Spirits, however, were high and the enthusiasm of the curators has allowed Mantua's artistic remit to extend in all directions.

Essentially it is a place for artists of all kinds to go and live and work. There are studios and bedrooms which can be used and exhibitions are put on regularly. "At any given time you could find painters, sculptors, actors and musicians all within the confines of Mantua, " says resident artist, Carol Anne Connolly. "There have been around 30 visiting artists exhibiting their work since Mantua's inception as well as ongoing displays from myself and some of the other artists living here."

Connolly's accolades include recently winning the Emerging Artist exhibition in the Atrium gallery in Longford for an installation called 'Beta-Carotene'. Last month she exhibited it at the 2007 Birr Arts Festival. She and others have also endeavoured to offer their creative skills out in the local community.

"We've been trying to develop a good relationship with the locals so we have had local arts and crafts exhibitions with open submissions accepted from people in the area. We have also worked with the local brothers of charity organisation doing currach-building workshops and mask-making with mentally disabled people from around the greater Roscommon area."

In addition, the Mantua group can be found at music and arts festivals nationwide as a music promoter, food stall, or exhibiting various artistic installations. They have been at Electric Picnic, the Life Festival in Galway, as well as having their own annual 'State of Mantua' music and arts festival in July in Roscommon. This year's festival included performances from The Skatalites and The Sultans of Ping.

The house itself is soon to be further worked into both the local landscape and the creative ethos which underlines the project. Holly Asaa is a conceptual sculptor and has been living in Mantua for the last year. "We're currently working towards getting an award from the Arts Council to enhance the building itself, " says Asaa. "Local architect Dominic Stevens has come on board and we hope to make the house a greener place. There is, for instance, a studio room upstairs with leakage problems. So we want to make it into a greenhouse where an artist can have a studio but also a growing space. We also have a flat roof on one side of the house which we would like to make in to a garden as well as building more studio spaces. Essentially the project is a way of looking at faults in the house and trying to see them as opportunities."

"And it is important that we can make the place as comfortable as possible so that artists feel under no pressure when they are here, " adds Asaa. "That way they will be more productive."

Asaa, 24, won the 2007 Emerging Artist's Award from the national sculptor factory in Cork and has now been given funding to make a new piece for the Art Trail group. She has done a number of installations which attempt to incorporate wild and rural sounds and sights into urban settings. "I'm going to record the sounds of the wild monkeys on Fota Island off the West Cork coast and then we hope to use them as the new sounds for the bells in St Anne's Church in Shandon in Cork City."

As said, there are continuous art exhibitions taking place in Mantua and it is open to anyone interested in having a look. "We do it on a three- month basis and then invite more people or send out open submissions, " says Connolly. The next guest artists will include US woodcutter and cartoonist Andrew Salamone who was a resident in Mantua earlier in the year and Irish painter Johnny Fitzsimons. Later in the year, several 2007 graduates of the National College of Art and Design will also be putting on a show. So there is plenty happening in the north-west.

If you are interested in paying a visit to one of the exhibitions or you are an artist who would like to get creative in Roscommon, you can contact the Mantua Arts Project on 071 963 0760.