Cork artist set to take part in Kaleidoscope Festival 

AS a young child, Celina Buckley, from Rylane, County Cork, knew what she wanted to do when she grew up, even before she realised it could be a career.

“I loved art from a very young age,” says Celina.

She studied art for junior and leaving certificate, and decided to become a primary school teacher so that it would always be part of her life.

“I didn’t realise art could be a job, that I could make a living from it,” she says.

In 2015, Celina was working as a primary school teacher when she decided to embark on a two-year Masters in Children’s Book Illustration at the prestigious Cambridge School of Art in the UK. This programme opened up a whole world of possibility to her.

“My masters helped me find my visual language,” says Celina, which she explains as “making art that comes from you – your eyes, your hands – not copying a photograph or image.”

Celina’s art focuses on capturing the world through her perspective. Through her teaching, she is passionate about helping others to draw from their daily life to create something special.

“Drawing from observation is unique and individual to you,” she says.

Inspiring future generations

Since completing her Masters, Celina has published her first children’s picture book, a retelling of The Salmon of Knowledge. It was used for a storyboarding lesson on RTÉ’s Home School Hub programme in 2020.

She now teaches illustration workshops in schools around Ireland and in countries such as Germany, Belgium, and Italy.

Celina’s passion is working with young people to help them find their voice and visual language.

“I want to pass on the knowledge I’ve learned to future generations,” she says.

Celina believes this is especially important nowadays with the arrival of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the art space.

“I don’t think creating art from AI is a good idea,” she says. “AI is taking from someone else’s work, whereas if you’re sitting outside with a sketchbook, no-one else has seen that moment.”

To help foster creativity and inspiration, she recommends drawing from your own experience of the world by “keeping a sketchbook with you to capture what you hear and see”.

Creativity and mindfulness

For Celina, art is also a good mindfulness practice.

“I’m happiest when I’m outside drawing from observation,” she says. Her aim is to share this experience with children, to help them to be “fully present.”

As part of her work, Celina is delivering two workshops at the forthcoming Kaleidoscope Family Music Festival, taking place from June 28-30 in Blessington, Co Wicklow.

Kaleidoscope is a family-friendly event open to all ages, encompassing music, art, education and wellness. Musical acts performing at the festival include The Kooks, The Waterboys, King Kong Company, and Cork’s Lyra.

Celina’s first session at the festival is a collage workshop, focused on exploring imaginary landscapes through composition, colour, story-telling and texture. Attendees will experiment with a kaleidoscope of materials, as they bring their dream landscapes to life.

Collage is the main medium Celina works in, as “it’s the most fun,” she says.

In 2022, she was a finalist in the Sky Landscape Artist of the Year competition with some of her collage work.

“It’s what I create most of my art with,” she says.

Her other workshop is called ‘CoverVerse’ and is all about helping you design a captivating book cover, creating a “gateway into an imaginary world”.

Participants will explore composition, typography, and colour theory to create captivating book covers. Each child will leave with a personalised book cover that sparks curiosity and invites exploration. Both workshops are suitable for adults and children over the age of five.

An important moment in time

Outside of her work with young people, Celina continues to develop and nurture her own creativity. Recently, she created a series of sketches of the demolition of the iconic R&H Hall in Cork city, using charcoal and pencil.

Celina’s drawings show the building as it was “being knocked, not from photos”.

She says she “wanted to capture a moment in time”.

“It was an important moment in history to capture, and that’s there for future generations,” she says.

She was selected to exhibit her drawings of the R&H Hall as part of the K-Fest art festival in Killorglin, Co Kerry.

Celina continues to work part-time as a primary school teacher, and outside of that divides her time between workshops, art and books. This balance allows her to continue creating her own art as well as inspiring future artists. She says that above all, “I’m really passionate about sharing creativity and mindfulness with children.”

Details of Celina’s work can be found on www.celinabuckley.com.

Tickets and information on the Kaleidoscope Festival can be found at www.kaleidoscopefestival.ie