Tirboy Traditional Traveller Skills Project

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Tirboy Traditional Traveller Skills Project, Tuam

The art of tinsmithing used to be a key feature of traveller culture.  Travellers traditionally moved from place to place, making and repairing artifacts from tin and copper as they went.  In an era where resources were scarce and valuable these skills were highly valued.

Per-cent-for-art funding from remedial works at the Tirboy estate in Tuam, built in the fifties to house travellers, was used to provide a series of workshops in the art of working with tin and copper.  Given by master craftsmen of the travelling community Eddie Sweeney and Martin Ward, the aim of the project was to pass these skills on to the younger travellers, to revitalise and revalue their use, and to encourage the development of these skills in an artistic context.