Words for Mother E-ART-H – Poetry and Pottery
What if instead of constantly looking to the Earth for resources we looked to it for inspiration to create ART and gave a little back to our communities?
With thanks to the Creative Ireland Programme, Mountshannon Arts are offering the opportunity to inspire creativity through three workshops. Two Nature Writing workshops, one each with poets Niamh Twomey and Kerri Ní Dochartaigh followed by a ceramics clay workshop with artist Eibhlín Dunne, (Oak House Ceramics) who will guide the participants through a workshop to create ceramic tiles incorporating words and images from the writing workshops.
The workshops will take place in Mountshannon on Saturday April 12th Friday April 25th and Saturday April 26th.
The participants are invited to partake in a poetry reading and display at the Mountshannon Arts Festival, bank holiday Monday June 2nd 2025.
From the Source, Nature Writing Workshop with Niamh Twomey
Taking inspiration from Lough Derg and the wildlife around Mountshannon, we will read poems by nature poets that represent their surroundings in unexpected ways, that celebrate the natural world and gift us new perspectives on plant and animal life.
We will also consider craftsmanship, the act of making and how that act is connected to the landscape around us.
Whether we are crafting poems or ceramic tiles, our source material (the clay and the inspiration) is the earth. With this in mind, we will craft poems that respect the earth they came from, give voice to plants and animals and relish the joy of being in the world.
The Trees you Grew Up with Still Remember You …. Nature Writing Workshop with Kerri Ní Dochartaigh
The trees you grew up with still remember you ….
Trees are some of the most ancient, beautiful, wise kin we share this earth with.
Our identity as humans is as intricately, delicately interwoven with theirs as the web of communal care they weave beneath our feet.
On this green island, we first learned to speak, all the way back when, using their strong, steadfast elder bodies.
Our languages, our lives, our loves, first found meaning in the forest, by their side.
How do we write this story?
Trees speak. Are we listening?
In this workshop, we will gather our memories of the trees our lives have held dear.
We will think with ideas of one-anotherness, interconnectedness and ecologies of care.
We will remember, record and rejoice in trees through our words; making poetry from tiny memory acorns.
The trees you grew up with still remember you.
(And you remember them too, oak child.)
This workshop is suitable for all ages and abilities. All you need is to love the world….
Connect with the Earth - Clay Workshop with Eibhlín Dunne
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust
In the clay workshop, we will connect the head, the heart and the hand, as clay so beautifully allows. We will transfer the journey, words and images that emerged in the creative writings onto tiles; visual art that encapsulates the nature and beauty experienced. Through pinching, moulding, squishing and connecting, our pieces will take shape. The clay coming from the earth is a direct connection to our land. Let's play with the earth.
"Now I invite you to dance with your ideas, move with the clay. Use your imagination and play..." - Lynee Souter-Anderson
Participation is free but spaces are limited. Preference is for participants to partake in at least two workshops.
Contact Róisín mountshannonpoetry@gmail.com to register.
The vision for Creative Ireland Clare is to “embed culture and creativity into the activities, sustainability and growth of our communities”.
Niamh Twomey is a poet from East Clare. Her work won the 2023 Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition and the 2022 Trim Poetry Competition. She has been published in The London Magazine, Rattle, Banshee and Southword, among others.
She is the founder of Hive, an Irish journal of nature poetry, and she is currently completing a PhD at Queen's University Belfast.
Eibhlín Dunne is a ceramic artist living on the shores of Lough Derg, in Mountshannon, Co. Clare. Her work is heavily influenced by the biodiversity surrounding the lake and nearby woodlands.
Eibhlín completed a Degree in Ceramic Design in 2005 in the Limerick School of Art and Design, after which she worked and travelled throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
She is a qualified primary school teacher who has recently returned to Ceramics, initially as a creative outlet while mothering her three young children. She enjoys marrying her love of teaching with her love of clay and facilitating a creative space for children and adults.
Her work is inspired by a deep love of the natural world around us, so often forgotten, unheard and unseen. Through her work, she seeks to awaken the viewer to the splendour that surrounds them, the mysteries of an unheard, unseen world that carries on before us.
For other workshops and updates follow Eibhlín on Instagram @oakhouseceramics1
Kerri ní Dochartaigh is a mother, writer, holder and grower.
She has written for The Guardian, BBC, RTE, The Irish Times and others.
She mentors and teaches worldwide.
Her work currently explores ideas of one-anotherness, interconnectedness and ecologies of care.
Her first book, Thin Places, was published by Canongate in Spring 2021, for which she was awarded the Butler Literary Award 2022, and highly commended for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2021.
Cacophony of Bone was published by Canongate in May 2023 and was longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2023.
She lives in East Clare with her family
