'What Is Art?' is available now from Kids' Own. The PDF of the book is available below:
A book all about art by young people from Kilkenny for every classroom in Kilkenny
What is Art? ‘No answers, just discovery’ - An Artist’s Handbook, is a hardback journal created by young people from the Butler Gallery’s Solas programme to encourage and inspire people of all ages to experience and respond to contemporary art.
What Is Art? Launch Night Interviews from What Is Art on Vimeo.
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Solas is a programme for children aged 5-12 led by artists Jean Conroy and Jenny Dunne, who realise creative responses to exhibitions with children in the Gallery. It celebrated its 10th birthday in 2010, and wanted to find a way to share the insight and perspectives of those who have participated over the years.
In partnership with Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership, the idea of making a book by children from the Solas programme for people of all ages to get more out of visits to galleries was formed. Kids’ Own facilitated workshops with children establishing their opinions on what sort of books they liked, and a group of 13 young people emerged as the young authors who would realise the final publication.
The group embarked on a year of investigation into the exhibition programme of the Butler Gallery in 2010, interviewing 4 exhibiting artists - multimedia and performance artist Aideen Barry, painter George Vaughan, photographer Jackie Nickerson and performance artist Declan Rooney. The outcome of these interviews informed the final content of the book.
The beautiful hardback ‘What is Art’ journal is now ready to be launched, containing QR (Quick Response) code links that you can scan with your mobile phone device to direct you to relevant films of the authors interviewing exhibiting artists at the Butler Gallery among other films by the artists themselves. Come along to our launch on Friday the 23rd September from 6 – 7 at the Parade Tower to meet the young authors and get a copy of the book!
This book would not have been possible without the support (and patience!) of our funders, who were taxback.com, Kilkenny Leader Rural Funds, Kilkenny Education Centre, Kilkenny County Council Arts Office and Libraries and the many individuals who supported us through ‘Fund It’, the crowd-funding website.
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