Workshops at The Old Post Office in collaboration with Monaghan Artist Collective, September 2026

Dr Michael McLoughlin

In September 2026 Maggie O’Neill and myself organised two days of arts workshops in The Old Post Office in Clones building on many visits, walking interviews and conversations with people living or working in Clones. We were warmly welcomed and hosted by Joanne Behan and Eilen Ferguson, Monaghan Artist Collective who are responsible for this amazing Artists’ Studios and Resource coming into being.

We had two wonderful days of making and sharing of 17 people of all ages. Together we mapped and spoke about connections with Clones and the border. Clones is an unusual town in how the border wraps around it. For millennia, it has been a destination, a place of pilgrimage, a focal point of folklore, and a meeting place for people from different provinces. It was a major railway hub with links to Sligo, Enniskillen, Belfast, Dundalk and Dublin. The monasteries and railways have gone. The 1922 border directly impacted Clones’ regional role. Yet, Clones is still a destination for many who have come to make Clones their home, including both new Irish communities, and Irish migrants who have returned home. This creates an air of optimism and possibility and a sense of a town emerging with an openness to what the future might bring.

The workshops reflected this through conversation, drawing, mapping, and walking. Below are some images documenting the workshop days in September, and from an Artist talk I gave in advance. The artwork itself is being compiled and will be posted on this page soon.

We would like to extend our huge gratitude to all who joined the workshops, it was such a pleasure working with you. Thank you for your openness and sharing through this process. We also again wish to thank our collaborators Monaghan Artist Collective and Monaghan County Council Arts Office for hosting us in such a fitting and important building in the Clones, The Old Post Office. Huge thanks to Patrick, Mary and team at the Creighton Hotel for the lovely lunches and Erin at the Coffee Box for the welcome coffee and biscuits at the start of the day.