Published 08.09.2026
by Kids’ Own
by Kids’ Own
Donate here to support our work
A children's arts organisation and publishing house.
We’re off! Shared Impressions began this week with the first art class of the year for Transition Year students at Ballinode Community College.
The project brings the students together with artists, writers and printmakers to explore mark making, drawing, writing and print. Over the coming weeks, they’ll be developing their own ideas and experimenting with different ways of bringing them together in a shared publication.
For the first session, artist Lorna Watkins and writer Mary Branley joined the students in the classroom. Lorna introduced them to mark making using inks and dyes, with pieces of wood and other materials becoming their tools. There was plenty of experimenting with lines, shapes, textures and unexpected marks.
Mary invited the students to start documenting the work in their newly made eight-page fold-out books. These are designed as rough notebooks for the project.
Then it was across the road to ATU and the Pulled studio, where Dany introduced the group to the Risograph printer. His tutorial gave the students a chance to see how their drawings could be transformed through the printing process.
The students drew onto acetate, creating another collection of lines, shapes and textures. Their individual drawings were then brought together and layered to create a shared Riso print using pink, yellow and blue.
It was a brilliant first session, with lots of experimenting, looking, making and figuring things out along the way. And this is only the beginning. We’re looking forward to seeing how the students’ ideas develop and how all those marks, drawings and notes start to come together over the coming weeks.
Shared Impressions is a collaboration between Kids’ Own, Ballinode Community College and Pulled Print Studio , and is funded through Creative Ireland and Sligo County Council.
Thanks to everyone involved in helping us get the project off to such a good start. Read more about the project here: https://kidsown.ie/projects/ballinode-community-college-publication-project/
