2001
OPW COMMISSION
MARIE FOLEY IN COLLABORATION WITH THE POET PAULA MEEHAN
OPW 51-52, ST. STEPHEN’S GREEN
6 Sycamore Spades 188cm X 231cm
6 Sycamore + Porcelain Taps 21cm x 11cm
6 Yew Bowls 21cm diameter x 13cm high
The original leaseholders around St.Stephen's Green had to plant 6 Sycamore Trees and tend them for a minimum of three years. Our proposal for the Link building planned to celebrate this wonderful tradition and to sow new seeds in the minds of its audience which would grow and be fruitful
Existing in three worlds the Tree is one of the richest and most universal of symbols. It channels understanding from the watery depths up to the heavenly sphere. It is a sheltering, protecting, nourishing Great Mother and an excellent symbol for the Office of Public Works. The Sycamore is a Tree of Life.
Six is a symbol of equilibrium; harmony; the perfect number within the decad 1+2+3=6; ‘the most productive number’ according to Philo.
The spade is a hand tool. It is an instrument for opening the earth, preparing it for building, planting, making it fruitful. It celebrates the labourers and their labour…. the extraordinary in the ordinary. Humus which means soil, is the root for the word humility. It is a humble instrument, like a single word which has the potential for endless meaning. I carved the spades from Sycamore.
The Bowl is a receptacle of wisdom; knowledge, power, a protective source of regeneration. Here it acts as a repository for the past, a symbol of offering for the present and endless potential for the future. In ancient Greece hyle which carries the meaning of primordial matter literally means wood. I chose to sculpt these from Yew which is an ancient and powerful wood.
The tap represents the flow of water with form. Giving form to the formlessness of nature. It taps the civilizing marks of the city and the work of the Office of Public Works.
Paula wrote a sequence of poems which were published by Crowquill, in 2004 in a limited edition called Six Sycamores along with photographs of my installation and drawings. The poems were framed are part of the installation.
