Artworks was founded by Aoife Keogh, Niamh Comiskey, (NCAD lecturers and art & design teachers) and Aidine O’Reilly (MD of Real Nation and former art and design teacher.) Artworks at Future Sparks was supported by Real Nation. Artworks at Future Sparks team; Aidine O’Reilly, Aoife Keogh, Niamh Comiskey, Ciara Cramer, Catherine Mc Keown. Artworks set construction by W Display.
“Process-based divergent thinking is explicitly taught in art and is now a requisite for most career paths” – Artworks
Artworks is an educational initiative designed to inform students and the wider public about the intrinsic value of art and design based subjects, and their broader value in the development of important transferable skills for the 21st century.
These process based skills include ideation, research and exploration, idea development and creation, and finally presentation within a specific context.
The Artworks message aligns with Ciara’s own belief that creativity lies not within the end result, but within the process. Ciara was delighted to join the Artworks team in designing and installing the presentation space for the RDS exhibition.
Ciara’s illustrative design represents the creative’s work-shop space; a place of hard work, inquiry, trial and error, connectivity, and oftentimes ‘mess!’ This is where the magic happens. The work of leaving cert art students is displayed amongst the illustrations. Again the focus is on leaving cert notebook work; the work behind the work. A smaller, more pristine area at the end of the exhibit represents the ‘presentation’ space. Finished works are carefully curated and displayed on a black background.
Representatives from NCAD, from the engineering and robotics department at TU Dublin, and from the architectural industry displayed work as part of the Artworks exhibition. Students had the opportunity to ask questions, and understand exactly how important the creative process is to each field of study.
