Playthings

Curated by Caroline McCarthy (on behalf of Draíocht) and Angela O’Kelly (on behalf of the Crafts Council of Ireland), who have each created a piece themselves for the exhibition, three fine art and three craft artists from both Ireland and England, were selected to create artworks that would be tactile, playful and interactive for children aged between 3 and 12 years, to coincide with the ‘Spreacha International Arts Festival for Children’ run by Draíocht in partnership with FingalCounty Council.

Most art exhibitions, traditionally speaking, are not very child-oriented and Draíocht hoped that ‘Playthings’ would help children and their parents to come into contact with, be excited by, enjoy and learn about visual art in a very stimulating and unusual way.

The artworks showed a wide range of styles and approaches to this idea and incorporated a variety of sensory experiences and interactive elements including aspects of light, touch, sound, discovery, scale and movement, allowing children to touch, explore and make surprising discoveries firsthand.

After Draíocht, the exhibition travelled to the Crafts Council of Ireland, Kilkenny from 21 September-21 October 2005.