Popular Greenhills Art Teacher Retires
As the current school year draws to a close, Our Lady’s College, bids farewell to much loved Art teacher, Áine Curran. After a long career in Greenhills, Áine who lives in Blackrock, Co. Dublin with husband Peter, children Sophie and Will and Parker the labrador, has decided that now is the right time to retire.
While her teaching career in Drogheda began in 1991, the day Ms. Curran arrived in the town for her job interview, was not her visit to Drogheda. As a primary school pupil, many years earlier, she and her classmates had enjoyed a trip to St. Peter’s to visit the relic of St. Oliver Plunkett!
Having completed a degree in Fine Art at NCAD, Áine pursued her curiosity to explore the world of teaching by undertaking a post-graduate course in Education. She spent the next four years working in various schools around Dublin.
When invited to expand on her decision to follow the Art education route, she remarks, how on the morning of her very first stint at the top of an Art room, in a school in Dun Laoghaire, she just knew that the school art room was where she was meant to be.
In 1991, she answered a job advert and on arrival at Greenhills was invited to visit the art room by Phil Mc Cartan, a legendary Art teacher in the school and a colleague (now retired) for whom Áine expresses enormous affection and respect.
Reflecting on her enormously rewarding years in Our Lady’s College, Áine describes how fortunate she feels to have had such creative and talented colleagues from whom she has learned so much. Teamwork has always characterised the work of the Greenhills Art Dept. and Áine mentions how Phil Mc Cartan, Catherine Mc Connon and Helen Rafferty, as well as current colleagues Jenny Carolan and Greg Meehan, continue to inspire her.
She notes the primacy of the Arts in Greenhills and acknowledges the encouragement and support the Art Dept. has always had from school management, under the leadership of former principal Pádraig Byrne, and today with Geraldine Mulvihill and the entire management team.
Áine also acknowledges the many talented students with whom she has had the pleasure to work over the years, describing the varied contributions of many Greenhills Art alumni in film and tv production, animation, fashion, art, sculpture, and architecture, as well as the academic Art field.
Career highlights for Áine include work on stage design and props for countless school productions as well as school Art visits to London and Berlin but her favourite international trip with students was Venice, some years ago, to experience the Biennale, a huge contemporary Art exhibition, held there every two years.
A teacher who has always tapped into the unique creativity of the individual student, Áine remembers the Greenhills girls’ participation in British Council sponsored project, ‘A Sense of Place’ which facilitated student curation of a Highlanes Gallery exhibition.
Life in Greenhills is always busy for the Art Department. As well as teaching classes, there is always some school project which calls for the aesthetic vision, and varied skill set of the Art team. This year has been particularly busy for Áine as she and her colleagues were involved in school shows, ceremonies, and graduations.
Leaving Our Lady’s College is bitter-sweet for Áine who mentions repeatedly how emotional she feels on saying goodbye to the wonderful colleagues and friends she has in the school.
Now she will be able to enjoy life away from school, to travel and have more time with family and friends and she will be greatly missed by colleagues and students in Greenhills. Picasso once said, “every now and then one paints a picture that seems to have opened a door and serves as a stepping stone to other things”.
All in Our Lady’s College wish Áine all the best as she embraces a long and happy retirement filled with many “other things”.
Áine Curran, Artist.
