Normally I only post my own photos of sculpture I had seen and touched.
This one is different.
This one is special.
This one is a long long way from my sod of turf
You need to visit my friend Col and please read down to the end of the post for the special suprise!
Then and only then, view the following video:
Who made the World_1
Cé a dhein an domhan?
Who Made The World ~ Cast Bronze
Sculptor ~ Cliodna Cussen
On my way to the Craft Beer & Cider Festival in Dublin’s RDS, last week, I discovered this beauty outside The Herbert Park Hotel.
Cliodna Cussen was born and educated in Co. Limerick. She attended third level education in Dublin and Florence and is presently based in Dublin and Kerry.
She works as a full-time sculptor using mostly bronze and stone.
Cliodna does graphic work in the Graphic Studio Dublin and she also illustrates and publishes Irish Children’s Stories.
She has exhibited widely and won a number of awards for her work, including the Listowel Gold Medal for sculpture and the sculpture prize at the Oireachtas.
Haggling for a price
Market Day ~ Granite
Sculptor Barry Wrafter
A €40,000 sculpture depicts a market scene and sits in the centre of the market area in Ennis , County Clare. It involves two 7.5ft farmers haggling over the price of a 6ft granite cow.
Barry Wrafter spent 18 months sculpting the piece. ‘Market Day’ forms the latest piece of the Ennis Sculpture Initiative that has resulted in sculptures being dotted around the Clare town.
In April 2012, I shared a piece of sculpture that I found in Dublin. I called it a mystery hand. At the time I was unable to discover any information about the work or of the sculptor.
The sculpture stands in the grounds of the Department of Education, in front of Tyrone House in Marlborough Street, Dublin.
Last week I discovered the correct title and the name of the sculptor.
The Wishing Hand
The Wishing Hand ~ Bronze
Sculptor ~ Linda Brunker.
Linda Brunker was born in Dublin, Ireland.
She studied at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin and received a degree in Fine Art, Sculpture – 1988 & a Diploma in fine art, Sculpture – 1987.
The Bronze Wishing Hand is solid and impressive at 63 x 110 x 55 inches. Almost inviting the viewer to climb up and curl into the open palm.
Almost an invitation
In some of her sculptures she resists the solidity of bronze, creating spaces which open up the pieces, letting air and light flow through them. The female form is delicately conjured out of leaves that appeared to be blown into shape by the wind. They have the feeling of being accidental, transitory or momentary. This sense of lightness is enhanced by their overall compositional structure, where the entire piece is often balanced on a single point. There is a sense of nature in the way they have been composed into flowing shapes which echo the rhythms of wind, fire and water.
Linda says:
“My work comes from a place where art, science, nature and the human spirit meet…..”
Her bronze sculptures have been exhibited in Ireland and abroad and are present in several private and corporate collections. She has received several awards. You can check out her other works in the link above.
In the past I wrote about visiting a church and having fun. At another time I told you about going to confession, when for my penance I drank the black stuff…
Last week I was back in The Church and came away refreshed. 😉 Elly came to meet me and we walked round the area at the back of the building. It was at one time a very popular graveyard for the dearly departed members of St. Mary’s parish, a large and wealthy congregation.
By the 1940s, the large churchyard was being used as a playground, with the tombstones being removed to the further end of the yard. It was de-consecrated in April 1966, the Church of Ireland sold the graveyard to Dublin Corporation which later developed the site now known as Wolfe Tone Memorial Park. Why Wolfe Tone? Theobald Wolf Tone – United Irishmen Founder was baptised in St Mary’s Church, in 1763.
The park’s feeling of openness, perhaps because it is unfenced and accessible and allows for unimpeded shortcuts between the busier nearby streets, yet it maintains a separate identity from the paths on either side. An urban space with a variety if hard surfaces, which includes a large gravel area adorned with a cow.
How now bronze cow
City Cow ~ Bronze
Sculptor ~ Jackie McKenna.
Con Houlihan
Con Houlihan ~ Bronze
Sculptor ~ Unknown to me.
