Public Art
Louth Community Tapestry
I was proud to be part of the Louth Community Tapestry project, launched in June 2019. I drew the original illustration, then a team of stitchers spent several months making it come alive with colour and movement. It is on permanent display in Creative Spark. As of December 2019, I am working on four more sister tapestries, and stitching has already started. Scroll for a description of the first tapestry.
King Lugh, Cuchulain’s father, rides his magic horse Enbarr over land and sea. Lugh gave his name to Co. Louth – Contae Lú. He carries a fiery spear and a magic sword called the Answerer (an fragarach) – the powers of this sword is shown by its name. His self-propelling boat is called Scuabtuinne (“wave sweeper”). Slieve Foy is in the background. Often the weather on the mountains is squally but that is what we love about Louth.
In the 1850’s the Mary Stoddart, a type of ship called a barque, went down off the coast of Dundalk. Many perished, including some of the local rescuers who had attempted to reach the ship in small boats. The Kelly monument at St. Patrick’s Cathedral was soon erected as a local tribute to those lives lost.
Many years later the little girl who lived in the lighthouse keeper’s cottage used to run to try and beat the boats that came along the Navvy Bank. Dundalk lighthouse is a pile lightouse three miles out to see. The lighthouses are no longer manned. The Navvy Bank, Dundalk Bay and Baltray are rich in seabird life.
C’mon the town! (Of course)
The Cross of Muiredach at Monasterboice is one of Ireland’s nest. Children play with kites made by their father. The 9th Century Dromisken round tower remains from the time of the Abbey and the monks that the Vikings dispersed.
Later the Fleadh came to Drogheda and the music went on day and night. A mother is remembered for making hundreds of Irish dancing costumes. Bicycles go to work in the factories in the 1950’s. St. Nicholas’s Church of Ireland is fondly spoken of as the Green Church.
More information:
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/argus/lifestyle/work-taps-into-dundalks-past-38226950.html
Ulster Canal Greenway Mural
In 2016 Monaghan Tidy Towns commissioned me to paint a Patrick Kavanagh themed artwork on a fence along the newly opened Ulster Canal Greenway. At 83 feet long, it features the poem 'Canal Bank Walk' and a likeness of Kavanagh in the pose he apparently liked to adopt along the Grand Canal in Dublin (and the original setting for the poem). In Antoinette Quinn's biography of the poet she described how he would stretch back on one elbow, sleeves rolled up and his shoes and socks off. For more information: http://www.northernstandard.ie/2016/07/21/canal-bank-mural-brings-kavanagh-to-greenway/
