Creative skills from talented Cookstown student on display at Gortalowry House

By Stanley Campbell
Published 13th Mar 2023, 10:59 BST
Updated 13th Mar 2023, 12:41 BST
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now
Katelynn Rushe from Cookstown studies the OCR Entry Level Diploma in Life and Living Skills at South West College’s Cookstown campus.

She has been a student at the college since 2020 and is enjoying the programme which focuses on personal growth and engagement with a learning environment for students with special educational needs.

Katelynn learns things like how to properly budget her own money, how to process important forms ranging from job applications to passport applications.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“My experience at the college has been great. I learn a lot here and all my classmates are lovely people. The staff here are all lovely as well.”

Katelynn Rushe (pictured) from Cookstown, shows off her framed drawings of characters based on the popular Sonic The Hedgehog franchise at South West College, Cookstown campus.Katelynn Rushe (pictured) from Cookstown, shows off her framed drawings of characters based on the popular Sonic The Hedgehog franchise at South West College, Cookstown campus.
Katelynn Rushe (pictured) from Cookstown, shows off her framed drawings of characters based on the popular Sonic The Hedgehog franchise at South West College, Cookstown campus.

Katelynn has a long-held passion for art and creativity which shines through not only her sketchbooks, but now features proudly in a mural at Gortalowry House in Cookstown.

The artwork is dedicated to characters from Sonic The Hedgehog, the popular animated series seen across the silver screen, small screen and countless video games.

“Back in the day, I just loved to watch animated movies. Anything that was hand-drawn or 3D animated, I was just inspired by it. I took it upon myself to learn how to draw by videos, tracing and then practising how to do freehand drawing better and better.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Katelynn came to this opportunity while displaying her own artworks at an a summer Arts and Crafts Fair at Gortalowry House in August of 2022 and the opportunity to do a mural for them on the wall outside the venue came about.

Katelynn Rushe a student at South West College’s Cookstown campus, poses proudly in front of a beautiful Sonic themed mural she painted outside Gortalowry House in Cookstown.Katelynn Rushe a student at South West College’s Cookstown campus, poses proudly in front of a beautiful Sonic themed mural she painted outside Gortalowry House in Cookstown.
Katelynn Rushe a student at South West College’s Cookstown campus, poses proudly in front of a beautiful Sonic themed mural she painted outside Gortalowry House in Cookstown.

Her collection on sale at the Arts and Crafts Fair included framed original full colour drawings of Sonic characters and her depiction of both friends and celebrities as Sonic style characters.

Her work also includes designs inspired by popular anime shows such as My Hero Academia in an impressive array of talent from the gifted Cookstown student.

Katelynn has aspirations of moving into the comic book industry: “I’ve always imagined that some day, I could become a great comic book artist. I’ve seen a lot of people who do those types of books and it’s really inspired me to make my own which I’m working on now”.