Botanical Buncrana is a craft, engineering, science, botany and heritage project that will explore relationships between local wildflowers, plant fibres and the town’s industrial heritage. The local community will participate in creative workshops to collect local plants, construct a contemporary spinning machine and spin yarns to knit or construct art works from.
Artlink, in association with Eco Buncrana, invites the local community to take part in eight creative workshops during April–May 2026. Participants will include former workers from McCarter’s of Buncrana, the textile factory that merged with Fruit of the Loom in 1987 and once employed around 3,000 people across the island of Ireland.
The workshops will involve former workers, including John McCarter himself. Two of the sessions will involve Tiernan Stuart who will be building a contemporary automatic spinning machine from basic materials. The workshops highlight the ingenuity and knowledge of the local workforce that helped establish McCarter’s ambitious vertically integrated textile production at Campsie despite pressure to relocate the factory abroad.
Led by artists Gillian Steel and Emma Porter, alongside Claire Thompson Moore and Tiernan Stuart, the programme combines foraging, hands-on making, storytelling, and experimental filmmaking. Participants will gather local plants responsibly, learn about Ireland’s long history of plant fibres such as flax and hemp, and experiment with spinning fibres into yarn.
Later sessions will transform these materials into speculative objects and use plant chemistry to create images and process 16mm film using environmentally responsible botanical methods. The project celebrates community knowledge, local resources, and shared heritage, encouraging participants to rediscover connections between landscape, craft, and industry in Buncrana. The workshops will have a broad appeal and are open to anyone over the age of 18. We are particularly interested in engaging people who worked at McCarter’s Factory/Fruit of the Loom, local artists, makers and environmental groups. The workshops are free to attend and take place at St Mary’s Hall, Buncrana.
To book on the workshops email info@artlink.ie subject line Botanical Buncrana Workshop
Skills and Knowledge
Gillian Steel
Belfast based artist currently a PhD researcher at Belfast School of art. Gillian is a filmmaker & design activist driven by sensory aspects and drawn by the alchemical artifice of making stuff – how things come to be, and the qualities of the materials involved.
Emma Porter
Emma Porter is a Buncrana based artist with a background in fashion, fine art and design for creative practice. She is interested in biodiversity and working with our environment to highlight the importance and impact of all life on the ecosystem in which we live.
Tiernan Stuart
Engineer and researcher Tiernan Stuart is one of the last remaining active and published researchers of flax science in Ireland. He has some 30 years’ experience in numerous branches of textile technology and is currently part of a movement to revitalise the linen industry in Ireland.
Claire Thompson Moore
Claire Thompson Moore is a herbalist and forager. Inspired by her naturalist parents, she has a background in conservation and species recording. She blends science and tradition, teaching botany, ecology, and plant uses while encouraging a reciprocal, respectful relationship with the natural world.
Workshop Dates
April 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th, May 7th, 14th, 28th
Workshops run 7pm – 9pm except on 9th & 16th April when they start at 6pm,
Artlink gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Creative Ireland and Donegal County Council in realising this project
