Limerick School of Art and Design
Encyclopedia
Limerick School of Art and Design or LSAD is an art college in Limerick City in Ireland. The school is one of the five constituent schools of Limerick Institute of Technology
and operates on two of LIT's campuses in Limerick City, located on Clare Street and George's Quay; both are about 2KM from the main LIT campus ay Moylish Park. The School can trace its origins back to 1852 and has had a number of guises and locations before consolidating into its current format and campuses in the 1980s and 1990s. LSAD offers courses at Level 8 (Honours Degree) and Level 9 (Master's Degree) across a range of art and design disciplines.
announcing the opening of the School of Ornamental Art at the Leamy Institute on Hartstonge Street. The school offered instruction to the general public in drawing and modelling. The first prospectus stated the school's objective of "providing instruction in all those branches of art which are applicable to manufactures and decoration". The school opened on 2 November 1852 with 28 male and seven female pupils.
Although the school thrived in its first year, changes in government departments led to a withdrawal of funding and the school was forced to close in January 1855. Following public pressure, the school reopened in December 1855 under the auspices of the Limerick Athenaeum
, a centre of learning that would be open to all, irrespective of class, creed or cultural background. This had opened in February 1855 at No. 2 Upper Cecil Street. The school continued to operate successfully over the coming decades. The trustees of the Athenaeum handed the building over to the Corporation in 1896 in order to administer the property for the advancement of technical education in Limerick. However, by the turn of the century, the building was no longer large enough to cater for the range of courses offered by the Limerick Technical Instruction Committee, and the school began to move sections to new premises, mainly on George's Street (now O'Connell Street
).
The departments were eventually rehoused on one site with the opening of the Municipal Technical Institute on O' Connell Avenue in December 1911. This building has since been known in Limerick as the 'Red Tech'. The work of the Institute was taking place against the background of intense political change in Ireland and was forced to close from 1919 to 1923. Troops of the Warwickshire Regiment occupied the Institute during the Irish War of Independence
in 1921 and considerable damage was caused to the building and its contents. Limerick MTI eventually re-opened in October 1923 and such was the impact of the closure that it was effectively a new start-up.
The Vocational Education Committee was established in July 1930 and took over the running of the MTI, with its main focus on providing full-time education to students between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. This continued in much the same format until 1967, when the Limerick VEC was suspended for three years over irregularities in appointing staff. The School of Art had relocated to the former County Infirmary and Nurses' Home in Mulgrave Street in 1962, now Limerick Senior College.
Limerick missed out on a new technical college in 1966 with the establishment of the Regional Technical Colleges, as the Department of Education decided to establish a National Institute for Higher Education instead (later to become the University of Limerick
). The reconvened Limerick City VEC planned to build Limerick Technical College and acquired land at Moylish Park to do this. The college was opened in 1975 and has since developed into the main campus of Limerick Institute of Technology.
The School of Art continued to grow at its Mulgrave Street location and by the mid 1970s the lack of space was becoming a serious issue. 1980 saw the school finally taking shape as what is now the Limerick School of Art and Design under the reconstituted LTC, which had become the College of Art, Commerce and Technology (CoACT), and this coincided with a move to a VEC property on George’s Quay, formerly St. Anne’s Vocational School, which had been opened in 1939 but vacated in 1978. However, the move to George’s Quay proved to be a short-term solution as the school quickly outgrew this site also. CoACT rented rooms in Bruce House on Rutland Street and in the Granary on Michael Street to accommodate the extra courses and students but this quickly got out of control with the school renting a further five properties during this period.
When CoACT finally achieved RTC status in 1992, work began on finding a suitable location for the school. The Good Shepherd Convent on Clare Street was purchased from the Good Shepherd Sisters
in October 1994 and some emergency refurbishment allowed occupancy as early as January 1995. Further refurbishment and development work took place and its final stage was completed in September 2008.
, the 1st Earl of Clare who was Lord Chancellor of Ireland
from 1789 to 1802. Henry O'Sullivan, a tobacco merchant, constructed the street on swampy land known as Múin na Muice, the moor or common of the pigs, and dedicated it to Fitzgibbon.
