Aos Dara Symposium 2022

I went down to Tomnafinnoge Wood, near Tinahely, Co Wicklow, in order to check out the sculptures that formed this year’s contribution to the forest art trail, after the third Aos Dara symposium ended. The four artists who created work on the symposium this year were James Hayes, Niall O'Neill, Dave Kinane and Sarah Kineen. The project was facilitated by the Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely. Hayes, O'Neill and Kinane have all participated in the two previous symposia. I wrote about the first Aos Dara Symposium in 2019 in a Circa Online short review here, and I blogged about the second symposium (during lockdown in 2020) in which I participated here, here and here.

It was great to see the work, which you first happen upon from the path, 

and then, curious, you can explore with a closer view. This is a piece carved by James Hayes.

Again, visible from the path the piece by Niall O'Neill invites you to take a closer look.

O'Neill decided to continue working on his very large and intricate tree carving from the first symposium. It must be noted here that the artists could only use fallen material and hand tools for carving.

Although Dave Kinane's piece was originally created in a glade off a walking trail, he moved it across the river into another open glade. It can be seen from the path

but any desire for a closer look is still met by a rushing body of water. However, it is highly visible from the path in a number of places.

It is helpful that each work is signposted on the trail. Sarah Kineen's work appears at first to be a jumble of small sticks as if in preparation for a bonfire.

Closer inspection reveals a lovingly woven container of golden leaves that Kineen had gathered from the forest floor.

May future symposia leave further artworks for the enjoyment of walkers (or runners!) in this gorgeous forest. While I was there I had a chance to see a piece from the first symposium, still holding its own with added moss and mushrooms several years later.

Tomnafinnoge Sculpture Symposium

I visited Tomnafinnoge Wood last week, on the last day of a sculpture symposium. Five sculptors had been working in the woods, in mostly fine weather, for the past ten days. From  left to right they are Con Gent, Niall O'Neill, Dave Kinane, Róisín Flood and James Hayes.

Niall O'Neill was busy at work on an enormous piece of fallen oak. The sculptors could only use hand tools in the forest, and could not damage living trees.

A local child enjoyed assisting Niall in brushing wood dust from the carving.

Con Gent carved an abstract face into one end of a large branching tree limb and the final touch was to stand it up as a tripod.

It appeared to be almost walking, spider-like through the woods.

Dave Kinane’s constructed sculpture was the culmination of ten days of measuring, hand-drilling holes, and carving custom dowels to put together numerous saplings into a curving, open-mesh structure.

Kinane's piece has an Irish title which tranlates to "The Sanctuary of the Hooded Crow". The sculpture is open-ended and may very well provide sanctuary to birds and other fauna in need.

Róisín Flood’s work also required calculated thought and meticulous awareness as she wove together branches into a curved structure, which will eventually disappear into the woods.

When I visited, Flood was applying finishing touches of ferns and moss in the hopes that animals may build comfortable homes within her piece.

In addition to O’Neill and Gent, James Hayes was also woodcarving. He carved two blocky caryatid figures into short columns and they seemed to provide a portal into a glade.

The figures. male and female, represent a duality within nature, both benign and malign in its disinterest.

 The carvings are roughly chiselled and appear both ancient and contemporary.

The concern for the environment and importance of craftsmanship was obvious in the work of the five artists on the symposium. Both local artists and the general community are hoping that this wood symposium will become a regular event.