THE COW AT WOOD QUAY

17/07/2023

THE COW AT WOOD QUAY [DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE INTERESTED IN RETURNING TO WOLFE TONE PARK]

Ag Crú na Gréine “Enjoying the Sun” (2003) by Jackie McKenna

This bronze sculpture of a cow was relocated to Wood Quay while Wolfe Tone Park was being redeveloped and while this may be a more pleasant location I once said that would prefer to have it at Wolfe Tone Park as it was very popular with local children and at its current location no one appears to notice it. I have changed my mind and maybe she should remain at the current location.

MARIAN STATUE ERECTED IN 1955

17/07/2023

MARIAN STATUE ERECTED IN 1955 RATHER THAN 1955 [OSCAR SQUARE PARK]

Even thought this statue was erected in 1955 rather than 1954 I assume that it is a Marian Statue.

I went on a walking tour about twenty years ago and the tour guide claimed that Oscar Square and the associated streets was named in honour of Oscar Wilde. However, the reality is that Oscar Square is not named after Oscar Wilde, but rather Oscar, son of Oisín of Na Fianna. Nearby, Clarence Mangan Road was named in honour of the poet, and O’Carolan Road for the harpist. 

A friend of mine lived in the area and claimed that there was once a World War II bomb shelter in the small public park but that the park may not have been a public park back then. In December 2020 A local lady told me that when she was young it was known as Rosary Park, and it was always closed to the public except on Sundays, but it is now known as Oscar Square Park even though it is not square [there was also a joke that I cannot include here]. I checked a few maps and it looks square to me but I did come across an account that described it as a triangle.

BY JOHN BURKE

17/06/2023

ANOTHER BLUE GENERIC METAL SCULPTURE IN CORK [BY JOHN BURKE]

I was at a distance when I noticed this blue sculpture so the photographs are not detailed. I came across the sculpture by accident as I was trying to find my way to St. Finbarr's Cemetery. At the time there was too much traffic at the Wilton Roundabout so I decided that it would be better to return later in order to photograph the sculpture but as it began to rain during my visit to the cemetery  I decided to get the 216 bus back to the city centre. Of course, the rain ceased the minute I boarded the bus. Unfortunately because of weather conditions I never got to revisit the sculpture.

If you refer to "Cork In 50 Artworks" you will discover that No 29 is John Burke's sculpture at Wilton Roundabout.

The piece – 25 ft high and eight tons in weight - was commissioned by local businessmen Clayton Love and Séamus Gallagher to inaugurate the Cork 800 celebrations the following year.

According to a local newspaper the untitled sculpture was mistaken by many as a location marker for airplanes flying into Cork Airport.

Born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, in 1946, John Burke studied at the Crawford School of Art in Cork, and in London with Brian Kneal.

He has shown sculptures in all the major Irish group exhibitions, as well as international shows like Artists 77, New York (1977); 18 European Sculptors, Munich (1978); Sculpture Européenne, Brussels (1979); A Sense of Ireland, London (1980); and C.A.N., Cork (1985), where he won the sculptor prize. He has held solo shows at Trinity College, Dublin; the Ulster Museum, Belfast; the David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin; and an open-air show in Cork city.

His outdoor works include the abstract red steel sculpture at the Bank of Ireland building on Baggot Street, Dublin. I really like the one on Baggot Street.

RED METAL SCULPTURE IS BLUE

17/06/2023

THEY ARE DIFFERENT IN BLACKROCK ON THE LEE [THEIR GENERIC RED METAL SCULPTURE IS BLUE]

I decided to reprocess this and other photographs from my 2022 visit to Cork using three AI apps that I am currently beta testing.

Every time I have seen this there have been signs of anti-social activity [assuming that graffiti is always anti-social] and that is not something that I would associate with Blackrock in Cork.

I searched online for information and unfortunately all links found were to photographs by myself or some comments that I have made about what are often referred to as red metal yokes. I should mention that in May 2022 I also came across a similar installation by John Burke at the Wilton Roundabout and it was also blue.

This type of generic sculpture is usually red and it came as a surprise to discover two in Cork that are blue especially as the people of Cork appear to have adopted red as their defining colour. 

Note: In 1913 Cork wore blue jerseys with a large yellow "C" in front. In a 1919 raid in by British troops on the county board rooms in Cook Street, the jerseys were taken. So, Cork used the jerseys of the St Finbarr's Total Abstinence Hall team, which were dark red/maroon, and Cork have worn red ever since. An apocryphal story claims that the colours derive from St Anne's Church, Shandon, which has walls of red sandstone and white limestone.

Note: In Ireland it is often the case that the word 'yoke' doesn't have anything to do with eggs. Rather, it is another way of saying thing. So if someone in Ireland sees an object that they've never seen before, they will commonly be heard to ask, What's that yoke there?  Example: Can you pass me that yoke you use to control the TV.