The Clare Street Campus is located on the site of an old Lancastrian School
, developed by Joseph Lancaster
for the education of the poor in the early 19th century. Lancaster was a Quaker, born in London in 1788, who had devoted himself to the education of the poor. His system was to employ the more advanced boys as monitors, or assistant teachers, to enable a few masters to teach a large number of boys. Spelling and reading were taught from charts hung on the walls, thereby dispensing with the need for books for the poor and slates were used to write on, to save paper. His first school was founded in London in 1801 and his school in Limerick was probably founded around 1806. The entrance to the school was on Old Clare Street and this street became known locally as The Long Can, after the Lancastrian School.
Attendance figures dropped at the school and it gradually fell into disrepair. In November 1821, The Christian Brothers
purchased the school for £200. In 1858, they let part of the garden to Madame De Beligond, superioress of the Good Shepherd Convent at an annual rent of £10. When the Christian Brothers left the building in 1888, they sold it to the nuns for £200. They established a girls' reformatory on the site of the old Thomond Brewery, adjacent to the convent, which was one of three breweries still in operation in Limerick City in the 1870s. It was sold to the nuns in 1879 and demolished to construct the reformatory to house young women who had become pregnant out of wedlock. They also established a Magdalene laundry on another adjacent site which had been a public execution ground in the 16th and 17th centuries, known as the Farrancroghy execution site. They continued to operate the reformatory and the laundry at the site until it was sold to the Regional Technical College in 1994.
Major refurbishment and construction works have been carried out at the site, in two phases. The first saw the refurbishment of much of the main building and chapel in the late 1990s. The second phase was completed in August 2008 and consisted of construction of additional space, further refurbishment and considerable ground works, including a new entrance onto Clare Street.
Limerick Institute of Technology
Limerick Institute of Technology is an institution of higher education in Limerick, Ireland and is one of 13 institutes that are members of the Institutes of Technology Ireland . The Institute has four campuses in Limerick City, one in both Thurles and Clonmel in County Tipperary and a regional...
and operates on two of LIT's campuses in Limerick City, located on Clare Street and George's Quay; both are about 2KM from the main LIT campus ay Moylish Park. The School can trace its origins back to 1852 and has had a number of guises and locations before consolidating into its current format and campuses in the 1980s and 1990s. LSAD offers courses at Level 8 (Honours Degree) and Level 9 (Master's Degree) across a range of art and design disciplines.
History
On 3 July 1852, a public notice appeared in the Limerick ChronicleLimerick Leader
The Limerick Leader is a weekly local newspaper in Limerick, Ireland. It was founded in 1889. The newspaper is headquartered on O'Connell Street....
announcing the opening of the School of Ornamental Art at the Leamy Institute on Hartstonge Street. The school offered instruction to the general public in drawing and modelling. The first prospectus stated the school's objective of "providing instruction in all those branches of art which are applicable to manufactures and decoration". The school opened on 2 November 1852 with 28 male and seven female pupils.
Although the school thrived in its first year, changes in government departments led to a withdrawal of funding and the school was forced to close in January 1855. Following public pressure, the school reopened in December 1855 under the auspices of the Limerick Athenaeum
Limerick Athenaeum
Limerick Athenaeum was a centre of learning, established in Limerick City, Ireland in 1852.-Background:Athenaeum, also Athenæum or Atheneum, is used in the names of institutions or periodicals for literary, scientific, or artistic study. It may also be used in the names of educational institutions...
, a centre of learning that would be open to all, irrespective of class, creed or cultural background. This had opened in February 1855 at No. 2 Upper Cecil Street. The school continued to operate successfully over the coming decades. The trustees of the Athenaeum handed the building over to the Corporation in 1896 in order to administer the property for the advancement of technical education in Limerick. However, by the turn of the century, the building was no longer large enough to cater for the range of courses offered by the Limerick Technical Instruction Committee, and the school began to move sections to new premises, mainly on George's Street (now O'Connell Street
O'Connell Street, Limerick
O'Connell Street is Limerick's Main Thoroughfare. It was previously known as George's Street until it was renamed after Daniel O'Connell. Shops on O'Connell Street include Penneys, Debenhams and Brown Thomas...
