SHORT DOCUMENTARIES
OUT OF THE SHADOWS
Solo Show
Solomon Gallery 2025
I am very much a hands on sculptor, enjoying every aspect of creating a piece. It is important for me to document the process as it changes with each piece and methods also change over time.
I normally let the work speak for itself but in this short documentary I explain some of the thoughts behind the work.
NICHE
Limerick University
I visited the University of Limerick on a few occasions and was always struck by how beautiful the campus was, the river, the architecture and the art. It is a special place and it was a real pleasure to create a sculpture that would be part of that.
Being in a University and how you might change over your time, this was really the inspiration for this particular piece. I wanted to make a strong reflective sculpture that would be about finding your place in the world. University is the first real time that you start to choose your path in life. So this strong figure with head bowed in reverence to the beginning of this journey emerged. Two trees grow from the back of the hands symbolizing a deep desire for personal growth and self-discovery. The figure stands on the tips of the toes yet is balanced and strong.
COTHÚ
Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg
Co. Louth
Chothú is a tall standing stone 250 million years old, it is divided in half with a bronze tree growing in between the parted stone.
For century’s archaeologists have been splitting stones to discover something intriguing, fossils of plants and animals, secrets held within the stone.
I sourced the 5 meter stone in southwest Kerry, it was cut in half in the quarry. I made the tree in my studio.
The children in the school were invited to write a poem about the sculpture and two were picked to be cast in bronze.
BOUND
Solo Show
Solomon Gallery 2020
In sculpture I am always learning. Making Bound was technically challenging. The figure within the large centre piece Bound was suspended above the ground by branches. I first made it at 1 meter to see if it would work, then I scaled it up to 2.8 meters.
I originally studied fashion design and I feel that this piece is the cross over piece between fashion and sculpture.
I enjoyed casting rope and twine to see the different textures it created and how it would feed into the concept. I suspended hearts and clocks inside heads and hung female figures upside down. Exploring a concept and then exploring the materials and technics to express this, is a privilege and a joy.
QUIET LISTENING BELVELLY CASTLE Cobh, County Cork
When you walk into a castle more than any other building, you think of your ancestors, and you quietly listen to stories of a different time. I wanted to make a sculpture that would reflect that feeling and so after much deliberation I made a human figure quietly contemplating a tree.
The tree is a great symbol of the past and present with the roots firmly growing into the ground and the branches reaching up to the sky as new beginnings. The tree captivates the figure there is a visual connection between the two, human with nature, present with past. I like to think he is pondering the bigger questions;
Who am I? Why am I?
Past and Present, Man and Nature.
FLOW
Istanbul, Turkey
This site-specific piece is called’ Flow’ the figure has an obvious connection with the river but Flow is also a mental state that happens when a person is completely absorbed in what they do, so immersed that there is a feeling of great positive energy, joy in the task and a loosing of time.
This sculpture comprises a stylised bronze female figure seated at the edge of a vivid blue quarter ellipse. It is counter levered. She is suspended over the centre of the river. Her legs are elongated and end in drops of water as if melting into the landscape.
Her heart is open and through it you can view the sky.