Sculpture in the Parklands

where art and nature meet…

 Lough Boora International Sculpture Symposium

Aims

• Create a series of land and environmental

artworks using the natural and industrial
materials associated with the working of
the peatlands.

• Highlight Lough Boora Parklands as a

creative resource of national significance.

• Build an awareness of the arts within the

community, educational institutions, and
business community through public interaction
and participation.
Collaboration between Bord na Mona and Artists
Mike Bulfin

Sky Train
Naomi Seki

Boora Stacks

A Tree in a Sculpture
Eileen MacDonagh

Boora Pyramid
Jorn Ronnau

Boora Triangle
Maurice MacDonagh

Raised Line
Kevin O’Dwyer

60 Degrees
 James Fraher

Symposium Photographer
Business2Arts Award 2003
 Sculpture in the Parklands

To inspire artists to create artworks in response

to the unique landscape and industrial heritage
of the cutaway bogs and to build an awarenessof the
arts within the community through public
participation and interaction.

• Permanent work

• Time based work

• Commitment to commissioning video artist, composers,

choreographers, writers and performance artists to interpet
and document this unique landscape, folklore and industrial history
Johan Sietzema

Bog Wood Road

Marianne Jorgensen

Happiness
Caroline Madden

Cycles
 David Kinane

Boora Convergence
Caelan Bristow

Visitor’s Pavilion
 2007 Commissions

Film Grace Weir

Music Adele O’Dwyer

Installation Martina Galvin

Martina Galvin

Earth + Sky
 Patrick Dougherty

International Peat Congress

Artist in Residence
Schools Programme

• 16 Local primary Schools

• 500 students

• Sculpture Park tour

• Patrick Dougherty

• Making session
Kevin O’Dwyer

Tippler Bridge
Alan Counihan

Passage
Julian Wild

System #30
 Community Integration
•Access to large-scale contemporary works
of art which respond to their living and
working environment

• Artists work on site

• Artists live within the community

• Bord na Mona work force involved in the

making process

•Access to artists on a daily basis

• Education programme

• Income into the Community

• No vandalism of the artwork

 Unique Visitor Experience

Sculpture+ Landscape+Nature+Human experience

• Multi-sensory nature

• Open access- wheel chair access

• Opportunity to interact with art and nature in a

relaxed environment

• Free from institutional structure of museum or gallery

• Please touch -Encouraged to experience tactile qualities of sculpture

• Seasonal changes - heightens visitors experience

Sculpture and landscape creates a unique
experience that cannot be duplicated in a
gallery or museum.

When you put sculpture in the open

air……everything around it changes!
By the second, by the minute.

The complementing forces of art and

nature matched with freedom
and trust.

Perceptual playground- a place to enjoy

and be yourself, offering
an environment for personal learning.

Experiencing art in nature is more

relaxed because nature belongs to
everyone.
Future Development

• Collaborative project with University

College Dublin

• Development of education programme

• Artist in residency programme

• Development of infrastructure around

the Parklands

• Cultural tourism opportunities

• Land Art symposium in 2011

• Book publication 2012