AN INTERESTING WATER FEATURE IN THE WATERFORD PEOPLES PARK
One thing that I have noticed in Ireland is that water features are never properly maintained and eventually they become non-water features. Unfortunately, when I photographed this a year later it was in very poor condition … hardly any water and lots of litter and branches within the pool area. But to be fair in 2017 it was in excellent condition and the water in the ball was clear.
In 1999, artist Tina O’Connell was commissioned to re-create a fountain on the same site as where there had been a Victorian style tiered fountain which had fallen into disrepair. Thus Tina’s contemporary sculpture is also a fully functioning fountain. After an extended period of research into the materials and of development ‘In-Visible’ was finally sited and fully installed in 2002.
‘In-Visible’ (2001) is a contemporary sculpture incorporating a water feature. Inspired by the connection between Waterford City and the world famous Waterford Glass industry, O’Connell’s work consists of a very large transparent acrylic sphere (2 metres in diameter), over which clear running water continuously flows, and which is positioned on a large, circular platform made from black Kilkenny marble. The work has been referred to locally as the ‘Orb Fountain’.
