By Helen Shaw – Tóchar Stories curator

Samratchana is a lively and chatty little girl who loves to paint. She’s finishing 2nd Class in Kilteevan NS, Co Roscommon and she’s best friends with three sisters, Ewa, Zofia and Sylwia, who are in her class. They call her their fourth sister! The girls, along with the rest of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Class, got to spend the last week of term before the Summer break engaged on a fun nature and creative art project under Tóchar Community Stories. They got to learn more in class about the different species of butterflies living on their local bog, Cloonlarge Bog, Lough Ree, spend time on a bog walk discovering those butterflies, and then work with an artist mentor to create their own versions of their favourite butterfly species. They even got to host their collected butterfly work in an exhibition in the Kilteevan Community Centre so parents could visit and enjoy their creativity.

To seed the project, local volunteer legend Eileen Fahey, who leads Kilteevan Tidy Towns, and is a community custodian of Cloonlarge Bog, spent time in the classrooms with the school pupils sharing her love and knowledge of butterflies. Eileen is a keen amateur naturist and photographer so she has a vast library of beautiful images she has captured along Cloonlarge Bog and she has a particular grá for butterflies. The bog loops in Cloonlarge boasts a lovely butterfly trail, telling the stories of butterflies seen on the bog, including the Holly Blue and Marsh Fritillary (the only protected butterfly in Ireland) and these images are all Eileen’s own photography. Indeed she was the force behind getting the butterfly trail done with support from Roscommon’s Heritage Officer, Nollaig Feeney.

Eileen is a retired teacher herself so being in a classroom is second nature but she was also happy to switch sides and become an art student sitting side by side with the primary school pupils when the project moves from outdoors on the bog to indoor drawing with artist mentor Annie Holland.

Annie Holland encouraged the children to begin drawing once they got back to the school after the bog walk. The children (with their teacher Ms. Whyte) took one of Eileen’s photographs of a butterfly species seen on the Cloonlarge Bog and began carefully drawing. The next day Annie moved them into water colours and gradually the butterflies, in all their colourful glory and detail, came alive.

Once the final 24 pieces were created (some children even managed to paint two versions of their butterfly!) Annie came back to school for the final full day on Monday June 23rd and showed the children how to make badges from their artwork while the teachers and Tóchar Stories, with the support of the Kilteevan Community Development Group, set up a mini art exhibition in the beautiful old church that now serves as Kilteevan’s Community Centre.

In the Community Centre ( previously a church with a stunning hand-painted ceiling created by the Italian Brentini brothers in 1904) the artwork of the smaller children from junior, senior infants and 1st Class was included with the watercolours from the older children; creating a vibrant, school celebration of art and nature.

By afternoon teachers, pupils, parents and grandparents popped in to visit and admire and the young artists posed beside their creations.

With Summer, and freedom in the air, we finished with a group chat about the project, sitting round the exhibition and sharing what we learnt and enjoyed with children remembering Eileen’s lesson on how the butterfly has four wings and how its remarkable proboscis – a word all of the children will now recall and even spell!

The Kilteevan NS nature bog/butterfly and art project is the second primary school Tóchar Stories has worked with and follows our engagement with St Anne’s NS, Tyrrellspass, Co Westmeath where the children created a new boardwalk panel to greet visitors. What was lovely to see in Kilteevan was the pride children took in their work, and in particular how those pupils who might have thought a week ago they were not good at art actually created something everyone applauded as beautiful. Hosting the art within the community centre meant the wider community could see and enjoy it. Because it was also the last full day of school for the school principal Mrs Brennan, who is retiring (much to the regret of the children!) we even had a visit from the school board of management who were charmed by what the exhibition and connecting bog nature and art creativity.

For more information contact Helen on 087 6754375 or tocharstories@gmail.com