Grannymar

A hand - Bronze

The sculpture stands in the grounds of the Department of Education, in front of Tyrone House in Marlborough Street, Dublin.

Well trimmed nails!

Despite much searching I was unsuccessful in finding the name of the sculptor or the story behind the piece. I wonder if any of you can throw light on it for me?

Since I was unsuccessful in finding any details of the Hand sculpture I have decided to give you some background to the commissioning process for a piece of sculpture.

Usually when a potential client expresses an interest in commissioning a work they contact the artist directly with their proposal. If for example they want a life size figure in bronze as the finished work, then the procedure would be as follows:

• Furnish the artist with the most important details of the subject to be sculpted, photographs, descriptions etc.
• The artist draws designs for the client based on the material given.
• The client approves of a drawing to be developed in three dimensions for which a fee is paid to the artist for conceptual development.
• Once the client is contented with all the views of the three dimensional model, it is then enlarged to the full scale in clay on the payment of the first of three equal payments to be agreed on at the start.
• When the client is happy with the enlarged sculpture, they will then pay the second instalment of the fee before a mould can be made of the work so that it can be cast in bronze.
• Once it is cast in bronze and finished to the clients specifications, it will then be shipped and installed on site after which the final third is paid.

A popular procedure used for most work is the Lost Wax Method, which dates back with little change to the Ancient Greeks and beyond.

It starts off with the original artwork in clay on which a rubber mould is applied with elevated points that register in the plaster or fibreglass ridged jacket, which covers it. The rubber holds the impression of the surface and undercuts while the plaster or fibreglass holds the form.

Once the mould has been made and taken off the clay master, a layer of molten wax is applied to the inner surface of the rubber to replicate the detail of the original. Once this is at a sufficient thickness (5-7mm), it is then covered in a ceramic shell by dipping it in a ceramic mix and then fired in a kiln to melt out the wax and solidify the ceramic mould. While the said mould is still hot it is buried in sand for support and molten bronze is poured into the vacuum where the wax used to be. Once the metal solidifies as it cools, it is possible to smash off the ceramic mould and weld the bronze pieces back together for the complete work to be realized.

The piece is then ready to be shipped and installed an  the pre-arranged site.

Dancing Children ~ Bronze
Sculptor ~ Cathy Carmen

The sculpture is a reminder of children playing in the streets of Dublin back in the days. Nowadays Summerhill evokes more the image of unpleasing gangs of youngsters than children playing and dancing. The location is not very enjoyable and most pedestrians wouldn’t even recognize that the statue is there!

Cathy Carman is an Irish Sculptor working in bronze, wood and stone. She was educated at the National College of Art and Design and has since worked exclusively as a sculptor. She is a leading member of Independent Artists, and a long time associate of Temple Bar Galleries and Studio.

She has recieved critical acclaim in Ireland both for her one person exhibitions, and for her public sculpture. Her work is held in private & public collections in Ireland, Britian, the USA and Italy.

Ladies bathing Shelter on the Bull Wall beside Dollymount Strand, in Dublin. The wall features multiple public bathing shelters (each designated male or female), with steps down to the water - the water is close by only at mid- to high-tide.

The view across Dublin Bay from the top of the bathing steps, taken on a previous visit. Note the snow on the hills.

Looking at the shelter from Dollymount strand. The strand is 5km/3.1miles long and was the place we spent many a Sunday afternoon during my childhood. We walked, swam, built sandcastles and explored the sand dunes and enjoyed picnics with pots of spuds and tea boiled on a Primus stove.

There are two golf courses located at Dollymount, The Royal Dublin Golf Club and Saint Anne’s Golf Club.  The Royal Dublin Golf Club has played host on many occasions to The Irish Open Golf tournament.

The island is a bird sanctuary of international importance with close to 200 different species of birds including wintering waterbirds, waders and predators such as Kestrels, Peregrines, Sparrowhawks and Merlins. Birdwatch Ireland arranges field trips to the island throughout the year.

Walking dogs on the beach is a popular activity but the dogs must be kept under tight control due to the Wildlife Reserve.

Like many a Dubliner, I learned to drive on Dollymount strand as it has a firm flat sandy beach during low tide.  Today, access by car is limited to a section of the island located near the Bull Bridge and two sections near the causeway at Raheny.

Last night I spent a couple of hours at The WickerMan in Belfast. I have visited this amazing Aladdin’s cave of celtic arts, crafts and gifts, several times in the past. Every inch of the shop is tastefully put to good use with something for every one.

The WickerMan is the brainchild of Laurence Burrell and Peter Todd. The effervescent Laurence oozes with infectious enthusiasm for her work and it is evident everywhere from the window display to the back wall.

