On behalf of the Atlantic Technological University community, I would like to welcome you all to the 2022 Creative Showcase.
After two years of delivering the experience virtually I am delighted to join with the Head of the ATU Sligo College Dr Brendan McCormack in welcoming the event back on campus. This means that students, staff and visitors can walk the corridors of the ATU and experience first-hand the amazing creative output from our students. In April 2022, IT Sligo merged with GMIT and LYIT to become the Atlantic Technological University. This is a momentous development for higher education in the west and north-west; we are now one university for a unique and diverse region which is larger than Wales! This development has opened many opportunities to build a strong focus on education for the creative practices and to widen access to and enhance the range of creative disciplines available to learners.
The establishment three years ago of the Yeats Academy of Art, Design& Architecture, within the Faculty of Engineering and Design, has given the staff and students a strong sense of identity and common sense of purpose. YAADA is now a recognised beacon of creativity in the northwest, building a strong reputation for creativity across all its many disciplines in the region and wider afield.
During the last 2 years, our students overcame considerable challenges to build their talent through an extraordinarily difficult (remote)medium of learning and we have a hugely impressive show of their work on display this year. Having said that, over the last two years while our Creative Showcase was presented in digital formal this did allow our students to explore how best to present themselves and their creative work through this medium, which itself was a powerful learning experience. The world of the arts was extremely disrupted over the past two years and there has been a groundswell of appreciation of the importance of the arts and how they have captured the national mood, uplifted the nation’s spirit and inspired the country to move forward. It is wonderful that this year we can gather together again to appreciate the creative arts in person, to collaborate in its development and applaud its success. I would like to thank all of the contributors to the Yearbook and to acknowledge the work of academic and technical staff who supported the students in the creation of their work. I look forward to seeing the Showcase!
Dr Orla Flynn,
President ATU
Dr Brendan McCormack,
ATU Head of Sligo College
I would like to congratulate this year’s graduating students and wish them every success with their future creative endeavours. This showcase is a celebration and an important testimony of what they have achieved already.
This is the fourth year to publish the Yeats Academy Yearbook and the first year under the newly formed Atlantic Technological University (ATU). We are delighted to be backon campus for our end-of-year Creative Showcase. After two years of virtual shows, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is wonderful to be able to celebrate and admire our final year students’ creativity in person.It is an exciting time for ATU Sligo since we became a Technological University on April 1st 2022. As we integrate with ATU Galway and Donegal and incorporate St Angela’s, our vision is that the Creative & Cultural Arts, which are so central in the West and Northwest of Ireland will play a pivotal role in this new university. Our Yeats Academy of Arts, Design & Architecture (YAADA),which will soon see the completion of refurbishing buildings in the creative hub on the Northern campus, will be a key player in these formative university times. Sincere thanks to our Yeats Academy staff who provided such a rich educational experience. They encouraged each of our students to
develop their unique imagination and creativity to help them acquir ethe knowledge, skills and experience needed to find their distinctive voice as an actor, architect, artist, designer or writer. I am very proud of what the Yeats Academy, both students and staff, have achieved particularly in this last two and a half years during these COVID-19 times. An end-of-year show would not happen without a great team of people on board. A special thank you to our Yeats Academy academic and technical staff who supported the students, our ATU Sligo administration, marketing, communications and estates teams, the award sponsors, our event manager Oli Melia and the YAADA Head of Department Emmet O’Doherty. Congratulations to the students on their remarkable achievements and wishing them every success in their future creative endeavours. I hope this yearbook and the Creative Showcase inspires future potential students to come to ATU Sligo, to push the parameters of their creativity and to pursue their dreams.
Welcome.
Emmet O’Doherty
Head of the Yeats Academy of Arts, design & Architecture
Welcome to the 2022 Yeats Academy Creative Showcase. This Showcase is a celebration of the innovative work of our students and staff over this academic year, and my opportunity to say congratulations and well done to all.
This online repository is a great resource for current and future students, as they not only compile
incredible projects of the highest quality, but they also captures the zeitgeist of the department’s evolution and our students responses to the salient issues of our time.
This Yearbook shows the strength of diversity in our programme offerings, and why we continue to
attract high quality students and staff to contribute to the vision of
the department and to continue the lineage of creative thinking and
practice which has been so strong in the north-west. It also presents
the Department’s commitment to investing time in enabling students
and staff to flourish, embracing academic innovation, curiosity,
and creativity. It
demonstrates that we are leaders in our field and our expertise lies in applying Creative
Culture as a platform from which to pursue key social goals and embrace
our role as the educational centre
in the region supporting discourse and social engagement around the
transformative role of the Arts. The Department continues to make connections through teaching, research and engagement and there are a number of exciting
developments and collaborations that will come to fruition over
the coming years, especially with other departments within our new University. Leading this Department is a true pleasure, and I thank all of our students, staff and many visitors.
I hope you enjoy every aspect of the Showcase.
Go raibh maith agat as léamh agus tá
súil agam go mbainfidh tú taitneamh
as ár mbliainiris 2022.
The Year in Review
Emmet O’Doherty
Head of Department of the Yeats
Academy of Arts, Design & Architecture
ATU Sligo
This year was ground-breaking for the Yeats Academy. The number
of students in the Department increased significantly in line with our forecast for growth, and we also appointed several new staff to join our amazing team.
September saw our new Block K building fully occupied by our Fine Art and Creative Design students. In February, students on our Bachelor of Architecture along with students from our BA in Interior Architecture and Design moved into the new Yeats Academy Architecture Building.
This building has significantly enhanced PC labs and modelmaking workshops, along with purpose built design studios and lecture spaces.
After two years of restricted travel and missed opportunities, there was great excitement when our Performing Arts students travelled to London on the first YAADA international field trip in over two years. A backstage tour of the National Theatre and an evening performance at the Globe Theatre providing two of the highlights of the trip. The Performing Arts programme also led out on an interdisciplinary project working with Creative Design students and staff
and members of the student Rugby Club creating a giant fish puppet that won the Adjudicator’s Cup in the Sligo St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
We hosted a highly successful visit
by the RIAI Accreditation pane grant provisional accreditation to three years of our Bachelor of Architecture programme bringing us a step further in the five-year process to become the sixth fully validated School of Architecture in Ireland.
Scrimshaw, an initiative developed by our Writing and Literature students became the first trans-collegial publication of our new University. The publication, edited by five of the 2021 class of Writing and Literature, runs to 140 pages, 30 thousand words, and contains short story, poetry, flash fiction, essay, photography and art from students, staff. and alumni from across the ATU.
Over the last number of months, I have been involved in a project that will see the six schools of architecture in Ireland collaborate for the first time in a radical revision of the architectural education syllabus to further advance climate action education across the syllabus.
Climate change will impact every person and every household across our country and our planet. It is the
greatest challenge confronting our generation and future generations to come. Over the next number of years, I hope that we as a Department can focus not only revising the
architecture syllabus, but developing department wide revisions to engender deeper emphasis through all our programmes to incorporate climate action and research.
On a final note, I would like to thank Dr Brendan McCormack for the role he played in establishing the
Yeats Academy of Arts, Design and Architecture. Brendan’s has always shown great vision, encouragement, and support for the Department since its formation. I would like to show appreciation to Brendan for being the driving force in the development of the New North Campus development and for championing the creative practices at every possible opportunity as President of our Institute. On behalf of all my colleagues in YAADA, Brendan, we wish you well in your retirement.
Emmet O’Doherty
