The Leitrim Design House and The Dock Arts Centre teamed up to create the Summer Sunday programme 2019, bursting with talent in craft & music. The aim of The Leitrim Design House Meet the Maker events during the Summer Sunday programme was to support local, small creative businesses and provide opportunities for members of the public to learn about traditional crafts through watching and interacting with our talented craft makers. The makers involved in this programme were Catherine Gray, Fuinseog Woodland Crafts, Wendy Louise Designs, Artwood, Carol McLoughlin and Lukasz Jurgowiak.
Catherine Gray
Carrick-on-Shannon based textile artist Catherine Gray made an appearance at The Leitrim Design House to demonstrate how she creates art with fabrics and fascinating techniques. Catch a glimpse of Catherine at work here.
Catherine has made regular appearances here at the Leitrim Design House. She featured on the ARTWALL in 2018, and participated in both our MADE in Leitrim and Co-Create collaboration projects in 2020. She also featured in The Leitrim Design House short film productions Making Time and Crafting the Light in collaboration with Pure Designs. Catherine re-appeared at our Meet the Maker event as part of Relaunch Carrick in 2022. More recently, in 2023, Catherine led the Creativity Through Connection project which launched on Culture Night, and her work returned to the ARTWALL as a part of the Sinnan Circle.
Fuinseog Woodland Crafts
People of all ages got to enjoy games and fun with Fuinseog Woodland Crafts and their traditional and not-so-traditional wooden games. These are locally made & hand crafted traditional games that all ages, cultures and abilities can engage with. There was also an educational element in learning about the trees where the materials came from and the importance of nature and its preservation. Niall Miller & Brenda McLoughlin are a regular feature here at The Leitrim Design House and also featured in Making Time and Crafting the Light.
Wendy Louise Designs
Milliner Wendy Knight was here in the Leitrim Design House with a stunning selection of one-off summer hats, showcasing mixed media pieces which were created during an exciting collaboration with blacksmith Colm Bagnall from Bushy Park Ironworks, defying gravity through balanced design. Wendy also introduced her fabulous new casual collection of eco jersey headbands and a super soft funky baby range.
Artwood
Artwood works with locally sourced woods, high quality non-toxic finishing products, and environmentally friendly packaging. Their creations are handcrafted in their workshop under the Sliabh an Iarainn mountain in County Leitrim, where they welcome ‘bespoke’ design commissions. Giolla Liddy, his wife Emily and their four children are carrying on the family tradition of first class craftsmanship with an expanding range of home & gift ideas. Their uplifting suncatchers throw dazzling rainbow light into homes around the world; it’s easy to see how they have become an extremely popular gift! Emily & Giolla were on site in The Leitrim Design House to share their knowledge, answer questions and personalize any purchases from their product range on their Meet the Maker day.
Carol McLoughlin
Carol McLoughlin, a talented calligrapher based in Carrick-on-Shannon, explained the foundation of her calligraphy and demonstrated the method, style and strokes involved in this fine art technique. Visitors could try their hand at calligraphy under the guidance of Carol and enjoyed viewing her original calligraphy pieces.
Lukasz Jurgowiak
The popular basket maker Lukasz Jurgowiak also returned to share his knowledge and demonstrate his skills in working with a naturally sourced material, willow. Lukasz is a basket-maker based in south Sligo and originally comes from the North-West of Poland. His first memories of willow baskets are associated with his father who made baskets for family use. Lukasz made his first basket using willow growing wild along the hedgerows in Ireland, remembering the gestures he had seen his father perform. Developing a growing love for the material he took numerous classes with Alison Fitzgerald. He is continually striving to learn as much as possible from the rich tradition of basket-weaving in the Irish countryside. A keen horticulturist and lover of nature, he is also at present developing his skills in working with native wood. Weaving techniques used in creating baskets were demonstrated by Lukasz as part of Summer Sundays.
The Leitrim Design House Meet the Maker craft programme was complemented by The Dock music programme which included talented Leitrim musicians and dancers on Sunday afternoons in July and August 2019. All were welcome to experience these free events.
