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Arts: Public Art


Overview


Mayo County Council has been extremely proactive in applying funding made available under the Department of the Environment's Percent for Art Scheme for the commissioning of Public Art. With a developmental approach towards Public Art policy the Council endeavours to represent national best practice. To date, there has been a tradition of site specific, permanent sculptural works. Therefore to reflect current best practice, as outlined in Public Art: Per Cent for art Scheme - General National Guidelines 2004, it is now the council's intention to develop a wider range of both commissioning practices and to encourage a wider diversity of contemporary art forms where applicable. The Public Art Programme will also reflect the guiding principles of the Strategic Arts Plan 2003-2006 for Mayo County Council, of quality, inclusion, access and long-term value.

Photo of sculpture in Castlebar Courthouse titled The Witness Tree
Witness Tree, Daphne Wright, Castlebar Courthouse.

The Silver


A four screen video installation and sound piece

Four-piece video

An exhibition of  work  by Martina Coyle launched on Thursday 12th October 2006, in Mickey Lavelle’s Car Showroom, Eachl é im, Blacksod by Catherine Marshall Senior Curator: Head of collection, Irish Museum of Modern Art.

Martina Coyle, an artist from the Mayo County Council Artist’s panel was commissioned to produce a site responsive artwork in the Erris area. After an initial research period living and exploring Erris, Martina returned to spend 4 months in residence in Blacksod early in 2006. Martina’s approach to creating The Silver was holistic in nature. Considerations of the location, the history of the area, language, (being a Gaeltacht region) and integration with the local community were paramount in the process to ensure a site sensitive artwork. In Martina’s own words ‘change and the local must be at the heart of it’. In response to her time in the area, Martina produced a time-based intervention and installation that is drawn from the actual and historical aspects of the Mullet peninsula, the Inish Kea Islands and its inhabitants.

Filmed in ‘real-time’, the sun-set off An F á l M ó r , could appear as a large still life photograph, yet while you watch, the landscape gradually changes with multifarious variations in light and the slow movement of clouds, thus setting the pace of ‘The Silver’. Juxtaposed to this are three other video pieces, two, filming the movement of boats between the Islands and the Mainland and the third representing presence on the Island. Martina aims to capture the psyche of place and of the people through generations attuned to the minute changes in the light and the elements. There is a mesmeric rhythmic feel to the work, setting a quiet melodic pace, a feeling of time passing and of the inextricable continuity of life in this exposed and isolated peninsula. The reflective mood is enhanced by a soundtrack of voices from the community, oral recordings using the Irish language as testimony of distinctive speech rhythms and place names particular to the locale.

This Public Art Project for the Erris region was commissioned by Mayo County Council in 2006, funding for which was provided by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Percent for Art Scheme.

For further information contact Gaynor Seville, Public Art Co-Ordinator, The Arts Office, Mayo County Council, 094 90 47561 email gseville@mayococo.ie

Completed Commissions


 Scáile by Lucy Hill

Hill Blacksod 2  Hill - Blacksod 3    Hill- Blacksod 4

Scáile by Lucy Hill, consists of six glazed clay paintings sited on the walls of Blacksod Pier, it was commissioned by Mayo County Council and funded by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs under the percent for art scheme as part of the development of the Pier in Blacksod. Lucy was selected from the Mayo Artist Panel through a limited competition process Lucy described the project as an opportunity to move her painting into the out-door public art realm using new media. ‘I am grateful to Mayo County Council and the local residents for the level of trust they placed in me, as given the nature of the painting process and the experimental approach to materials I was initially unable to offer them definitive images of what the finished pieces would look like. The amazing clay and glazes were researched and sourced by Paul Taylor ( Westport ) who was also responsible for the alchemy of firing them. The panels were set in stainless steel trays and fixed to the pier wall. I would not see the paintings as being there to necessarily enhance the pier, rather to point quietly to the fact that the place, the workings of the pier and the evidence of the human contact within it are worth looking at. The paintings are quite simply a direct and justified glorification of the everyday workings of the place itself.’ The glazed clay paintings took as a starting point, six oil on canvas, paintings by Lucy Hill which can be viewed at Belmullet Civic Centre where they are on permanent display.

The Wader by John Rowlands

Rowlands Crossmolina

A bronze sculpture standing nearly 3 meters tall and overlooking the river Deel, serenely gazes towards the town of Crossmolina in Co. Mayo. The sculpture was commissioned by Mayo County Council through open competition, and funded under the percent for art scheme by the Department of the Environment Heritage and Local Government. John, who takes his inspirations from Man and Nature, says, ‘Fundamentally the Wader aims to provide an opportunity for people to capture a moment for them to reflect on.’ The Wader combines contemporary and traditional values and successfully echoes the movement of the river that flows beside it. Echoing the elegance of the female form with twisting Celtic curves, the Wader transports us from the hustle and bustle of modern life to a place of tranquil beauty, ideally situated in the peaceful surroundings of the river bank.

Public Art Works

Public Art : 2004 - 2005

Public Art: 2000 - 2003

Public Art : 1988 - 1999

 

 

Gaynor Seville, Public Art Co-ordinator


Mayo County Council
Aras an Chontae
Castlebar
Phone: (094) 9047561
Email:gseville@mayococo.ie