Women create art piece for Ballycommon

Months of work by a group of craftswomen in Ballycommon has resulted in the creation of an artwork featuring scenes from the village itself and all the surrounding areas of Kiladangan parish.

The twelve women, who call themselves The Ballycommon Crafters, have created a large and beautiful wall hanging depicting almost 40 well-known features and locations that evoke the uniqueness and beauty of a parish that is bejewelled with streams, rivers, lakes, lush farmland and scenic villages.

The women employed the craft of appliqué – sowing fabrics shapes onto large pieces of cloth – to depict the many scenes collected from the parish.

All their dedicated work occurred during their weekly class held each Monday in the Muintir na Tíre Hall in Ballycommon under the tutelage of Lian Callaghan, a teacher commissioned by the Tipperary Education and Training Board, which sponsor the classes.

Once the idea for the exquisite wall hanging was hatched Lian set out on a tour of the village, taking numerous photographs of its unique features and landmarks.

The photographs were then brought back to the class and presented to each of the crafters who selected individual scenes to make templates on which they created their works of appliqué.

Each crafter completed a ten-inch square appliqué, all of which have now been put together to create the beautiful wall hanging that is to adorn the community hall.

‘JUST AMAZING’

“The whole artwork is just amazing,” one of the crafters, Geraldine Cronin told this newspaper. “There’s some absolutely exquisite individual pieces featuring scenes such as the Thatched Cottage in Ballycommon itself – it has to be seen to be believed.”

An individual work by another member, Lulu Bergin, depicts Ballyartella Bridge. “At first Lulu was only going to confine her work to the bridge and the Nenagh river that flows underneath,” Geraldine revealed.

“But then she did some research on the history of the location and ended up incorporating an old mill that once occupied the scene. She even gives some of the history of the place that she has embroidered in words beside the scene.”

Other individual pieces that have gone in to creating the wall hanging include scenes from Dromineer, Ballycommon, Carrig and Puckane.

There are several works of Dromineer, and there’s one of the church and school in Puckane. The old telephone box and wishing well in Ballycommon also feature.

THE BIG REVEAL

The final artwork is to be revealed to the public on this Sunday, December 11, when the Muintir na Tíre Hall Committee stage a Christmas Community Fair to raise funds for improvement works on the property, which has been at the centre of community life in the village for decades.

The wall hanging is then to be put on permanent display in the hall, alongside a framed memento featuring the list of names of the crafters that created the artwork.

This latest initiative by the crafters follows a successful initiative they undertook last year to create sensory quilts for people in the community who live with Alzheimer’s.

Anxiety and agitation are common symptoms of the disease, and experts say that the quilts, donated to local care homes, have a calming and pacifying impact on people with dementia.

All are invited to Ballycommon craft fair in the Muintir na Tíre Hall this Sunday where they can view the beautiful wall hanging.