EXAMPLES OF PUBLIC ART INCLUDING MONUMENTS

Presented By The Urban Cartographer

Home » Dublin » Page 4

Dublin

BRIDGEFOOT STREET PARK FEATURING A METAL SCULPTURE

by

PHOTOGRAPHED 17 FEBRUARY 2024

In recent years when walking along Bridgefoot Street I have had a few unpleasant incidents involving youths on electric bikes and scooters so I no longer use my cameras when photographing in the immediate area and this is why I used an old iPhone that does not have a SIM.

However, despite my concerns, there is a very low incidence of vandalism in the park itself. This is due in part to an unseen network of park champions who effectively protect the park through local family and social networks. Dublin City Council have had little or no negative feedback regarding the aesthetic and character of the park with its ‘wilder’ appearance of naturally colonising vegetation.

A derelict site in Dublin’s Liberties has been transformed into a public park known as Bridgefoot Street Park. The park, which opened to the public in May 2022, was designed by Dermot Foley Landscape Architects in collaboration with Dublin City Council’s Parks, Biodiversity and Landscape Services.

Work commenced in 2020 but completion of the project was delayed by Covid-19 restrictions.

The new park, developed in conjunction with local residents, includes a performance area, play spaces, allotments and a community garden. There are 181 new trees and a mixture of herbaceous and ground-covered species have been planted, along with amenity grass and ornamental hedging.

PRESENTED TO CITY AND PEOPLE OF DUBLIN BY ZENEZA

by

PATRICK KAVANAGH SCULPTURE

I never noticed the associated plaque before. It states that this sculpture was presented to the people of Dublin by Zeneza and that surprised as I was unaware of that entity. I will discuss this in more detail below.

When I was young I went to school on Leeson street and we were not allowed to visit Wilton Terrace after 5PM as it was a very busy red light area at night. In a way it was surreal … during the day the area was home to upmarket offices but at night it was populated by streetwalkers and their clients.

This life sized statue of Patrick Kavanagh sitting on one side of a park bench is by John Coll and it was unveiled in June 1991. It is situated on the north bank of the Grand Canal across from Mespil Road.

Previously, I incorrectly [a typo] described it as being on Mespil Road when it is, in fact, at Wilton Terrace. I have recently noticed that a number of other accounts describe it as being on Mespil Road … I hope that I am not responsible for such errors.

Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel Tarry Flynn, and the poems “On Raglan Road” and “The Great Hunger”. He is known for his accounts of Irish life through reference to the everyday and commonplace. He also played as a goalkeeper for his local Gaelic football club.

John Coll is one of Ireland’s most prominent figurative sculptors. He has sculpted many works of national importance including monuments to the poet Patrick Kavanagh and the writer Brendan Behan on the Dublin canals. Other large-scale projects include a monument to Countess Markievicz in Rathcormac, Co Sligo and locally a life-size portrait of the racehorse “Bobby-Jo” in Mountbellew, Co Galway.

Zeneca (officially Zeneca Group PLC) was a British multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was formed in June 1993 by the demerger of the pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals businesses of Imperial Chemical Industries into a separate company listed on the London Stock Exchange.

In 1999, Zeneca and the Sweden-based pharmaceutical company Astra AB merged to form AstraZeneca plc.

Zeneca’s largest therapeutic area was oncology, in which its key products included Casodex, Nolvadex and Zoladex. Other key products included heart drug Tenormin.

“Zeneca” was an invented name created by the branding consultancy Interbrand. Interbrand had been instructed to find a name which began with a letter from either the top or bottom of the alphabet and was phonetically memorable, of no more than three syllables and did not have an offensive meaning in any language.

PORTAL BY CATHERINE GREENE

by

NEAR THE UCD SUTHERLAND SCHOOL OF LAW

Abstract: Catherine Greene (b.1960) graduated in sculpture from NCAD in 1984. She is an established figurative sculpture working in bronze and latterly mixed media and lives and works in county Kildare. ‘Portal’ was specially commissioned for the UCD Sutherland School of Law and marks the transition from the outer residential and support areas of the campus into the pedestrianised academic heart of the university. Viewers are invited to walk through the sculpture echoing the allegorical nature of the work.

Today an appointment in Clonskeagh was cancelled and I ended up near the UCD university campus and I had my camera with me. It was a Sony A7RIV but it was configured differently to normal and it was fitted with a Sony E 18-105mm f/4 G OSS ( SEL18105G ) so the A7RIV automatically switched to crop mode. So what is crop mode? The basic concept of crop mode (aka Super 35) is incredibly simple. You’re just cropping the sensor to use the typical APS-C size (1.5x crop). What this means is that you’re achieving a tighter field of view out of your full frame lenses, but at the cost to image quality (megapixels).

To resolve some issues I pre-processed the images using DXO ProRAW … a very slow process.

The build quality of this low cost lens is surprisingly high. The lens body is made of metal based on a metal mount and not only that – it does not extend during focus/zoom actions which is pretty much unique considering the very long zoom range (equivalent to “28-162mm”). It is not a small lens but the package is reasonable compact relative to its range and the constant max aperture of f/4.

MUSE BY JACKIE BALL

by

CATALOG ITEM 003 SCULPTURE IN CONTEXT 2023

Every year I look forward to seeing what Jackie Ball has included in the annual art exhibition.

Jackie is a sculptor living and working in Dun Laoghaire. She received her degree in Visual Communications from DIT and subsequently ran her own Design Consultancy for twelve years before pursuing a career in ceramics and sculptural work.

In 2010, she won a Sculpture in Context Award for ‘Clip Art’.

www.facebook.com/Jackie-Ball-Visual-Artist-323450387744710/

A WHITE HERON BY FIONA SMITH

by

ITEM 151 SCULPTURE IN CONTEXT 2023

What the artist has to say about herself:

Self taught since my early years in Worcestershire, England. when as child I used to model horses and animals from the rich Worcestershire clay found in our garden.

When I was a teenager my family moved to Ireland, where we lived by the sea and kept horses. My first job as a young adult was as a Graphic Designer in Dublin.

Later on, when my own two boys were very young. I undertook a practical Bronze Casting course in the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. I have been exhibiting regularly for the past 25 years.

Galleries include: Solomon Gallery, Dublin, Trinity Gallery Dublin and Gormley’s Dublin.

Selected exhibitions include RHA Annual Exhibition; Sculpture in Context Botanical Gardens Dublin; Sculpture at Lyons, County Kildare; Wexford Opera Festival; Art in the Garden, Russborough House and and Art and Soul, Culloden Estate Belfast and Castlemartyr Cork

My work has also been shown in Galleries and Art fairs in England, Scotland and USA.

My inspiration comes from early naturalist illustrators such as Audubon and Bartram. And the beautiful wading birds which I see on my walks.

I now live and work County Meath.

This Site Will Not Include Advertising Going Forward