Public Art Commission: Irishtown
Mayo County Council is delighted to announce Noah Rose as the successful artist for the Public Art Commission in Irishtown village. Mayo County Council’s Arts Service collaborated closely with Irishtown Community Development Ltd. to development this exciting opportunity for an artist to work in a historic village with a strong community spirit. Noah commented on the project;
"I’m delighted to have been selected for the Irishtown public art commission. I am fascinated by the relationship between historical events and the marks they leave on the land - so I'm excited to be working in this fascinating location with its unique historical significance as the Cradle of the Land League. I’m looking forward to meeting and working with the community over the coming months, researching historical material and developing new sculptural work that is unique to Irishtown."
Artist Update: Saturday 13th May 2023, 2-4pm
The artist Noah Rose gave an update on the public sculpture project for Irishtown due to be installed this Autumn to members of the community on Saturday 13th May. There was a great turn out of up to forty members of the local community. Noah has been researching aspects of the history of Irishtown in the County Mayo Libraries archives and is focusing on Irishtown’s historical importance as ‘the Cradle of the Land League’, especially on the rally of 1879 attended by 10,000 people - the first of several ‘Monster Meetings’ across the West of Ireland that led to the formation first of the Mayo Land League and then the National Land League, laying the ground for Irish independence. Noah presented sketches, visualisations and examples of other work he has made for previous commissions. There was an opportunity to see some of the research, including selected newspaper articles and illustrations from 1879-90 from the Connaught Tribune, Irish Times, Mayo Examiner and other newspapers and journals. After Noah's presentation there was walk of the the proposed locations of the Irishtown artworks.
Local teacher Clare Morley organised an art competition for the pupils of Irishtown National School with a local history theme. The pupils artwork was on display at the event. Prizes were given to the winning artists.
About the artist
Noah Rose is an artist based in Headford, County Galway and working internationally. He specialises in creating sculptural work for public space, always developed in response to context, through original research, and often incorporating community engaged practice. His work is fundamentally interested in investigating the nature of what defines a place, its specific qualities, within its geographical, cultural and socio-historical context. Working through a variety of media including sculpture, drawing, installation, photography and archival research, his practice is rooted in a passionate desire to understand connections between the past and present. He has undertaken a significant number of public art commissions across Ireland, the UK and internationally. Notable commissions and residencies undertaken in Mayo include: ‘Changing Tracks’ (2014), a pan-European public art programme that led to a sculptural installation along the Great Western Greenway and the Tír Sáile Research Residency (2017) in collaboration with artist Selma Makela.
This commission is part of Mayo County Council’s Public Art Programme, funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage under the Per Cent for Art Scheme. The purpose of the percent for art scheme is to commission artists to create new work.
For more information about the Public Art Programme visit: https://www.mayo.ie/arts/public-art.
For more information about this project contact Aoife O’Toole, Acting Public Art Coordinator, Mayo Arts Service, Mayo County Council: aotoole@mayococo.ie; 094 9064376.