Hi Jean, Are there any photos online of this sculpture please? Kind regards, Mary ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean R." <jeanrice@cet.com> To: <IRELAND-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 12:12 PM Subject: [IRELAND] Rowan GILLESPIE's Famine Sculpture,Custom House Quay Dublin > SNIPPET: "Famine", Rowan GILLESPIE's moving sculpture in Dublin's Custom > House Quay commemorates those poor souls forced to emigrate during the > famine of the 19th century. It was bought and donated to the people of > Ireland in 1997 by Norma SMURFIT, one of Ireland's more altruistic > millionaires. The six larger-than-life figures evoke a haunted feel in > this > part of the quays, which is all the more significant as many of the > emigrants departed from this quay to Liverpool and the New World. > > Of all my 2006 Ireland vacation pictures, the ones most frequently > commented > on are the close-ups of the wretched figures. On foot, we had almost given > up on finding the sculpture when some people on the street told us to walk > on a little further, just down from the Custom House. The sculpture is > made > to represent the poor who left Ireland during the 1845 famine to find hope > elsewhere. The figures are tall and elongated - the stretch making them > thinner. There is a scrawny dog amidst them. Their gaunt faces are burned > in > my memory. These are a "must-see" for visitors. > > Rowan GILLESPIE was born in Dublin in 1953, but his family soon moved to > Cyprus where he lived until the age of ten. In 1969 he enrolled at York > School of Art and later continued his studies at Kingston College of Art > and > Kunst og Handverke Skole in Oslo. He lived and exhibited widely in Norway > before returning to Ireland in 1977. From 1978 to 1986, he had many > exhibitions in Ireland at the Lad Lane & Solomon Galleries and with the > Jonathon Poole Gallery, London. His work also travelled to exhibitions in > York, Belfast, New York, Cannes, Los Angeles and Stockholm. From 1982 he > regularly exhibited in group exhibitions, Art Fairs and Theme exhibitions > in > Ireland, France, Holland, U.S.A and England, including 'Recontre avec des > Sculpteurs Europeens', Pan Amsterdam, Royal Hibernian Academy, Art Expo, > New > York, Art Toronto, Puck, New York, B.C.A.F., I.C.A.F., London. > > In 1989 he decided to concentrate on site specific work, resulting in a > number of major public sculptures sited throughout Ireland and abroad > including The Blackrock Dolmen, The Kiss, The Age of Freedom (all in > Dublin), The Cashel Dancers (Cashel), W.B.Yeats (Sligo), The Singer > (Limerick City) and The Cycle of Life and The Minstrels in Colorado State, > USA. > > In 1994, a major solo sculpture exhibition was hosted at the Solomon > Gallery, Dublin and toured to the Galerie Husstege, Holland. GILLESPIE's > most well-known piece to date is "Famine," a commemorative group of > figures > sited on Custom House Quay in Dublin. The sculptor's work is represented > in > the collections of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National > Self-Portrait Collection, Limerick, AIB Bank, I.B.M., Office of An > Taoiseach, R.T.E. Authority Commission, Aer Lingus, Chicago Bank, Tyrone > Guthrie Centre, Ulster Bank, National Maternity Hospital and Irish > Intercontinental Bank. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IRELAND-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi Mary - If you "google" the phrase Gillespie Famine Sculpture several hits will come up including Wikipedia (the on-line free encyclopedia) which has a really nice page with biography and photos you can click on to enlarge. Perhaps other listers can come up with a website with his famine photos that are include close-ups. Others include: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/irish-sculpture/rowan-gillespie.htm And: http://www.superstock.com/stock-photography/famine. You can enlarge photos by clicking on the magnifying glass on the photos. ***An arresting memorial is the bronze sculpture of a famine ship located at the foot of Croagh Patrick, in Murrisk, Westpoint, County Mayo, unveiled by then-Irish President Mary ROBINSON in 1996. The ship's rigging is portrayed as skeletal, phantom-like, famine refugees. This sculpture was designed by Dublin-born (1938) sculptor John BEHAN. Check the Internet for photos by "googling" Behan Famine Sculpture Murrisk. Jean. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Mizzi" <mmizzi@dodo.com.au> To: <ireland@rootsweb.com>; <IRELAND-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 12:47 AM Subject: Re: [IRELAND] Rowan GILLESPIE's Famine Sculpture,Custom House Quay Dublin > Hi Jean, > Are there any photos online of this sculpture please? > Kind regards, > Mary > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jean R." <jeanrice@cet.com> > To: <IRELAND-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 12:12 PM > Subject: [IRELAND] Rowan GILLESPIE's Famine Sculpture,Custom House Quay > Dublin > > >> SNIPPET: "Famine", Rowan GILLESPIE's moving sculpture in Dublin's Custom >> House Quay commemorates those poor souls forced to emigrate during the >> famine of the 19th century. <snip>