).
The departments were eventually rehoused on one site with the opening of the Municipal Technical Institute on O' Connell Avenue in December 1911. This building has since been known in Limerick as the 'Red Tech'. The work of the Institute was taking place against the background of intense political change in Ireland and was forced to close from 1919 to 1923. Troops of the Warwickshire Regiment occupied the Institute during the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
in 1921 and considerable damage was caused to the building and its contents. Limerick MTI eventually re-opened in October 1923 and such was the impact of the closure that it was effectively a new start-up.
The Vocational Education Committee was established in July 1930 and took over the running of the MTI, with its main focus on providing full-time education to students between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. This continued in much the same format until 1967, when the Limerick VEC was suspended for three years over irregularities in appointing staff. The School of Art had relocated to the former County Infirmary and Nurses' Home in Mulgrave Street in 1962, now Limerick Senior College.
Limerick missed out on a new technical college in 1966 with the establishment of the Regional Technical Colleges, as the Department of Education decided to establish a National Institute for Higher Education instead (later to become the University of Limerick
University of Limerick
The University of Limerick is a university in Ireland near the city of Limerick on the island's west coast. It was established in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick and became a university by statute in 1989 in accordance with the University of Limerick Act 1989...
). The reconvened Limerick City VEC planned to build Limerick Technical College and acquired land at Moylish Park to do this. The college was opened in 1975 and has since developed into the main campus of Limerick Institute of Technology.
The School of Art continued to grow at its Mulgrave Street location and by the mid 1970s the lack of space was becoming a serious issue. 1980 saw the school finally taking shape as what is now the Limerick School of Art and Design under the reconstituted LTC, which had become the College of Art, Commerce and Technology (CoACT), and this coincided with a move to a VEC property on George’s Quay, formerly St. Anne’s Vocational School, which had been opened in 1939 but vacated in 1978. However, the move to George’s Quay proved to be a short-term solution as the school quickly outgrew this site also. CoACT rented rooms in Bruce House on Rutland Street and in the Granary on Michael Street to accommodate the extra courses and students but this quickly got out of control with the school renting a further five properties during this period.
When CoACT finally achieved RTC status in 1992, work began on finding a suitable location for the school. The Good Shepherd Convent on Clare Street was purchased from the Good Shepherd Sisters
Good Shepherd Sisters
The Good Shepherd Sisters is a Roman Catholic order of women religious. In addition to the standard vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Good Shepherd Sisters take the following fourth vow of zeal for souls [to save souls], particularly of women and girls."I bind myself to the labor for...
in October 1994 and some emergency refurbishment allowed occupancy as early as January 1995. Further refurbishment and development work took place and its final stage was completed in September 2008.
Clare Street Campus
Clare Street originally backed onto the walls of the Irishtown and derives its name from John FitzgibbonJohn FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare
John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare PC , later known as Earl of Clare or Lord Clare, was Attorney-General for Ireland in 1783, then Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1789, in which capacity he was first promoted to the Irish peerage.He was a controversial figure in Irish history, being described...
, the 1st Earl of Clare who was Lord Chancellor of Ireland
Lord Chancellor of Ireland
The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801 it was also the highest political office of the Irish Parliament.-13th century:...
from 1789 to 1802. Henry O'Sullivan, a tobacco merchant, constructed the street on swampy land known as Múin na Muice, the moor or common of the pigs, and dedicated it to Fitzgibbon.
The Clare Street Campus is located on the site of an old Lancastrian School
Joseph Lancaster
Joseph Lancaster was an English Quaker and public education innovator.-Life:Lancaster was born the son of a shopkeeper in Southwark, south London....
, developed by Joseph Lancaster
Joseph Lancaster
Joseph Lancaster was an English Quaker and public education innovator.-Life:Lancaster was born the son of a shopkeeper in Southwark, south London....
for the education of the poor in the early 19th century. Lancaster was a Quaker, born in London in 1788, who had devoted himself to the education of the poor. His system was to employ the more advanced boys as monitors, or assistant teachers, to enable a few masters to teach a large number of boys. Spelling and reading were taught from charts hung on the walls, thereby dispensing with the need for books for the poor and slates were used to write on, to save paper. His first school was founded in London in 1801 and his school in Limerick was probably founded around 1806. The entrance to the school was on Old Clare Street and this street became known locally as The Long Can, after the Lancastrian School.
