Tipperary artist is to take on a new community integration project

An exciting project for Clonmel Junction Arts Festival 2026, ‘Commonality and Community’ is beginning soon.

The festival is inviting participants from the Ukrainian and local community to engage in a new project working with Tipperary artist Annie Hogg supported by the Integration Fund.

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The workshops with Annie will centre around a knowledge of plants, their uses and folklore, searching for our commonality through our use of plants. Participants will make materials from Tipperary hedgerows and create textile artefacts linked through embroidery in both Ukrainian and Irish traditions on linen. Stories surrounding the plants and folklore will be recorded during the sessions and assembled into audio to accompany the linen installation to be sited in the centre of Clonmel during the 2026 festival.

Annie Hogg, artist, said:
“I am very excited by this project and all that we can learn together. The idea of two strands of our community being woven together through exploring our common plants and their stories and uses feels like a potent way to dig into our human-ness and shared natural world.

“I’m very much looking forward to sharing time with crafters, and seeing what we can create together. I hope that together we can explore Ukrainian and Irish traditions and, through this collaboration, maybe we can create something new and vibrant together.”

Rebecca Lenehan, Artistic Director of Clonmel Junction Arts Festival, said: “We’re really delighted to be bringing this project to Clonmel for 2026. Annie is a fantastic artist and a joy to work with so I would encourage everyone with an interest in crafting to fill in the application form to be involved. This project will take place over the coming months and the idea is that it will evolve and give time for the work, connections and confidence to build.

“Clonmel has a wealth of amazing local artists and creatives, and, through my experience working with the Ukrainian community, I’m acutely aware there is huge creativity to be shared. It will be wonderful to work together to create an installation with Annie based on hedgerow plants and shared knowledge for the festival in 2026.”

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The first meeting will take place on Saturday, January 17 from 2pm-5pm in The Platform in The Showgrounds Shopping Centre. If you have an interest in crafting, please register via the Google form to take part in the project: https://forms.gle/tDjsiZV41
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