Kids’ Own has recently started a brand-new project in partnership with Mayo Arts Service, Mayo County Council and St Angela’s National School Castlebar! Fourth class students from St Angela’s are working alongside Kids’ Own associate artist Kiera O’Toole to develop Mayo County Council’s Schools Exhibition programme.

Mayo County Council has a wide and varied collection of artworks, and a part of this collection forms the Schools Exhibition programme. This programme allows schools across County Mayo to borrow original artworks, created by Mayo-based artists, and keep these in their school for a term. These schools also receive a resource to guide students and teachers through thinking about the artworks in the Schools Exhibition programme. 

Over eight weeks, this group of children will be selecting new artworks for the Schools Exhibition programme, and through a creative process facilitated by Kids’ Own, they will respond to and explore the selected artworks. The children’s creative explorations and questions will form the basis of a new, child-led resource for other schools in County Mayo to use! 

So far, the children have been having fun with artist Kiera O’Toole, exploring different media, colour, and texture, and having lots of interesting discussions about the artworks in the collection.