Ireland's Art(y) (Agri)culture

This entry is about the link between art and agriculture. In many ways agriculture provides "material" for artists. As a way of life, agriculture has long been the conceptual material of paintings and other artwork. And, most basically, agricultural products including food and fiber provide raw materials for artists. Chefs construct beautiful meals in flavor and aesthetic, and for centuries weavers have used fibers as a medium to make beautiful yet practical garments.



This reflection is brought on by a recent experience with a project that combines art and agriculture resulting in beautiful woolen pieces and endless community benefit. In this project, Mulranny women (although men are very welcome) gather a couple days per week to card, plat, sew, felt, knit or weave. The women give their hands to create rugs, gloves, and garments or anything else the group can dream up. Cheryl is the owner and creative leader of Essene of Mulranny which is the amazing workshop where this art happens.
Located in County Mayo, the workshop has plenty of woolly material to work with, the county claims the third highest number of sheep of all counties in Ireland. The end products are beautiful warm pieces of all shapes and sizes.











Beyond the products, Cheryl's workshop aims to have far reaching community benefit. Once the group has a collection of woolen creations, they will be sold at auction to raise money for a biodiversity center highlighting the area's unique flora and fauna. Everyone in the community wants to support this outcome. As mentioned, men are very welcome to pitch in with the fiber art but several men have and been compelled to contribute to the project in other forms, such as making simple looms for the weavers. Besides the tangible outcomes of this project (woolen pieces and the biodiversity center) the unseen benefit is having something to gathering around, working with your hands, and genuinely connecting with other community members while you work.

This project has plenty of positive of outcomes: it showcases one of mayo's finest agricultural products, it aims to fund a center highlighting the ecological community of Mulranny, and it gives the people of Mulranny a reason to gather and a sense of ownership over its community's ongoing development. This project is really an exemplar of how combining art and agriculture can enrich the broader human and ecological communities!