Group: The Clough’Milliners’ – Cloughmills Community Action Team
Arts Care Artist: Clare Lawlor
Title: Hold onto Your Hat
Participants: Donna, Marie, Janet, Freda, Jim, Mary, Bernice, Bob, Mandy, Dianne, Mens Shed at the Mill, Cloughmills
Click to see a video of the Clough’Milliners
Title: ‘The Dressian Sack’
Participant: Donna Dresser (Donna)
(Hessian Coffee sack, seat belts, shoelaces and various junk jewellery)
Donna Dresser started hairdressing at the age of 16 and has run on Coffee since then. (hence the coffee sack) This, and a punk phase in her early teens have inspired this wonderful edgy high-end, high fashion Haute Couture ‘The Dressian Sack’ giving us cool Vivian Westwood vibes.
Title: Rags to Riches’
Participant: Duchess Re Re Cycle (Marie)
(Cardboard, bin bags, paper, plastic tubes, various found objects, junk, old costume jewellery and paint etc..)
Duchess Re Re Cycle has taken it upon herself to use as much junk as possible to recycle into fabulous art. She even has a handbag!! She loves to use whatever she can find to create works of art. In this case Hi Fashion.
Title: Arty Farty Masterpiece
Participant: Jan Van Gogh (Janet)
(Cardboard, an old easel, old paint equipment, paint and brushes)
The very colourful Jan Van Gogh likes nothing better than getting arty and creative.
Jan is an active member of the Cloughmills community action team and loves to get as many members of the community as she can involved in active programmes. She paints with love, care and companionship spreading colour and joy to family and many friends.
Title: Grow Your Own
Participant: Lady Bountiful (Freda)
(Cardboard, a coffee bean bag, scrap fabric, Christmas cards, dried flowers from the garden, various found materials and crocheted woollen vegetables and flowers)
Lady Bountiful enjoys the Goodlife filled with family, doggies, nature and hobbies like her Line dancing. She looks after two of the villages flower beds, Lady Bountiful is conscious how things can change at the blink of an eye so makes the most of her active life. Her wonderful Trug creation – ‘Grow your own’ incorporates her top hobbies gardening and crocheting.
Title: Top Hat
Participant: The Mad Hatter (Jim)
(Cardboard, found objects, string and some of the wonderful woodwork flowers created by the Men’s Shed at the Mill)
The Mad Hatter is the Ring Master and magician of the group. He says ‘that The Mill at Cloughmills inspires so much magic in the things that go on there – like gardening, crafts, woodwork, metal working and the Fantastic community Fridge.
The Mad Hatter is often called upon to pull the rabbit out of the hat – usually to find the money for some community project or other. He says this is his only hat, so It might as well be a Top One!
Title: A Head full of Yarns
Participant: Drop Stitch Aggie (Mary)
(Cardboard, old wool, old knitted pieces, old knitting needles and a couple of old handkerchiefs (a nod to her work as a hankie girl)
Mary, aka Drop stitch Aggie was a Hankie Girl, chief packer in Ballymena – She learned to knit at school and now knits and crochets blankets for her church group with over 400 blankets going to charities in Africa. She says it make me feel good, knowing the world has been good to me, it’s good to give back. She really enjoys the process, it relaxes her and keeps her hands moving as she has arthritis.
At 81 there’s many a story to tell so she has called her Hat – ‘A Head full of Yarns’
Mary’s main hobbies are family, knitting, crocheting and making blankets to go to Africa.
Title: Decked Out Vinyl
Participant: DJ Burney (Bernice)
(old vinyl records, cardboard and various junk materials)
DJ Burney likes nothing better than jiving to bit of Rock n Roll.
Her amazing creation is called – Decked Out Vinyl. She has used old vinyl records and has skilfully and beautifully heat moulded them by hand to produce this symphony of creativity. DJ Burney has painstakingly bent, moulded and formed cardboard, old vinyl records and various junk materials to put a high fashion spin on her amazing hat!
Title: G’Day Mate
Participant: Australian Bob (Bob)
(Balsa wood and feathers)
Australian Bob was challenged to create an Australian style hat for the catwalk and Here & Now exhibition.
‘G’Day Mate’ is the fabulous artwork designed and created by Bob and friends from the Mens shed at the Mill, Cloughmills. It is constructed from Balsa wood – cut, steamed and formed to make the amazing Australian Hat.