Attendance figures dropped at the school and it gradually fell into disrepair. In November 1821, The Christian Brothers
Congregation of Christian Brothers
The Congregation of Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. The Christian Brothers, as they are commonly known, chiefly work for the evangelisation and education of youth, but are involved in many ministries, especially with...
purchased the school for £200. In 1858, they let part of the garden to Madame De Beligond, superioress of the Good Shepherd Convent at an annual rent of £10. When the Christian Brothers left the building in 1888, they sold it to the nuns for £200. They established a girls' reformatory on the site of the old Thomond Brewery, adjacent to the convent, which was one of three breweries still in operation in Limerick City in the 1870s. It was sold to the nuns in 1879 and demolished to construct the reformatory to house young women who had become pregnant out of wedlock. They also established a Magdalene laundry on another adjacent site which had been a public execution ground in the 16th and 17th centuries, known as the Farrancroghy execution site. They continued to operate the reformatory and the laundry at the site until it was sold to the Regional Technical College in 1994.
Major refurbishment and construction works have been carried out at the site, in two phases. The first saw the refurbishment of much of the main building and chapel in the late 1990s. The second phase was completed in August 2008 and consisted of construction of additional space, further refurbishment and considerable ground works, including a new entrance onto Clare Street.
Courses
LSAD offers a number of art and design courses:- First Year Art & Design
- Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Fine Art in PaintingPaintingPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is... - Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art in PrintmakingPrintmakingPrintmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
- Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art in SculptureSculptureSculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
& Combined Media - Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Fine Art (in Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture & Combined Media)
- Bachelor of Arts in Design in Visual Communications, Bachelor of Arts in Product DesignProduct design-Introduction:Product design is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business or enterprise to its customers. It is concerned with the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products.Product designers conceptualize and...
- Bachelor of Arts in Fashion DesignFashion designFashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics or natural beauty to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories....
and Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Graphic DesignGraphic designGraphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
, Ceramic Design and Fashion Design
Postgraduate courses
- Higher DiplomaHigher diplomaA higher diploma is an academic award in Libya, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and Oman. In Libya the award is equivalent to a bachelor's degree in engineering or technology, in Hong Kong it is below the standard of the bachelor's degree, in Ireland it is above the standard of the bachelor's...
in Arts for Art & Design Teachers - Research in Art & Design
Accommodation
Most of the students of LSAD reside in nearby student accommodation compounds, Grove Island, Parkville, and Parkview. The closest accommodation to the art college is Grove Island, with Parkview and Parkville student accommodation being the furthest away. Many single apartments are also available in the city centre.Notable Graduates
- Donald Teskey
- Miriam MoneMiriam MoneMiriam Mone was an Irish fashion designer.Mone was from County Armagh in Northern Ireland. At an early age, she became determined to pursue a career in fashion. She was accepted into Foundation Art at Preston Polytechnic in Lancashire in 1983. After that she was accepted at the Limerick School of...
- John Shinnors
- Pat ShorttPat ShorttPat Shortt is an actor, comedian and entertainer. In 2007, he starred in the film Garage, directed by Lenny Abrahamson for which he won the Best Actor award at the 2008 IFTAs...
- Amanda CooganAmanda CooganAmanda Coogan is an Irish performance artist, living and working in Dublin and Berlin. She studied Painting at Limerick School of Art and Design, Ireland, Athens School of Fine Arts, Greece, and Sculpture at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and under the performance artist Marina...
- Sean Lynch
- Úna Burke
- Samuel WalshSamuel WalshSamuel Walsh was born in London, England to Irish parents in 1951; his mother from Limerick and his father from Ennis. He was educated in London and Limerick. He lived in Limerick from 1968 to 1990 and he now lives and works in Co...
- Joanne Hynes
- Michael Canning
- John Gibbons
- Diana Copperwhite