Con Houlihan was one of Ireland’s premier sportswriters. He was often described as ‘writer, journalist, philosopher, raconteur, Gaelic scholar and gentleman, he entertained his readers with some fantastic writing.
Con looks like a man with a thirst!
This sculpture was erected in the vestibule of The Bank Bar & Restaurant on College Green, in Dublin.
Bank Bar & Restaurant
In a brief eulogy at the end of the funeral service, Ray Hennessy, a friend of the journalist, described Con Houlihan (1925 – 2012) as:
A sculptor of language” who was “sensitive, compassionate, humourous, sometimes extremely funny, courteous, with perfect manners.”
He recalled a comment he made when unable to locate a book of poetry by Gerald Manley Hopkins after a cleaning lady had done her work, “you know, if that woman worked in Trinity College she’d throw out the Book of Kells”.
On another occasion, when Kerry unexpectedly beat Dublin in football he was asked how his friend Harriet, a dedicated Dublin supporter, was taking it, “Con replied ‘House private. No flowers’.”
There was no signature or sculptor’s name on the work and I have been unsuccessful in my search for further information.
Old Oak
Old Oak ~ Bronze
Sculptor ~ Michael McWilliams
I found this piece last July, as I wandered through the Westbury Mall adjacent to the Westbury Hotel, just off Grafton Street in Dublin.
Michael McWilliams was born and educated in Dublin. He has been working as a professional artist for 30 years. He works from his studio on the foothills of the Dublin Mountains.
While his main interest is landscape painting, using a palette of tones and hues inspired by nature, he also works with bronze focusing mainly on the human form.
His works are in various corporate and private collections in Ireland and abroad.
The Onion Seller
The Onion Seller ~ Bronze
Sculptor ~ Séamus Murphy (1907-1975)
This is a monument to the women dealers in the Coal Quay, Cork City Open Market.
It was erected on February 27th 1986 and unveiled on February 28th 1986 by the Lord Mayor, Alderman Dan Wallace TD as a gift to the City of Cork to commemorate Cork 800 by Sunbeam Wolsey PLC.
Séamus Murphy was born at Greenhill, Burnfort, Mallow, Co Cork.
The Echo Boy
The Echo Boy ~ Bronze
Sculptor ~ Barry Moloney
This memorial is for the Echo Boys.
Poor and often homeless children who sold the newspaper The Evening Echo & on the streets in Cork City.
Evening Echo newspapers for sale
Barry Moloney (1935 – 1992) was principal of the Crawford School of Art. Unfortunately, I had little success in finding information about Barry Moloney.
Plaque on the wall behind the Echo Boy.
“The Echo Boy”
Commemorating
150 years of
The Cork Examiner
And 100 years of the
Evening Echo
The sculpture was
Unveiled 8 December 1991 by
Councillor Denis (Dino) Cregan
Lord Mayor of Cork
Barry Moloney
Sculptor
Relocated from Cook Street to
Saint Patrick’s Street 2004
Today, like all the best Supermarkets I offer two for the price of one!
Theobald Wolfe Tone
1763-1798
Theobald Wolfe Tone ~ Bronze
Sculptor ~ Edward Delaney
As you approach St Stephen’s Green from the North East Corner A large sculpture of Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763 – 1798) stands guard today. Commonly known as Wolfe Tone, he was one of the founding members of the United Irishmen and is regarded as the father of Irish republicanism.
Cyclists resting at the feet of the father of Irish republicanism. I wonder what they are scheming?
When you walk round the stone pillars the other side tells a very different story:
Hungry Heart Famine memorial
~Edward Delaney
Hungry Heart Famine memorial ~ Bronze
Sculptor ~Edward Delaney
Hungry Heart: Edward Delaney‘s “Famine Memorial”
The two parts are all one sculpture and you can read more about them in this obituary for Edward Delaney from The Guardian in 2009
This eight-minute video on Dublin, Ireland’s St. Stephen’s Green and sculptor Edward Delaney’s “Famine Memorial” (1967) gives more information.
Back on August I featured the work of Edward Delaney, with his piece Four Angels.