Meet this year's fiction section artists for the Holly Bough 

Bandon Grammar School is one of the oldest secondary schools in Cork, and this year the Holly Bough invited students from the school to create the artwork for this year’s fiction section.

Under the guidance of art teachers John Twomey and Rosanna Devoy Pullen, students from second year right up to sixth year created original artworks to accompany our short stories and poems.

The project was one that Mr Twomey said the students embraced and relished.

Among those students was Emily Nunan who said the idea of creating the artwork was something which was “exciting for people but daunting at the same time” as the students were aware they were trying to interpret and represent someone’s story. Emily created the artwork for Fly High Flamingo, and said it was important to her to try capture the author’s friend in her strength rather than weakness.

Another challenge for students was trying to capture the stories without giving away the endings, said Saoirse McShane. Saoirse created one of two artworks for A Christmas Romance. 

Harry Good created the second artwork to accompany this piece and in doing so tried to capture a moment of teenage love set in the 1960s to show the passage of time. 

Ryan Farrell and Wolfie Tyndale were tasked with the artworks for Bells a ringin- and created two very different interpretations of the work.

Isabel Grunwell created the artwork for The Story of Our Floors and said she tried to capture the graininess of the memory of that one moment in time.

Students used a variety of methods in their artwork. Lucy Murphy used ink in her piece for ‘Leavin’ Blues’, Odhran Sheridan created artwork for the story The Christmas Candle in felt, Kate Bebbington used watercolours to create the artwork for Woman, Christmas as did Phoebe Buttimer who created the artwork for One Foggy Winters’ night. 

Lily Crowley used chalks in a bid to capture the image for Life and loss aboard the Mermaid ship and Poppy Buttimer used mixed media to try recreate the texture in Last Call for Youghal- All Aboard.

Mr Twomey said he was incredibly proud of the students.

This was echoed by Bandon Grammar School principal, Niamh McShane. “I am the proudest principal in Ireland, because they are just such talented young people and so generous with their spirit, you know, and their talent, in the way that they will open up and be brave and show their work, I think, that’s courage,” said Ms McShane.

She praised teachers John Twomey and Rosanna Devoy Pullen for their support of the students. “I know there was a journey to the finished artworks. They came up with their initial concept and then they consulted, they came back and they talked about it and then they got braver,” she said.

Ms McShane said that there is an important tradition of art in school and there is a big emphasis at Bandon Grammar on the power of art in education.

“We’re ambitious for the development of a STEAM learning centre here because we see the arts as pivotal, and creative skills and authenticity in terms of skills for the future. Giving the students agency in that, we feel, will be very beneficial for them for the world they’re going into to be authentic, to be brave, to be creative, we feel will be the value in the future.”

See hollybough.ie.