The Great Book of Gaelic Twinning Project was officially opened June 12 as part of the official launch of An Leabhar Mor, The Great Book of Gaelic.

The children's exhibition is inspired by the collaboration of artists, writers and calligraphers central to An Leabhar Mor. Two elementary-grade classes, one in Carlow, Ireland, and one in Corner Brook, created a poetic response to one another’s visual art. The Carlow students attend a Gael (Irish language) school and the Corner Brook students are in a Grade 5 French Immersion class at C.C. Loughlin Elementary. The resulting artworks are on display in the atrium of the Fine Arts Building at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College as part of the Gaelic Arts Festival.

In March this year, the Corner Brook students worked with local artist Nancy Jacobsen to produce watercolours based on the landscape of western Newfoundland. These were sent to the school in Ireland. There students worked with artist Bridget Flannery. They selected text from poetry by Irish poets which they felt spoke to the paintings they had received and integrated the text into the paintings. The Irish students went on to make their own landscape paintings which were sent back to Corner Brook along with the original set of works. Back in Corner Brook, the students worked with writer Tara Manuel Rigler and composed their own poetry which they inscribed on the Irish students’ paintings.

“The final artwork is a wonderful collaboration between the students and truly is more than the sum of its parts,” said Charlotte Jones of Learning through the Arts in Western Newfoundland. “The students have all been very excited to see one another’s paintings and, one another’s textual response to their own artwork. We are hoping that these classes will continue to keep in touch.”

On Monday, June 16, the Corner Brook class and teacher Anne Marie Brown will visit The Great Book of Gaelic Exhibition and as well as their own exhibition. They will also meet two of the participating artists in The Great Book of Gaelic Exhibition, Rita Duffy and Frances Breen.

This project was jointly supported by Learning through the Arts in Western Newfoundland (LTTA/WNL), Western School District, Gaelscoil Eoghain Ui Thuairisc and Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Art Gallery.

For more information about the Great Book of Gaelic visit www.swgc.mun.ca/artgallery/greatbook.