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Saturday 16th August
As part of Butler Gallery's Soil Project for 2025 we are delighted to host a Soil Science and Composting Workshop with Craig Benton. Laura Ní Fhlaibhín is the 2025 Soil Project invited artist and has previously collaborated with Craig on her earthworm installation in 2024, exhibited as part of two person exhibition ‘Banana Accelerationism’ with Sean Lynch in The Complex, Dublin. After the show, the earthworms were adopted by Craig as part of his wormeries in schools project, in Dublin and Kilkenny. Laura was delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate again with Craig as part of her residency.’
The workshop will focus on the basics of soil science, helping participants to understand the importance of adding organic matter to feed the ecosystem of life in the soil that releases nutrients that plants can easily absorb. This will be followed by understanding the biology and essentials of composting, ending with a troubleshooting exercise to identify common issues or problems associated with composting.
We will explore the different systems for composting garden & landscaping materials, as well as food waste, and finish with a discussion of how to use compost in your garden and why it is so beneficial.
This workshop will be a combination of presentations, interactive exercises and Q&A. It will give participants the knowledge to start composting as well as help people with some experience fine tune their composting skills.
This workshop will be followed by Laura Ní Fhlaibhín's Soil Drawing Workshop from 1.30pm - 3.30pm.
About the Speaker:
Craig Benton, also known as Dr. Compost, came to Ireland in 2003 to help start the composting industry and set up the first large scale composting facilities to manage brown bin material for local authorities in Ireland. In 2009, he co-founded the EPA’s Stop Food Waste Programme and led the home and community composting education initiative training Master Composters throughout the country and setting up over 100 community composting systems for Tidy Town groups. He now runs the Composting & Recycling for Schools programme.
The Soil Project:
The Soil Project is an annual commission at Butler Gallery which supports invited artists to create participatory projects which connect deeply with our environment. The resident artist in 2025 is Laura Ní Fhlaibhín.
