The Mad Hatters

As part of the Blarney in Bloom Festival I co-ordinate the textile art installations made by members of the Cork Textiles Network. The festival is a fundraiser for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. Included in this year's festival will be a piece made by the students of Scoil Naomh Mhuire, Fearann, Co. Cork. The theme of the piece is the mad hatter's tea party from the story Alice in Wonderland. The aim is to make over-sized place settings using papier mache, representing some of the well known characters from the much loved children's story. The project is funded by the Cork County Council Arts Services and is intended to be used to launch the festival in June. Also on board on this venture is Cork artist Sarah Geary who has been involved in numerous community based arts schemes throughout the County. The entire project will take place over a course of 10 weeks. The Scottish born artist Tom Campbell has proved a great help with the technique being used for this type of papier mache.