The internationally acclaimed Galway arts company Macnas is included as a question in the latest Leaving Cert honours art paper.
Students across Ireland were asked to base their practical work on one of three descriptive passages. One of these included an excerpt from The Irish Times’ review of last year’s Macnas Parade. This featured alongside extracts from Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, and Italy by Rosalind Giselle.
Taking inspiration from the featured Macnas passage, students were asked to design a poster advertising the Macnas Parade, an illustration for the cover of the Galway Arts Festival poster, a hat to be worn by one of the musicians in “grotesque evening dress”, a puppet inspired by one of the street performers, and a mug to commemorate what The Irish Times called “the most impressive Macnas Parade in years”.
Students were also given the option of designing a float for the parade and a mask to be worn by one of the street performers.
Macnas is thrilled its new style of work was exciting enough to be included in this year’s Leaving Cert paper and that it was viewed as an inspiration for young designers.
“We would love to get an opportunity to see the work created by the students once the exams are over,” says artistic director Noeline Kavanagh. “Perhaps we could even use some of the designs for our website and new work.”
