Official Launch: Friday 17 September 2010 at 12 noon by the Lord Mayor of Dublin.
John Byrne has created a spectacular large bronze equestrian sculpture for Ballymun. This new work references traditional classical equestrian sculpture yet Byrne has subverted this tradition by placing the figure of a teenage girl from Ballymun as the rider on the horse.
Acclaimed artist John Byrne - who created The Last Supper mural work for the Italian Quarter in Dublin city centre - made a replica of the magnificent horse sculpted by the Irish sculptor John Henry Foley (1818-1874) used in The Gough Memorial. The sculpture, originally sited in the Phoenix Park, was destroyed in 1957. In the mid 1980's the sculpture was sold by the OPW to a member of the Guinness family,and was subsequently given to an ancestor of Gough’s, Sir Humphry Wakefield, who restored and sited it at his home in Chillingham Castle in Northumberland, England.
After an open-call in 2006, Breaking Ground auditioned 20 local teenage girls to be the rider for the horse. Toni-Marie Shields was subsequently chosen to be the rider, and using the latest computer technology, she was scanned in 3d software to make a mould for the work. Her mould and the mould made from the Gough Memorial at Chillingham Castle were then combined to create the new work.
Refering on the one hand to historic monuments, and the strong Irish legacy of bold public sculptures, the work refers, on the other hand, to both the history and the future of Ballymun, youth, and regeneration. Turning the notion of what public monuments are about on their head, John Byrne's new work asserts that the everyday person can be as much a hero as celebrated public figures.
The sculpture will be unveiled on Friday 17 September 2010 at 12 noon by the Lord Mayor of Dublin.
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KEVIN ATHERTON 'Another Sphere'
Kevin Atherton's pair of stainless steel hemispheres have been sited in two different parts of the new Balcurris Park. The respective hemispheres, and the subjects reflected on their surfaces, will be continuously filmed by two CCTV cameras, which will transmit the two images to a central broadcasting point. There, the images will be juxtaposed and simultaneously broadcast on a plasma screen integrated into the architecture of an exterior wall of the new pavilion.
Photos of 'Another Sphere' by Pat Redmond
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PAUL MCKINLEY
Paul McKinley's commission takes the form of three large scale, narrative driven paintings derived from three different Ballymun families' photographs. Each painting presents a multifaceted scene loaded with specific references from each families' recent history, recognisable yet imaginary, utopian, yet rooted in the real. Paul's stunning new work has now been permanently sited in the Civic Centre Atriuim, while a fourth piece, a large scale lightbox work, has been specially commissioned for Poppintree Community Centre.
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PUBLICATION
This major publication, spanning 200 pages, documents Breaking Ground commissions from 2001 to 2009. Documenting 48 projects this acts a definitive guide to one of the most pioneering per cent for art programmes in the history of the State.
The 48 projects are illustrated with new and rarely seen photographs, and features working materials from the artists.
The publication also features 12 republished text commissions from the history of the projects, including writing by Mark Orange, Daniel Seery, Ellen Rowley, Mick Wilson, Jan Estep, Rona O’Reilly, Gemma Tipton, Valerie Connor, and Caoimhin Mac Giolla Leith.
The publication also features new text commissions by Catherine Marshall and Aisling Prior.
The publication is available nationwide and directly from Breaking Ground for €10.
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ART TRAIL
Celebrating Breaking Ground projects from 2001 to 2009, BG presents an Art Trail of offsite permanent commissions across Ballymun and a temporary exhibition at Axis Arts Centre.
Producing a unique map, the Art Trail map entices visitors and locals alike to various sites across Ballymun, to visit works from 4 tonne bronze horses, to an installation of paintings at a wemons drug rehabilitation group building, to an extensive showing of BG archive material at Axis Arts Centre.
If you would like to receive a free copy of the Art Map please send us an email and we will post one out to you. Email address at the bottom of this page.
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RECENT BREAKING GROUND PUBLICATIONS:
ADAM CHODZKO, JOYCE DUFFY, MICHAEL MCLOUGHLIN, SEAMUS NOLAN
Other recent publications documenting recent projects commissioned by Breaking Ground
All publications available directly from Breaking Ground and also from art bookshops nationwide. Adam Chodzko, Joyce Duffy and Seamus Nolan each €10, Michael McLoughlin €5.
Publications can be ordered directly from Breaking Ground. Price includes postage. Payment can be made by cash, cheque or direct bank transfer. Contact the office for details.
