Celebrating World Down Syndrome month at Cavan Library

There was great excitement as the members of the Cavan Branch of the Down Syndrome Ireland group viewed their art exhibition hung on the walls of Cavan Library for the first time.

A summer of hard work and great fun went on behind the scenes in creating this display, with the help of Cornafean artist Cáit Masterson. The group is home to around forty members, who launched their art show last Saturday.

The members used a range of skills during the eight-week programme, such as cutting, gluing, pouring paints, painting on different surfaces, and combining different colours.

"They got to use new skills and old skills and it was something that they were able to do with their siblings which was great," said Branch Chairperson Garrett Wilkinson.

The exhibition launched last Saturday and coincides with World Down Syndrome awareness month, in October.

Their odd socks painting is a nod to that, as wearing mismatched, colourful socks for Down Syndrome awareness symbolises the uniqueness of individuals with Down Syndrome.

"This is all about promoting awareness in the community that we are here," Garrett continued.

For Alice Pender her favourite activity was working with clay. She made a mould of her hand which she later painted using her favourite colours; pink and blue.

"It was fun," Alice told the Celt.

She loved meeting her art teacher Cáit, and said she was a very kind teacher.

Both Alice and fellow member Katie Mills would like to do the art project again. For Katie, her favourite activity was making her rainbow butterfly, which she proudly points to on the wall.

She also loved pouring the paint on the canvas and tilting it to make different shapes and colours.

"This isn't the usual kind of project that I would work on at all, but it was quite easy because I really just had to find the materials and let them know what to do," Artist Cáit described.

"They used their own creative initiative to come up with the pieces themselves. They are extremely creative children, they were brilliant.

"I love this kind of work, so much satisfaction comes with it. It's great to see people being creative. Even when they think they're not they find a way and come up with something in the end and it's fantastic.

"I'm very proud of them all and I think it looks amazing," she praised.

Chairperson Garrett said they try to provide a range of activities for their members.

"Everything from, as you see here arts and crafts, speech and language, occupational therapy, horse-riding."

With "very limited" services available, they aim to provide "any sort of therapies" which helps their members.

"There are a number of areas where the services are just not there, so we really need them. But this is about building awareness and showcasing the talent of the members.

"It's about coming together as a community and finding stuff that we can do with siblings as well."

The exhibition is open to view at Johnston Central Library until October 10.