Laurence Excels in the kitchen as well as the craft world, here she is with some of her home made treats for all of us last night.

During an expansion of floor space a few years ago, one area seemed ideal for small exhibitions or classes. And these are well subscribed to, and attended.

For the month of April – perhaps this year we should rename it Titanic Month!! -

We saw the beginning of an exhibition called:

ICONIC POPART

by local digital artist

Jeff Meredith

L to R: Jeff Meredith talking to David Graham while Laurence provides more goodies.

This was Jeff’s first exhibition, for which he designed an unusual and interesting set of images celebrating the history of a selection of Belfast’s iconic buildings, art and culture. They are all available as mounted and framed prints, postcards and greetings cards.

The People

The sayings

The food

I mentioned David Graham above. We had a long chat that could have gone on all night.  He is a Blue Badge Tour Guide and conducts tours all over Ireland in German, French & English. A mine of information and very willing to share it.  It was absolutely amazing the coincidences there were in our life paths. I had the privilege of meeting his wife Joan at the end of the evening. A lovely lady.

One of the many pathways I found while dandering around in the Botanic Gardens in Dublin. My curiosity got the better of me and I had to discover what that ‘white thing’ was down there at the end…

A sculpture with no indication of who the sculptor was or the story of the piece. It does represent growth, there are etched saplings on the front and back. (click to enlarge)

The front

The back

These are not really sculptures..

No. They are the next door neighbours spied through the perimeter railing that borders the Botanic Gardens with Glasnevin cemetery.

It reminds me of the old joke:

Q. Do you know where the dead centre of Dublin is?

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A. Glasnevin Cemetery!

This is the back gate to Glasnevin Cemetery and in true Dublin style the next door neighbour is a pub.  Well…. You have to drown your sorrows and give the dearly departed a good send off!

It is the final resting place for over 1.1 million people. The option of cremation has been provided since March 1982.

John Kavanagh’s Pub was established in 1833 and the current family are the 6th generation in the business. It is beside the old Glasnevin Cemetery Gate, at Prospect Square off Botanic Avenue, Glasnevin.

It is also known as “The Gravediggers’ because of its location next to the cemetery and its attached folk history.  A common spot in times past, for body snatchers and burkers to grab a pint after a hard nights work.  The place got its name as it was customary for gravediggers to bang their shovels against the pub’s wall to signify to the landlord that they were ready for a pint. Once the pints were drawn and settled, they were handed through the railings to the workmen.  A tally was kept behind the bar and the bill settled on pay day.

It is a genuine Victorian bar, totally unspoilt - and it has a reputation for serving one of the best pints in Dublin.

I asked permission to take photos and was directed to the old original bar with one proviso: Not to photograph the customers as some of them did not like their quiet drink interrupted.

No music, “piped or otherwise”, no TV or telephone and no singing allowed.

You have to chat!

You wont be alone for long, someone will say hello, I was drawn into conversation by the men (this section seemed to be a man’s pub) the banter was mighty and I had difficulty withdrawing to rejoin my two friends who brought me there.

So if you want to stay on your own….stay away!

All this running around and visiting pubs purely for research purposes, you understand, has helped me reach post 2000 today.  It is enough to give a girl a thirst!

Dancing Couple Stardust Memorial
Sculptor: Robin Buick

It is hard to believe that thirty one years have passed since the fire that destroyed Dublin’s Stardust nightclub in Artane, near Coolock, in the early hours of St. Valentine’s Day 1981.

The fire resulted in the death of 48 young people and injured and disfigured a hundred more. Even to this day, survivors and bereaved continue to suffer.

The fire had a tremendous impact on Dublin people and most of those killed came from the immediate vicinity.

On the tenth anniversary of this disaster, Dublin Corporation were asked to design and develop a memorial park to commemorate the tragedy. The main aim was to provide a park with a memorial, the design of which would be relevant to the tragic event.

The Stardust memorial park was opened on the 18th September 1993 on a lovely sunny day witnessed by hundreds of local people.

The memorial is a circular pool, 8 metres in diameter, the principal feature of which is a bronze sculpture of a boy and a girl dancing, designed by sculptor Robin Buick. Water is pumped by 48 jets in the illuminated fountain which surrounds the sculpture. Alas. the day I was there the fountain was off, but if you click on the link to Robin’s website, you will be able to see it in all its glory.

The pool is faced with limestone, which is also used as paving material around the pool. This area is enclosed by an incomplete circle, symbolising the short life of the 48 victims. The incomplete circle of 270 degrees forms an enclosure 20 metres in diameter around the entrance and its boundary is comprised of limestone piers with 48 railing panels symbolising the number of young people who lost their lives.

