Ireland – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Art under the waterfall

Posted by Cindy on February 27, 2014

Feb 272014

Blarney Castle – Rock Close
Blarney
County Cork, Ireland

Puffballs from the Inside Out

These ceramic pieces are by Michelle Maher. Maher is a Ceramic Artist who lives and works in Castleknock, Dublin. She graduated from N.U.I. Maynooth in 1996 with a Master’s degree, after studying English and History.

According to her website:

My ceramic sculptures are an exploration of colour and texture. Microscopic organisms often inspire my work and unusual plant forms and the science behind living things continues to fascinate me. My passion is for large-scale sculptural work and my pieces are mostly for outdoor exhibition.

Symmetry by Michelle Maher

I often design my work for installation in lakes, ponds, rivers and streams – the interaction of the ceramic with the water is very important to my practice. Indeed, I have won a number of sculpture awards for large-scale outdoor pieces in a water setting.

These pieces are part of Blarney Castle’s permanent collection. The Symmetry piece won the Public Award for the sculpture most popular with visitors to the Castle in 2013. In 2012, this same piece was exhibited in the National Botanic Gardens and won an award for Sculpture in Context. Symmetry was inspired by coral and dahlia flowers.

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Famine

Posted by Cindy on February 22, 2014

Feb 222014

Custom House Quay
Dublin. Ireland

This breathtaking group of statues is titled “Famine” and is by Rowan Gillespie.

The accompanying plaque reads ” Unveiled by Her Excellency President Robinson – Commissioned and Donated to the people of Ireland by Norma Smurfit 29th May 1997″

“A procession fraught with most striking and most melancholy interest, wending its painful and mournful way along the whole line of the river to where the beautiful pile of the Custom house is distinguishable in the far distance……”
Irish Quarterly Review, 1854

This location is a particularly appropriate and historic as one of the first voyages of the Famine period was on the ‘Perserverance’ which sailed from Custom House Quay on St. Patrick’s Day 1846. Captain William Scott, a native of the Shetland Isles, was a veteran of the Atlantic crossing, gave up his office job in New Brunswick to take the ‘Perserverance’ out of Dublin. He was 74 years old. The Steerage fare on the ship was £3 and 210 passengers made the historical journey. They landed in New York on the 18th May 1846. All passengers and crew survived the journey.

No event in history effected Ireland more than the Great Irish Famine, which lasted 1845 to 1849. During that time more than one million men, women and children died and a further one and a half million emigrated.

Rowan Fergus Meredith Gillespie (born 1953) is an Irish bronze casting sculptor of international renown. Born in Dublin to Irish parents, Gillespie spent his formative years in Cyprus.

In 1969 he attended York School of Artwhere he was first introduced to the lost-wax casting process by the bronze sculptor Sally Arnup.In 1970 he attended Kingston College of Art where he was tutored by woodcarver John Robson and through whom he met, and was encouraged by, Henry Moore. Following his studies at York and Kingston, he completed his studies at the Statens Kunstole in Oslo.

For information on travel in Ireland check out PassportandBaggage.