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Artefact

River Garavogue, Sligo, Ireland

A site specific sculptural drawing sited permanently in the River Garavogue, Sligo, Ireland. Accompanied with a publication with an essay by Gavin Morrison (ISBN: 0 9539704 5 - 0). I was selected to undertake this major commission from an international short-list of artists in a process chaired by Catherine Marshall, Head of Collections at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. The work is a major output in my ongoing research of formal space and environment in which the primacy of drawing is a significant factor in my analytical process. In this instance a rigorous research period allowed the development of this work which aims to 'make a significant understanding of place'. The research methodology involved an exploration of line and form through a large series of drawings in tandem with prolonged analysis of potential sites within County Sligo. The scale and engineering complexity of locating this work in a river involved a close working relationship with The Department of the Marine, the Irish Government's Environmental Agency, to ensure the realisation of the project made no negative impact on the environmentally sensitive nature of the site. LINES/PLANE : LARUS/CYGNUS is perhaps unique in that it requires the interaction of two species of bird (Black Headed Gulls and Mute Swans) to signify the artwork as active. The research methodology of this work was delivered in 'Drawing Denoted Place' when I was a keynote speaker at the Defining Place Colloquium held at the Model and Niland Art Gallery in Sligo, 2002. It was also a component of my paper ' Four Sites, Four Contexts, Four Responses' delivered at the Art in the Landscape Conference; Ritual, Polemic, Speculation, organised by Glasgow School of Art at the Crichton Campus in Dumfries, Scotland in 2005.

01/01/2003