An avenue of lime trees is positioned 30 metres from the centre of the memorial. The park also contains a junior football pitch, an all-weather floodlit pitch, a playground, walks and plenty of tree planting all enclosed with mild steel railings on a pliant wall.

Coolock is a Barony which accounts for most of north Dublin city, from the coast in and stretching out to Swords. The civil parish takes in the land between the Tonlegee Road (as far as Donaghmede) and the Malahide Road, as well as the lands on either side of the Malahide Road between Darndale and Artane, and the lands either side of the Oscar Traynor Road on the approach to Santry.

Coolock has a history dating back over 3,500 years – a bronze-age burial site in the area dates back to 1500 BC. The settlement grew up around a small early-Christian church. The majority of the modern Coolock, was built-up as part of a programme of phased inner city slum clearance (between, roughly, 1952 and 1987).

“Welcome to my house! Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring!” *

No.  This is not my house, It is actually on the market for sale at the moment.

A perfectly ordinary looking house. (I bet that last thought went through your mind.) It is part of a Crescent (c.1792) which, had at that time great views of Dublin Bay. The Crescent was built in a particular arrangement to obstruct the view from Lord Charlemont’s neo-classical summer residence “The Casino” at Marino.

So back to this ordinary looking house.  It is of interest on many levels.  The family now in possession are children of that house, they are disposing of the family home their parents owned and lived in for over eighty years. There had been only two previous owners; The Bolands and The Stokers.              Three owners in total since 1792!

I wanted to take a photo of the front of the house, but since there was a car in the garden and house windows open, I decided to knock and ask for permission.

Well…, you heard me say it before…. My Camera Opens Doors! Not alone was I given permission to take photos of the exterior but invited in and allowed to wander at my own pace and take photos indoors too.  The wonderful young lady and daughter of the household was busy with the vacuum before a ‘viewer’ was due to arrive an hour later.

The young lady had returned to Ireland in the last year and was preparing for the closure and sale of the old family home, not an easy task, so I was careful to protect her privacy.

My new found friend appeared from time to time to make sure I had gone to the top floor or down to the basement….

To the basement kitchen where the Russian Crown Jewels had been hidden  (You need to scroll well down in that link to Time in Ireland). This was during residency of the Boland family.

I wonder where they kept them?

The First residents of 15 Marino Crescent, Clontarf, were Abraham Stoker a civil servant from Dublin, and his wife Charlotte, a charity worker and writer. They had seven children. Abraham and Charlotte were members of the Church of Ireland Parish of Clontarf and attended the parish church with their children, who were baptised there.

The church can be seen to the left in the view from the main bedroom window.

Abraham (Bram) Stoker was the third child, born November 8, 1847.  He was bed-ridden until he started school at the age of seven, when he made a complete recovery. Growing up his mother told him a lot of horror stories which may have influenced his later writings.

In 1864 Stoker entered Trinity College Dublin. While attending college he began working as an Irish civil servant. He also worked part time as a free lance journalist and drama critic. In 1876 he met Henry Irving, a famous actor, and they soon became friends. Not long after that, Stoker met and fell in love with an aspiring actress named Florence Balcombe.  He didn’t travel far to find her. She was a daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel James Balcombe of 1 Marino Crescent.

You can see No. 1 at the end of the row on the right.

We remember him for a different reason, but I saw no signs of Counts, Castles or indeed of DRACULA!

The little park in front of the Crescent is now known as Bram Stoker Park. The year 2012 marks the centenary of the death of Bram Stoker. He died in London on 20 April 1912. Several events are being planned in the year ahead.

The young lady of the house lives in hopes that the Bram Stoker Society, who have shown interest in the house, will find the funds to purchase it, and sympathetically restore it into a Museum.

*Bram Stoker, Chapter 2, Dracula

“Can you see what I see?” Asked Elly as we walked along the Canal Quay.

I followed her line of sight but couldn’t quite make out what I was looking at. The dull February afternoon fading to dusk was not much help.  Moving a little and hitting Zoom on the camera, the view became clearer.

Our time together for the day was running out and she Nurse Hitler still had a chore to complete, so my poor son-in-law was told to escort me across the bridge and along the other side of the quay.  Does she think I have money in my mattress…. or lost my marbles?

No plaque to say who the sculptor was or why and when they were placed on that spot. I searched the internet for information about these Cranes beside the Buttercrane Centre in Newry. Alas, for once I found zilch!

The day Nancy came to Town was originally posted as a free online Podcast. It has since expired and been deleted.  Today I reproduce it in Text form.