Title: A Wonderful Mess
Participant: MandyCans (Mandy)
(Made mostly from Tin cans and includes cardboard, vegetable bags and objects and stuff! found by Mandy)
‘A Wonderful Mess’ is inspired by MandyCans love of travel, litter picking, crafts and family. The yellow flower is for her Nan and the biggest flower for her mum. Mandys mum always said ‘Be whatever you want in life’ and MandyCans has certainly run with it. Mandy has ran two desert marathons and has cycled Lands End to John O’Groats for charity. Mandy is widely travelled and has lived in Saudi Arabia, New Zealand and here in Northern Ireland. Her hobbies include – travel, horses, scuba diving, walking, gardening, hiking, litter picking and crafts.
Taking a closer look at ‘A Wonderful Mess’, you can see a light incorporated into the design, This, she says is – for all the friends I left behind. You can also see a fabulous brooch creation made in memory of the 2010 earthquake in New Zealand and the earrings are made from hotel bracelets.
Title: It’s All the BuZZ!
Participant: Queen Bee (Marie)
(Cardboard, paper, fruit nets, tea lights, polystyrene, found objects and paint)
Our Queen Bee loves to be organised and in control of her very busy life.
She is head of a busy family and a full life even now in retirement. She has been a nurse in the Royal, managed a nursing home, and also joined the army reserves as an officer in a field hospital. Queen Bee has even found the time to run marathons and ½ marathons for charity. Queen Bee loves colour and believes colour transforms your mood.
Title: Bugsy MaHome
Participant: The Luv Bug (Dianne)
(Cardboard, natural materials found in the garden and gardening bits and pieces)
Our Luv Bug enjoys all the buzz, she loves gathering with family and friends. She is the bubbly life and soul of her friendship group, full of the craic and laughter.
The luv Bug loves nature, wildlife and birds. She detests cruelty to animals and supports various animal charities.
Her creation Bugsy MaHome was a collaborative effort by the group and really deserves a closer look! It even has a water feature! This fabulous work of art will be paced in the Cloughmills garden after the exhibition, as its newest Bug Hotel.
Title: A Revolution
Participant: Mens Shed at the Mill, Cloughmills
(Horseshoes, clock face, chain)
This artwork is a clock made from a collection of horseshoes welded together with a clock face showing the Ferguson TE 20 Tractor, representing the passage of time and change.
It also represents the “transformation “ in agriculture methods brought about by this iconic lightweight tractor, first produced in 1946. With its three-point hydraulic linkage system the TE 20 revolutionised farming as it was affordable for the average farmer and replaced the dray horse for ploughing the ground.
The artwork was designed and produced by Dermot McQuillan and Wilbert Smyth in the Mens shed at the Mill, Cloughmills.
Title: A Wonderful Gift
Participant: Mens Shed at the Mill, Cloughmills
This hand turned bowl was created by the Mens shed at the Mill, Cloughmills. Transforming a simple piece of wood into something beautiful. Thank you so much for the wonderful gift!
About the project:
The Cloughmills Community Action Team is a volunteer-led collective dedicated to enhancing the social and environmental life of Cloughmills village. Operating from the historic former flax mill site, the team fosters community cohesion through a diverse range of activities, including seasonal events, intergenerational trips, and training classes. They also run the. Community Garden and the Community Fridge, which was the first of its kind in Northern Ireland to redistribute surplus food and reduce landfill waste.
The group also works closely with the Men’s Shed at the Mill, a fully equipped workshop that provides a vital space for members to share practical skills like woodturning while supporting the well-being of residents.
Visual art project with Arts Care.
The Cloughmills Community Action Team joined forces with the Men’s Shed at the Mill to embark on an eight-session creative journey titled Hold onto Your Hat. Led by Arts Care artist Clare Lawlor, the group adopted the name “The CloughMilliners” to explore the evolution of everyday objects and “junk” into sculptural, wearable art centred on the themes of “Transformation and personal journeys,”.
Each participant developed a unique character persona, and together reimagined the potential of everyday objects, transforming “junk”, salvaged materials and treasured mementos into intricate sculptural artworks – crafting bespoke hats and fascinators and other wearable items. These pieces serve as visual metaphors for the influences that shape us – family, hobbies, music, and friendship – a personal visual journey of change using shifting colours and textures to represent the passage of time.
This collaborative project has culminated in a runway fashion show for the Here & Now exhibition, celebrating the beauty found in change and the power of community creativity – proving that with a little collective imagination, the discarded can be made dazzling.
The CloughMilliners – Hold on to Your Hat
Introducing the Fabulous ‘CloughMilliners’ and their Spring Fashion Collection – ‘Hold on to Your Hat’.
Council Area: Causeway Coast and Glens
