and reimagine fragile habitats.

As partof the The Butter Firkin, Jules Michaels invited those in attendance to a creative sharing of stories about butter-making, plant lore, old dairy ways, and caring for our natural world.

Jules is a visual artist living in rural South Carlow. Her practice includes community arts, painting, photography, drawing and printmaking. She works across a range of ages and interests, in ways that encourage greater awareness of our biodiversity and peatlands habitats.

As part of The Bog Cabinet of Curiosities, Kate Flood invited people to investigate the objects in her ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ and to respond creatively as they made tea from wild plants.

Kate is a researcher and educator whose work explores the social, cultural and ecological dimensions of peatlands.

She also has an interest in the medicinal and ecological histories and uses of peatland plants.

A workshop on Bog Maps and Richard Griffith was also held on the day.

Local man, Laurence Fullam told the story of the 1812 Bog Map created by Richards Griffith who attended school at the Old Schoolhouse.

A separate Creative Ireland event was held on Saturday, October 7 in Rathangan Community Library. Historians Caitlin White and John Dorney explored what kind of Ireland our revoluntionary poets, writers, painters, and musicians envisaged, and was the Ireland that emerged after the War of Independence, Civil War, and Partition the one they dreamed of. This was a free event funded by Kildare County Council Creative Ireland.