New St Brigid’s Cloak set to be unveiled in Dundalk this week

A newly designed St Brigid’s Cloak will be launched in the County Library in Dundalk by the students of St Brigids Special School, Ard Easmuinn on Thursday, 11th May.

An initiative of the Creative Ireland Louth programme and Louth County Council Arts office, the cloak has been designed and facilitated by artist Shauna Swords.

Since November 2022 the students in the school have been working hard with Shauna, meticulously creating individual impressions onto hundreds of specially cut copper foil.

Each circular foil has been hand stencilled and then the stitched and glued together creating strands of vibrant and detailed work which all come together to make the life sized cloak.

St Brigid, a native of Faughart, has been making headlines this year with the nation availing of the inaugural bank holiday on 1 February, her feast day.

Next year, 2024, will mark the 1500th anniversary of her death and a series of projects have been in the planning to celebrate her life and legacy in the run up to the 1500 celebrations.

This special cloak will start its exhibition in Dundalk library with the launch event happening between 1pm and 2pm on Thursday 11 May.

The cloak will remain in Dundalk library until 31 May. It will then move to Ardee library where it will be on display from 2nd June until 21st June. Then finally it will move to Drogheda library from 23rd June until mid July.

During its time in each library there will be a series of Brigid themed workshops happening for children and adults. The workshops will be delivered by local artist Susan Farrelly and will include a programme for primary school children and adults.

The workshops will require booking and anyone looking for details can contact the Brigid1500@louthcoco.ie email address, call into their local library in Dundalk, Ardee and Drogheda or check out the Brigid1500 link on the visitlouth.ie website.