Word-Tree Arts Participation sculpture commission for Sancta Maria Secondary School Louisburgh, Co Mayo
Project Curation:Taylor Architects Casltebar.
Funded by: Dept of Education Percent for Art.
Year: 2020
Word-Tree was commissioned by Sancta Maria secondary School Louisburgh, Co Mayo via the percent for art scheme (Dept of Education) and completed in March 2020. The project consists of two parts; an outdoor, permanent sculpture, the Word-Tree and an internal exhibition of aerial landscape images. Encompassing ideas about student life, friendship, place, and the timbre of school life it connects these elements together in a sculptural form.This socially engaged multi-level collaborative public art project was created by Visual Artist/Sculptor Cathal Mc Carthy in collaboration with Sancta Maria Transition Year Students, and invited artists Poet Jean Tuomey and Graphic Artist Frank O Reilly. via creative writing workshops, art workshops, site visits and artist/student meetings. The students were given full editorial authority on the final shape of the work.
The sculpture was commissioned for the new school building designed by Taylor Mc Carney Architects Castlebar. creative writing workshops, art workshops, site visits and artist/student meetings. The students were given full editorial authority on the final shape of the work. Mc Carthys practice often involves social aspects where he provides frameworks for meaningful socially engaged participation. He creates multi-disciplinary platforms using source material that animate the creative spark of the participants. Works are manifested with collaborative process and dive in practice.
The external sculpture which reads as a poem was fabricated into a tree like form of mirror polished stainless steel composed of 273 individual letters. To create the text for the Word-Tree sculpture and photographic installation Our Place the students worked over a year via creative writing workshops, art workshops, site visits and artist/student meetings. The students were given full editorial authority on the final shape of the work. The writing process was facilitated by Creative Writer/Poet Jean Tuomey. Powerfully written by the TY students it encompasses relevant themes about place, location, and school life, the final line of the poem reads “Our grades do not define us.”