AGNES CONWAY
SCULPTOR

 

Lost Sailors

At one time I walked almost every day on Killiney beach, and I'd occasionally find pieces of driftwood with vaguely human qualities. I played with the idea that each had been shaped over time by the spirit of someone lost at sea, now clinging to the driftwood in the hope that he might be carried back to land and human companionship.

With each piece of driftwood that I found I'd imagine a sailor who had shaped it, his memories slipping away as he gradually detached from his final physical connection. Poems describing those memories grew in number as I found more driftwood over the years, and I considered making shrines to hold the pieces of driftwood, just as devout medieval craftsmen made reliquaries to hold tiny pieces of the True Cross, a finger-bone of a saint, a feather from the Angel Gabriel's wing.

The project comprises reliquary pillars, mourning figures, portrait prints of the sailors, and a diary of the monument-maker.  The diary is not autobiographical.

Music by Cathy Davey & Neil Hannon

Shown in The National Maritime Museum Dublin, 4th - 30th July 2012

Sponsored by Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council

 

Dreaming About The Celestial Mountain

This work is currently under construction in Marlay Park, Dundrum.

Some years ago I came across a reference to The Celestial Mountain. I was convinced from the name that this must be a magical, wonderful place, and I spent a long time trying to locate it on maps. As I was unable to find it, it acquired mythic proportions for me. I know now that it's more commonly known by its Chinese name Tian Shan (The Mountains of Heaven).

Dreaming about The Celestial Mountain is about journeys that will never be made except in the imagination.

The path to the summit winds around the hill, forming a labyrinth.  A poem is inscribed on steps to the central plateau, describing the rituals required when preparing for the journey.

 

Theatre

A large scale sculptural group consisting of 6 "Performers" and 7 "Audience", each cast in granite and measuring up to 7ft in height.  It is sited in Cabinteely Park, Dublin.

Theatre represents an aspiration to a more ideal world where the ability to recognize and accept the evils and flaws in human nature allows one to move forward without being changed or scarred by them.

Theatre is divided into two parts; Performers and Audience. The Performers (masks set on pillars) represent various human vices such as malice, greed, violence, while the audience holds itself apart from them.

 

 

AGNES CONWAY

Agnes Conway was born in Newcastle West, Co Limerick.   After studying sculpture in NCAD, Dublin, she taught for Dublin VEC, NCAD, and Bray VEC. 

In 2000 she gave up teaching to work full-time at sculpture.  



Exhibited: RHA and Sculpture in Context 

 Published: Hennessy Book of Irish Fiction

 

info at agnesconway.com