Ballycroy's beauty inspires spectacular new artwork

A stunning artwork depicting the hauntingly beautiful landscape of Ballycroy will be unveiled in the local community centre next Friday evening as a colourful celebration of Culture Night.

The large textile creation is the culmination of months of work by the Ballycroy Women's Group and renowned artist Genevieve King and there is great excitement in the area as the unveiling draws closer.

The artwork is an expansive landscape looking in at Ballycroy from the outside and is a myriad of colour, texture and depth. The project was initiated by the women's group to bring people together for the winter months to engage in a meaningful project that was socially engaging.

The group worked alongside Ms King through the winter, spring and into the summer, becoming immersed in the design process and heavy job of construction.

Each participant had engagement in the process with discussion about the local landscape and what it meant to them. Discussions were had about the changing nature of life in the local area and how times have changed. Time was also spent discussing the people who had passed on and their involvement in previous community projects. As a memorial to those people, fabric items of significance were brought along and woven into the design to create an extra personal resonance.

The end-product titled ‘Ballycroy Landscape’ has a colour scheme reminiscent of the area’s stunning summer palette and from Friday evening onwards it will be hanging in the Ballycroy Community Centre for all to enjoy.

The group is a platform for people to find their own interests and have them catered for in the community. The art project was the brainwave of one woman in the group and with the support and tutoring of Genevieve King it will become a colourful reality on Friday evening.

The project demonstrated the community’s diversity and sense of inclusion with local French, German, Irish, American, English and Chinese women all working the project.

Genevieve King is a Mayo based artist specialising in the medium of textiles. She has a long career teaching and facilitating groups and also exhibits regularly herself with an exhibition upcoming in the Clew Bay Hotel for the month of November. 

She says it was a pleasure to work with such creative and community minded people.

The members of Ballycroy Women’s Group are delighted with their creation and say the project perfectly reflects the sole aim of creating an environment where women of all ages and cultures in the community can come together socially.

Ballycroy Women’s Group meet weekly on Monday nights from 8 to 10pm. New members are always welcome.