Teens’ whale of a time with Kinsale mural

A SIDE wall of the Kinsale Youth Community Centre (KYCC) has got a whole lot brighter following the completion of a bright marine-themed mural by five teenagers.

The talented artists, who are all aged 15, designed and completed the mural themselves.  They share ‘The Well’ centre in Kinsale town centre with both Kinsale Men’s Shed and Kinsale Youth Support Services (KYSS).

‘We opened our new centre last September and we knew straight away we wanted our teenagers to paint a big and bright mural,’ said KYCC volunteer Tess Dean.

‘We just had to figure out who was interested in undertaking the task and then give them time to come with a plan and design for it as a group, with the support of one of our volunteers, Kate French, who is an artist herself.’

Roisin O’Riordan said putting their vision up on the wall was ‘definitely a challenge, but a welcome one.’

‘Getting compliments from passers-by and working as a team was an exciting three days. The result was almost exactly as I had imagined it, but with the help of the others, it was even better.’

Artist Kate Morrissey said she really enjoyed being part of the creation. ‘It was lovely to collaborate with other artists and bounce ideas back and forth with each other. My favourite part of the mural would be the water, as it has a nice gradual gradient with bright bubbles and soft rays of light. The whale was also a part I really enjoyed because I’ve loved drawing aquatic creatures from a young age.’