Interwined - Mosaic of the Community Brain

CÚRAM’s film about the whole project can be found here:

https://vimeo.com/927578052?share=copy

This science-inspired artwork was created in collaboration with students from Galway Community College and staff from Ballybane Library. The project was developed as part of an EU Horizon programme, STE(A)M Learning Ecologies, and is one of ten pilot projects taking place across Europe with the focus of fostering open schooling in science education. It forms part of CÚRAM’s Education and Public Engagement programme, ‘Breaking Barriers and Building Communities’, which focuses on building and creating collaborations between scientific researchers and the community, to inform, educate and engage the public in STEM.

The multi team project began by working with Transition Year students from Galway Community College to generate artworks all about the brain. Linking up with scientists from Cúram, the SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices based at the University of Galway, the students drew magnified objects in the microscopy lab in Galway University and sketched at the Cúram exhibition in the Galway City Museum.

Their drawings were enlarged and translated into abstract, brain shaped mosaic designs. Each student worked their own designs into mosaicsat workshops held in Ballybane Library. The location was chosen to encourage teenagers to visit their local library. I developed the students' mosaics into a design inspired by brain cells under the microscope. The students’ mosaics have become the cell nuclei, reaching out to make connections with each other, linking up all their different ideas and images.