Little Sparks, an inclusive arts project at dlr Baths
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and our partners Kildarton Specialised Preschool and Carmona School are delighted to announce that the selected artists are Helen Barry and Niamh Lawlor.
We will support the artist/s to develop their arts practice with children with disabilities from two and a half to seven years of age. The artist/s will receive a monthly fee to support their practice, a materials budget, and a training stipend. The artists have access to a studio in dlr Baths for 12 months. It will give the artist/s the space and time to create their work.
We need more inclusive art experiences for children with disabilities in our County. We wish to support artists and children in the County to work together to create, to learn from each other and to explore what is possible.
"We are delighted to embark on a creative journey with the curious 'Little Sparks' from Carmona School and Kildarton Specialised Preschool. Together we will explore new paths of creativity and self expression using a feast of sensory and multi-disciplinary experiences and approaches. Based in the heart of Dún Laoghaire by the sea, this wonderful year long opportunity will inspire new work through real connections and experiences with very young children with disabilities and complex needs."
Helen Barry and Niamh Lawlor
Biographies
Niamh Lawlor and Helen Barry have been involved in several projects together - dlr Primary Arts Programme, the Hugh Lane Gallery’s Explore and Learn programme and Sculptunes, an initiative of Helen Barry that is supported by the National Concert Hall. Most recently Niamh joined Helen as an associate on her ART-icle 12, Empowering Very Young Voices through the Arts, in the Central Remedial Clinic School, Clontarf.
The artists practices and methodologies share similar approaches that reflect key themes of Aistear: the early childhood curriculum framework. They each have over 30 years’ experience of designing and delivering creative engagements, artworks and performances with, and for, children of all ages and abilities. Both artists have received many awards, bursaries and commissions for their work with children, and both artists have a strong focus on developing multi-sensory arts experiences and artworks for early years and young children with physical disabilities, additional needs, special needs and neurodivergence.
Helen Barry is a visual artist, inventor, early years arts practitioner and classically trained dancer. Helen’s practice is imbued with the responses and stimuli discovered through direct engagement in providing and developing mutli-disciplinary arts experiences with and for others. The collaborative process is what drives her practice. The synergy created by using a cross-disciplinary approach provides a sensorium palette from which Helen draws from. Everything exists on the horizon; a perpetual visual and aural palette of sensations, frequencies and movements through which we interpretate the world around us. Helen’s ambition is to create interactive artworks and experiences with and for all audiences that resonate with an internal narrative.
Helen’s recent works include, the curation of Boghanna Báistí Beaga, An Interactive Exhibition for early years children, which she co-created with them and for them in partnership with the Hugh Lane Gallery and the NEIC. She is curator ART-icle 12, a creative initiative for early years children with physical disabilities and additional needs and the National Concert Hall supports her development of ‘Sculptunes’ sound installations for early years children.
Niamh Lawlor is Multi-Disciplinary and Participative Artist, Theatre Maker and Puppeteer living in Sallynoggin. Focused on the importance of play and how artistic practice, rituals and collaboration can enrich our culture and lives, she has created shows and arts experiences, often under Púca Puppets, since 1997. This includes the multi sensory Small Wonders, commissioned in 2022 by dlr Arts Office, created with and for infants and their parents, with Healthy Ireland supporting the development of Sensory Wonders for children with autism and Myriad Wonders for children with multiple needs. This suite of shows, including Iontas na nIontas the Irish language version, continue to perform in theatres and community and school contexts. New site responsive piece Joy! was awarded a Creative Ireland bursary from dlr Arts Office 2024 and an Arts Council Project award and Civic Theatre commission for its opening performances this summer. It features a large scale puppet leading audiences in playful journeys through streets and squares, reinventing the everyday. It’s created in collaboration with professional musicians, a performer and communities and groups, contributing in various ways.
Gallery
