Young People Launch “Creative Destruction” - a Cross-Border Drugs & Alcohol Art Initiative

On Tuesday last young people from the Donegal Youth Information Centre and Strabane Community Drugs and Alcohol Project exhibited their work entitled “Creative Destruction” in the Abbey Hotel. The project began three weeks earlier with six young people from Donegal Town and six from Strabane meeting up to begin exploring their views on drugs & alcohol and expressing these views through the medium of art. Danny McCay, a local artist from Strabane, showed the young people some of his work that he had exhibited and then the group had lengthy discussions and came up with ideas for both individual and group pieces. Between trips to Strabane and Donegal Town, the group managed to put together a creative display, which included a range of different artistic styles. The individual pieces show the young people’s perceptions and attitudes towards drugs, whilst also reflecting their destructive nature. Some of the pieces included were entitled “On Your Own,” -“Darkness,” - “Destruction in Progress,” - “Colourful Drugs,” - “Stop,” and “Take a Step into the Better Side of Life.”
Caoimhe O’Conor, one of the participants from Donegal Town, spoke about the project at the exhibition and said that when the group first met it had two main objectives, the first being to examine the group’s attitudes towards drugs and the second, to meet new people and make new friendships. The general consensus was that these objectives had since been met. The young people had a lot of fun in the process and will also exhibit their work in Strabane Library before finishing off with a trip to the Creggan Outdoor Centre in Derry.
Stephen Brown, a volunteer leader with the Donegal Youth Information Centre said, “It was great to be involved in such a worthwhile project. I was surprised by how open the young people were to discussing this topic and it would be great to see more projects like this happening in the town.” This project was made possible as a result of the Small Grants Programme administered by the Communities in Contact project. Donegal Town Community Chamber and cross border partner Strabane CWP.

Caroline O’Connor: “Take a step into the
better side of life”

Jason Doherty shows off his Creative Flair

Hair stylist Jason Doherty from Ballintra who works at Zenith Hair Salon in Galway has does it again by winning best hat at this year’s Galway races. His model Marie Blom won ‘Most Elegant Hat’ category sponsored by ‘Now’ magazine with one of his amazing creations. The masterpiece took three weeks to make and consisted of over thirty pieces - on the day it took an hour-and-a-half to arrange. Jason made use of the model’s hair for a more alternative look combining it with fresh roses and lillies for a summer quality. His model wore a green cocktail dress with gold shoes, stole and jewellery.
The hat was created using sculptured synthetic and real hair, with fresh flowers woven throughout. When out celebrating that night after his victory, Jason bumped into Anna Nolan from RTE’s Afternoon Show and she expressed her admiration for his unique creation.
Jason will compete in many more exciting events this year and will certainly be doing us all proud. He has competitions in Paris from the 16th to 18th September in the annual Mondial Coiffure Beute, representing his country along with other members of Team Ireland. This is his first time competing with this team and he will be entering three categories: long hair up, long hair open, and bridal.
In November, he will be exhibiting his skills amongst the cream of the industry in the annual Irish Hairdressing Federation show called “Hair 2006” in Vicar Street, Dublin. He will be doing a collection of creative fantasy upstyles with added hair sculptured pieces and will be using up to fifteen models.
We at the Times will be keeping you updated of Jason’s progress and his fast climb to becoming one of Ireland’s best stylists.
Barbara McGroary