Ireland

PHOENIX RISING BY MICHAEL CHARLES KEANE

September 7, 2023 by infomatique

SCULPTURE IN CONTEXT 2023 PREVIEW 2 SEPTEMBER 2023

In order to preview Sculpture In Context I visited the exhibition on the Saturday and Sunday before the exhibition officially opened. I used a Canon 5DIII on the first day and a Sigma Dp3 Quattro on the Sunday.

The works on display were not labelled until Thursday and they is when I purchased the catalogue.

Sculpture in Context is the largest sculpture exhibition in Ireland. It is an annual event organised by Sculpture in Context, an artist-led organisation, in association with the Office of Public Works and the National Botanic Gardens. The exhibition showcases the work of over 120 artists using a wide range of media, from the smallest, most intricate ceramic works to stone sculptures of monumental scale. The sculptures are displayed throughout the 50 acres of beautifully-landscaped grounds of the National Botanic Gardens, creating a unique and inspiring experience for visitors.

The 2023 exhibition will run from September 7 to October 13. The opening hours are from 10am to 6pm, seven days a week. Admission is free.

SCULPTURE IN CONTEXT 2023

THE HERMIT’S CAVE AND NEARBY

September 1, 2023 by infomatique

ST ANNE’S PARK IN RAHENY

The ‘Bridge & Hermitage’ spans the Nanekin River and houses the magical Hermit’s Cave. With its ancient stone entrance, visiting the Hermit’s Cave feels like stepping into a storybook where imagination come to life.

The Naniken River is a minor river on the north side of Dublin city, Ireland, one of more than forty watercourses monitored by Dublin City Council. It is culverted for its upper course, visible in St Anne’s Park for its entire lower course, and causes flooding somewhere along its line most years. The river flows entirely within the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council.

The origins of the name, also spelt sometimes as Nannikin or Naneken, are unclear, though it has been speculated that it might be a diminutive reflection of the much-larger Nanny River flowing just north of the County Dublin boundary.

The Naniken is a central feature of Dublin’s second largest municipal park, a former Guinness family estate. It passes in a shady channel through an area of playing fields, runs through the Dublin City Millennium Arboretum, and then flows in a more distinct valley through the central reaches of the park. In the 19th century there was a pond northwest of the modern-day nursery, with a small waterfall, but this is entirely gone now. Some artificial features were constructed for the Guinnesses near the river, including ornamental bridges (one high bridge was removed for safety reasons in the 1980s), at least one ford, and a couple of wider areas. Near the coast an offtake supplies the Duck Pond (or Old Pond), while the river itself flows around and passes under the James Larkin Road to enter the western half of the “lagoon” (also known as Crab Water or Raheny Lake) behind North Bull Island. The line of the Naniken from its mouth marks the boundary of the civil parish of Raheny with that of Clontarf, and the beginning of the Raheny portion of the Bull Island.

This small but long-established river causes flooding, as with the neighbouring Wad River, in many years. Frequent locations include Maryfield Crescent, Rosemount Avenue and parts of Kilmore. In 2014, the City Manager acknowledged the flood risks, noted that there was no near-term funding for serious remedial works, but agreed that the City Council would invest 60,000 euro in a hydraulic study.

I REALLY LIKE THE PEOPLE’S PARK

August 18, 2023 by infomatique

AN ATTRACTIVE PUBLIC SPACE IN DUN LAOGHAIRE

The People’s Park is a small public park in the suburban town of Dún Laoghaire, south of Dublin, Ireland. Located near the East Pier of Dún Laoghaire Harbour and Glasthule, it opened in 1890, and major elements were redeveloped between 1985 and 1997, and again in 2012.

The gate lodge is at the entrance at the junction of Upper Georges Street, Park Road and Summerhill Road. A bandstand is at the centre of the park, and it also holds a playground, two fountains, a “tearooms” style café in the Victorian shelter, and a Garden for the Blind (with a specially-designed walking trail).There is a group of well maintained public toilets.

A Martello Tower was previously situated on the site in 1805, as visible on maps from 1817 and 1821. The land was later a quarry, and was acquired by the Kingstown Town Commission in 1889. The park was designed by J. L. Robinson, an architect who was chairman of the Town Commissioners, and also designed other local civic buildings. Funding was partly provided by the Local Government Board.

