Clonmel Junction Arts Festival is offering Clonmel schools and community groups the opportunity to book free workshops for an exciting arts project in the build-up to the 2025 festival. Thanks to Creative Ireland funding, the festival is bringing the 100 Dogs Project to this year's festival, a community engagement project with artist Tom Campbell.

Tom Campbell is a Cork based multidisciplinary visual artist, working in many media but has a love for papier-mâché, a fast and environmentally sustainable way of making sculpture. He has been facilitating workshops for over 20 years. The 100 Dogs Project is an interactive project making 100 life sized papier-mâché dogs during free workshops with the artist.

Rebecca Lenehan, Artistic Director of Clonmel Junction Arts Festival, says:

“We’re delighted to be welcoming artist Tom Campbell to Clonmel in May and June this year to offer workshops for local schools and community groups – it’s a priority of the festival to reach out to the community and we’re hoping to engage with as many groups as possible.

“Tom is a fantastic artist, and I think the project will really appeal to people by taking part in the workshops and by seeing the dogs gathered together during the festival. Tom will be in Clonmel for a six-week residency, meaning there are plenty of opportunities for groups to book a workshop and be part of this wonderful project.” Community groups and local schools can email info@junctionfestival.com to book one or more workshops with Tom from 12th May until 21st June at Unit 12a in The Showgrounds Shopping Centre.

Once made, the dogs will feature during this year's festival with all the community groups and local schools being encouraged to meet to "walk" the dogs and gather on the Civic Plaza in Clonmel on Saturday 5th July.

Rebecca Lenehan says: “Our festival theme for this year is ‘Encounters’ so the 100 Dogs Project fits in perfectly with this theme. We’re really looking forward to seeing what amazing creations will be made during Tom’s residency in Clonmel, so I’d like to encourage everyone to take the opportunity and be part of this year’s festival.”

Photo caption: The 100 Dogs Project in Alba, Italy

Further information:

Please see this video for the most recent Dog project in Alba, Italy for a better idea of what the project involves: https://youtu.be/aRbg5f_1SkM?si=YkedbJz0DuNxJZnk

Dog project at Mirabilia https://youtu.be/-M8wmpsf8DU?si=n05PS22Z-DHrX0PT www.TomCampbellArt.com https://www.instagram.com/tomcampbellart/ https://www.patreon.com/TomCampbellArt

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