Gotta Lotta Bottle…?

The butterfly effect…

dding a definite dash of colour to the Greystones Sensory Garden, a brand new piece of art has just been installed.

Made in the shape of a butterfly, the piece was created by Clodagh Power of the Wicklow Triple A Alliance.

Aisling Foran, chairperson of local autism charity Wicklow Triple A Alliance – who collaborated on the sensory garden with Greystones Tidy Towns – said, “It is simply wonderful to see that 6 months on from the opening of the garden we are able to continue working together to further enhance the garden. The wonderful community of Greystones donated the bottle tops last year, and one of our members, the very talented artist Clodagh Power, agreed to create something that was both functional but was also on-message with what our sensory space is trying to achieve.”

To this end, says Foran, the image of the butterfly “symbolises beauty emerging, and the neurodiversity symbol which is represented in the wings being in a figure 8” – which just happens to be be “the universal symbol for celebration of cognitive differences“.

But hey, you knew that.

The fantastic four…

“The colours used are representative of the spectrum of autism,” continues Aisling, “and the many bottle tops are functional in that some of them move, twist or click.

This aspect of the art is a functional ‘stimming’ piece. Stimming is a form of movement that helps to regulate the sensory system and is an essential activity for many neurodiverse people.”

Making sure the art installation and the rest of the Sensory Garden are maintained are a green-fingered foursome from Bray’s Autism Initiatives.

“We are so delighted with this piece of art,” finishes Foran, “and look forward to what might come next for our amazing garden.

“Thanks once again to everyone who supported us to get this fabulous space created!”