The park was officially opened on 29 September 1890. A revised system of pathways, which replaced a more formal layout, was in place by 1937.

The fountains were restored in 1985 and 1988, a new playground also being constructed in 1988. The bandstand and shelter were reworked in 1990, and the park re-dedicated in September of that year.

In the early 2010s, under the direction of Leslie Moore, Senior Parks Superintendent, the pavements in the park were reconstructed in a more formal arrangement to reflect the original design intention. The gate lodge and shelter structures were conserved, public toilets constructed and an extension was added to the shelter to create tearooms, designed by Howley Hayes, conservation architects. New railings and gates were constructed along the line of ‘the metals’ and the raised promenade and glazed viewing deck were constructed over the DART line, designed by the in-house parks team. This work was completed in 2012.

CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHAT THIS PLANT IS

June 23, 2023 by infomatique

PHOTOGRAPHED AT THE BOTANIC GARDENS IN DUBLIN

Within the living collections at the National Botanic Gardens they have over 300 endangered species from around the world, and six species already extinct in the wild. These are a vital resource, like a Noah’s Ark for the future. Cultivating a wide range of plants from the diverse climatic regions of the world, and displaying these under good horticultural practice allows visitors to see what they too can achieve in their own gardens. They run training courses in gardening and hold practical workshops throughout the year.

The Gardens are open every day throughout the year except for Christmas Day, and are completely free to enter and explore. Interpretative guided tours are available Monday to Saturday for a small fee, and are free on Sundays.

[UPDATE] Thanks to everyone who contacted me I know know what this is []

Gunnera manicata, known as Brazilian giant-rhubarb or giant rhubarb, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gunneraceae from the coastal Serra do Mar Mountains of Santa Catarina, Parana and Rio Grande do Sul States, Brazil. In cultivation, the name G. manicata has regularly been wrongly applied to the hybrid with G. tinctoria, G. × cryptica.

Gunnera manicata is a large, clump-forming herbaceous perennial growing to 2.5 m (8 ft) tall by 4 m (13 ft) or more. The leaves of G. manicata grow to an impressive size. Leaves with diameters well in excess of 120 cm (4 ft) are commonplace, with a spread of 3 m × 3 m (10 ft × 10 ft) on a mature plant.The largest on record had leaves up to eleven feet (3.3 meters) in width. The underside of the leaf and the whole stalk have spikes on them. In early summer it bears tiny red-green, dimerous flowers in conical branched panicles, followed by small, spherical fruit. Like most gunneras, it has a symbiotic relationship with certain blue-green algae which provide nitrogen by fixation.

Despite the common name “giant rhubarb”, this plant is not closely related to true rhubarb. It was named after a Norwegian bishop and naturalist Johan Ernst Gunnerus, who also named and published a description about the basking shark.

In 2022, it was shown that plants in cultivation under the name Gunnera manicata in Britain and Ireland, and likely elsewhere, were actually a hybrid, Gunnera × cryptica. It is primarily cultivated for its massive leaves. It grows best in damp conditions such as near garden ponds, but dislikes winter cold and wet.

WHY IS THE EMERALD ISLE CALLED THE EMERALD ISLE

June 23, 2023 by infomatique

DO YOU KNOW WHY

Back in the late 1970s I lived in Santa Clara in California and it was on my return home that I immediately understood why Ireland is referred to as the Emerald Isle. My memory of that return home was reinforced when I visited the lily pond area in the Botanic Gardens.

In school I was taught that the first reference to the Emerald Isle, in print, was ‘When Erin First Rose’ by Irish poet William Drennan (1754-1820)

When Erin first rose
From the dark-swelling flood,
God blessed the green island
And saw it was good;
The emerald of Europe,
It sparkled and shone,
In the ring of the world,
The most precious stone.
In her sun, in her soil,
In her station thrice blest,
With her back towards Britain,
Her face to the West,
Erin stands proudly insular
On her steep shore,
And strikes her high harp
Mid the ocean’s deep roar.