Planting a Seed was a year-long commission created for Coláiste Íde agus Iosef Community College in Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick. The project was a collaboration between artists Augustine O'Donoghue and Carol Anne Connolly. The project aimed to link the school to a broader community through a series of creative engagements that investigated ideas and encouraged thought and discussion on education, art and science. Artworks for the commission were made with the participation of students, teachers and the local public. A diverse and thought-provoking programme of events and workshops were developed for students, forging partnerships with the National Trust, Irish Seed Savers Association, UCD Art in Science programme and UCD Scool of Science. A very unique element of the project was the donation of apple seeds by the National Trust UK from Isaac Newton’s infamous 400 year old Flower of Kent apple tree from his estate in Woolsthrope Manor, Lincolnshire. The trees will be grown in a heritage Irish apple orchard on the school grounds which was planted as part of the project.
For more information

Irish Examiner article - http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsfilmtv/limerick-school-project-combine-sculpture-science-and-local-apple-trees-451758.html

Planting a Seed Publication 

Augustine O’Donoghue is a graduate of The National College of Art and Design Dublin. Her practice engages with concepts of local and global socio-political issues. She has worked with travellers, immigrant workers, women’s groups and social organizations in Ireland, Latin America and Africa. Exhibitions and projects have been developed in Ireland, Europe, USA, China, Canada, Brazil, Colombia and Africa and taken place in a wide variety of locations including museums, cattle marts, government buildings, supermarkets, factories and political events.

Carol Anne Connolly is a visual artist from the West of Ireland.

Her work examines the development of current cultural, civic and social ideas relating to place. She  employs  a variety of mediums, strategies and techniques to produce work. Her approach to making work develops into interdisciplinary, socially engaged and collaborative projects . Past projects have involved working with diverse communities and individuals including ghost estate residents, environmental NGOs, farmer/protestors, historians, law academics and skratch musicians.

Connolly graduated from the National College of Art and Design with an Honours Degree in Fine Art Sculpture (2006) and completed an MA in Arts Policy and Practice through the Huston School of Film and Digital Media at the National University of Ireland, Galway (2011).