July 11- My Adventure With Kevin O’Dwyer

In one of my Spain posts, I mentioned a sculpture park that is going to be built in Lincoln. Kevin O’Dwyer is a metalwork artist from Ireland who’s helping head the project, and I met him briefly at a community meeting in Lincoln several weeks ago. Just recently, my Grandma Sylvia told him about my SAS voyage and that I would be in Ireland from July 10^th to the 13^th. Kevin said he would be more than willing to show me around his hometown if I took a train out from Dublin to visit him.

So today I did just that! I caught the first shuttle into Dublin, hopped on a train, and rode out into a small, Irish town called Tullamore. Kevin then picked me up at the train station and took me out for an amazing day in the countryside. We went to a lot of great places and saw a lot of amazing things in the few hours we had together. I learned an incredible amount of information, but for time’s sake I’ll have to just briefly cover what we did. First, he took me to an old church in Durrow that is currently been renovated. He told me the history of the area and showed me this big, beautiful stone cross that’s some hundreds years old.

On our way to our next destination, Kevin pulled over so I could take some pictures of this Whiskey Distillery. 

Then he took me to a little interpretive center that explained the history of Ireland’s boggy swampland. The peat found there has been a huge part of this area’s economy for the past century and remains so even today.

We then went to St. Manchan’s Church where Kevin showed me St. Manchan’s Shrine. It’s an old Irish artifact that Kevin himself did research on not too long ago. He gave me several booklets and brochures on the shrine, so I thought I’d share this information with you:

“St. Manchan’s Shrine, Ireland’s finest twelfth century reliquary was commissioned by Turlough O’Connor, High Kind of Ireland (1111-1151), for the monastery of Lemanaghan, and was produced in the workshops along the River Shannon under the supervision of the Abbot of Clonmacnoise, Domnall O’Duffy The gable shaped shrine was made of yew wood and covered in a bronze and enameled surface decoration. The imagery incorporates insular Irish, Hiberno-Urnes and Romanesque Christian art styles and is a unique study of 300 years of Irish metalwork and Christian art history. The 50 bronze figures attached to the shrine during the latter half of the 12^th century heralded a change not only of a unique Irish Christian art style but of a church which comes under the rue of Rome. Of the 50 figures originally attached to the shrine only 11 figures remain intact. The Shrine has remained in the Boher Community of County Offaly for over 900 years and is an important spiritual link to the memory of St. Manchan, who died during the great plague of 664 AD. Archaeologists TD Kendrick described the shrine as a ‘rich and dazzling Celtic bewilderment, a perpetual challenge to the eyes and a perpetual delight.’

“For over 30 years Kevin O’Dwyer’s artwork has explored the subtleties of ritual and imagination using Irish prehistoric art, bronze-age artefacts, early monastic metalwork, 20^th century design and architecture as his creative influences. O’Dwyer’s presentation explores the Shrines link to the 8^th and 9^th century Irish metalwork, the cross cultural exchange between the Irish and the Norse communities that lead to the development of the unique Hiberno/Urnes style and the demise of the Irish Christian art style, during the 12^th century when the monasteries came under the rule of Rome.”

Looking at and learning about this object was probably the highlight of my day. Having researched it himself, Kevin was very knowledgeable and passionate about the shrine. He explained to me much of what you just read above, but he also pointed out many of the small details in the metalwork. He showed me the different components of the shrine and when each part was made. I think it’s incredible that this one box consists of the different metalwork from the Irish, the Norwegian Vikings, and the Roman Christians. It related really well with the material I’ve been learning about in Foundational Religions and Architectural history. Coincidentally enough, I have to write a paper on a religious object for my Foundational Religions class, and now I think I will probably do it on St. Manchan’s Shrine.

We then head to the Clonmacnoise Monastic site. We first went to the ruins of the nun’s church, and then headed over to the main grounds. The ruins on and around Clonmacnoise were absolutely beautiful. The area also had an interpretive center that we went in and explored. They showed a really interesting documentary explaining the history of the area and of Clonmacnoise’s patron saint, St. Ciaran. You can read more about it here:

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/ireland/clonmacnoise

After that, we finally made it to the Lough Boora’s Sculpture in the Parklands. About 12 years ago, Kevin directed and helped create this project which later inspired our very own sculpture park being built in Lincoln, MT. You can learn more about the Sculpture in the Parklands here:

http://www.loughbooraparklands.com/sculpture

http://www.sculptureintheparklands.com/

Basically the whole idea of the park was to transform this big open area that used to be an industrial peat field into a place that the public could enjoy. With the help of other artists, Kevin designed several large, modern sculptures that incorporate the area’s history of the peat industry.

The park was incredible to say the least. It was so great to be able to have my own personal tour of the park by the very guy who directed the project himself. He was able to explain how the artist designed and created each sculpture. He was also able to tell me the idea behind each one and what the sculptures represented. Seeing the park made me very excited for our own sculpture park in Lincoln. Kevin and other artists are going to begin their work in Lincoln this fall on September 15. They plan to be there for about three weeks, and I definitely know I’ll be coming home to visit during that time.

After we toured the park, Kevin took me to his home to meet his wife Adele. They were both so kind and friendly. Adele made me a delicious noodle salad for dinner with some brown bread and oatcakes. I told them both about my trip and about my life growing up in Lincoln. Adele is a music teacher, and they were having a small performance at their house tonight, so I was able to watch Adele’s students rehearse the songs they were going to perform for their parents. Watching these young children play their instruments was amazing! It definitely gave me the motivation to at least try to learn how to play the guitar when I come home. Being able to watch their performance even though it was just a rehearsal was a great experience. I really enjoyed listening to their beautiful music.

Unfortunately, Kevin had to take me back to the train station so I could catch the 6:45 time back to Dublin. I can’t thank him or Adele enough for having me. I’m really glad I was able to leave the city for a while and see some of the Irish countryside. I’m so happy that I took the time to make this trip, and today was one of the best days I’ve had on my voyage so far. There’s something really special about being shown around an area by a local. I would not have been able to do or see any of these things without Kevin’s hospitality, and I really appreciate him taking the time to host me for the day.

After an hour train ride, I made it back to Dublin. I tiredly went got to the bus stop and took the shuttle back to the ship. I ended the full day by having a really long, nice conversation with my friend Austin, and now I’m off to bed.