#~#~#

The long hand had not reached the half hour when the phone began to chirp. Sitting up in bed with the remains of the breakfast tray on my lap I gave the clock a glance as my hand reached for the phone. Who on earth was phoning me before 8.30 am?

“Marie.  We have decided to come up to Belfast for the day. We want to bring Nancy and show her the Crown. Come in to meet us!  Now I must hurry the train leaves at nine.” With that the call was over and I was left listening to the dial tone.

It was a typical call from Mo. She would suddenly decide to do something and immediately it was set in stone.  It would HAPPEN, simply because she decided so. She never thought to ask if her ideas or arrangements suited anyone else.

Mo was cutting it fine, she and the girls had a local train to catch to take them to Amiens Street Station, in Dublin where they would change platforms for the train to Belfast.

I hi-tailed it into the shower, and was soon dressed with the hair and face ready to meet the queen. Thankfully it was a rest day for me. The days before and after were full and busy.  A day out would do me good.

As I parked my car in the car park at Central Station I saw the Dublin Express train draw up to the platform and stop.  I walked between the cars to the building and jumped on the escalator to the arrivals concourse.  The girls were just coming through the barrier when I got there.

We hugged and I welcomed Nancy to Belfast, it was her first visit.  Mo and her sister, I met regularly on visits to Dublin, but Nancy was a different story. I had known about her for nearly forty years, but we had not met in almost half that time.

Nancy lived in Pennsylvania and now she was here on my patch, it was going to be a fun day. At the time there was a little shuttle bus that ran between the bus and train stations. It was a circular route and for passengers who already had a bus or train ticket the  journey was free. I thought it would be a good idea to use that bus as I could draw Nancy’s attention to some interesting places on the way.

We hopped off at the Europa Hotel in Great Victoria Street, and headed across the road to have lunch in the  Crown Bar. I had great fun telling the girls the story of the Crown. Nancy loved it and I had her in tears of laughter before we even crossed the threshold.

Front Entrance to Crown Bar

The Crown dates back to 1826, the year the first train ran from Belfast to Lisburn. At that time it was known as the Railway Tavern and Felix O’Hanlon was the owner; he sold it to Michael Flanagan, but it was Michael’s son, Patrick, who was destined to make it famous.

Patrick, a Catholic man married a Protestant woman, she wanted the pub to be named after the Queen of England.  This worried Patrick and he asked for time to think about it. After a couple of days he told his wife that she could have her wish. The name The Crown Liqour Saloon was put over the door. The entrance way was tiled and a mosaic pattern that included a crown design was set into the ground. The good lady was delighted, but the dear man did not enlighten his wife of the real reason for the tiles. No. He would not tell her how much he would enjoy the punters walking on the crown as they entered to buy a drink.

A well faded crown at the front door

I think I told a story for each of the twenty years since last we met. Many a time I had to stop to let Nancy catch the tears running down her face. I had tales of family and friends and of many local characters.  Some were sad, but most had a happy ending.

We enjoyed our lunch, the craic and the laughter.  All to soon it was time to cross the street and climb aboard the little bus and return to Central Station.  As we were trundling along High Street, a little white van cut in front of the bus actually hitting it as it changed lanes.  The driver had to stop, but the van driver drove away, which was a Road Traffic Offence – leaving the scene of an accident.  Our driver had to wait for the Police.  I moved forward and spoke to the driver telling him we were going to catch the Dublin train. He stopped another bus going that direction and we were transferred across to it.  He also phoned ahead and had the train delayed for us.

I saw the girls back to the barrier and waited until the train set out on the tracks for Dublin.  I don’t think Nancy will ever forget her visit to Belfast.

The bar shortly after opening time in the morning.

The Crown Bar is now owned by the National Trust and has been carefully refurbished. There are ten booths, or snugs. They were built to accommodate the pub’s more reserved customers during the Victorian period, the snugs feature the original gun metal plates for striking matches and an antique bell system for alerting staff. Each snug has its own door.

It is rather like stepping back in time, the dark wood with intricate attention to detail in the carvings. Gaslamps, etched and stained glass windows that feature painted shells, fairies, pineapples, fleurs-de-lis, and the mosaics that are all the genuine article.

View from inside a snug.

The day this last photo was taken, I had a couple of American visitors with me. The gentleman was enjoying a quiet pint while reading notes, he told me that he was fascinated with my stories and detail about the place. He had no problem with me taking the photo and was very pleasant to talk to.

My photos are a mixed bunch taken on different visits and not the best quality. They all pre-date the refurbishment. I think I need to revisit.