Eamonn Madden Inspires

An inspiring and dynamic week at the University of Galway concluded in November, where Partridge Director Eamonn Madden engaged 250 first-year engineering students through the “Creative Response” assignment, a unique three-hour challenge designed to foster creativity in engineering by connecting analytical thinking with artistic expression.

“Art in Engineering” was facilitated by Partridge for over 15 years at the University of Sydney, and is now in its seventh consecutive year at the University of Galway.

Eamonn kicked off the week with a lecture and art studio session, where students explored the intersection of engineering and creativity. They were challenged to capture the essence of the campus through photography, a medium that encouraged them to see their environment from a new perspective.

Two days later, the students returned for an immersive three-hour studio session. Armed with canvases, brushes, and black-and-white paints, they created A3-sized artworks inspired by a carefully curated selection of images. The task required them to translate their emotional and intellectual reactions into visual art and articulate their inspiration in a concise 150-word essay.

The week culminated in judging the students’ creations for the annual competition, a highlight of the engineering school calendar. At the prize-giving ceremony, Eamonn also had the honour of presenting last year’s winner, Holly Byrne, whose artistic and engineering roots made her achievement particularly meaningful. Holly shared that her father was an engineer and her mother was an artist.

Eamonn is currently judging this year’s winner, we look forward to more news of who the next accomplished and promising young engineer will be.

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