Mayo riverside mosaic celebrating Blue Dot waterbodies officially launched
A BEAUTIFUL new mosaic artwork installed on a riverside boulder in Louisburgh has been officially launched.
Created by artist Annaliese Brown, the mosaic celebrates the Blue Dot waterbodies at the headwaters of the Bunowen and Carrowniskey rivers.
The Blue Dots are the waterbodies that have a high status objective under the European Water Framework Directive. The River Basin Management Service (RBMS) collaborates with local communities through the Blue Dot Catchments Programme to protect and improve these waters so that the benefits to biodiversity, our health and wellbeing, our heritage and the climate can be enjoyed by current and future generations.
The hope is that one day, with the help of everyone, these two rivers can achieve high ecological status all the way to the sea.
The mosaic displays some different nature based approaches to improving water quality, managing flooding and supporting wildlife across the catchment.
The Blue Dot to the Sea campaign is led locally by CALL (Climate Action Louisburgh Locality). This artwork is part of a series of smaller Blue Dot mosaics which can be found around the local area, some made by local school children.
At the launch, guests enjoyed hot spiced apple juice pressed fresh with CALL’s community apple press the day before.
Richard Mannion from CALL introduced the event and was also the provider of the boulder which came from his land in Devlin.
RBMS and artist Annaliese spoke about the Blue Dot to the Sea programme and the role art can play in raising awareness of our environment and the importance of protecting it for the resilience and wellbeing of our community and future generations.
This celebration was part of a wider event taking place on the day in Louisburgh Town Hall led by TalX2 - the third of such events bringing communities and organisations together through the Clew Bay Coastal Partnership to create a region that is resilient to climate change and can flourish in the future.
CALL Climate Action encourages people to follow them on social media and check out their website callclimateaction.ie to learn more about the many projects, workshops and events taking place and ways to get involved.
The mosaic in Louisburgh will soon be accompanied by an information board about the project, and the Blue Dot mosaics done by school children can be found in Books@One, just across the road.