Cushendun Commemorative Stone

(A homage to the Glen and John Hewitt) I was invited by the Cushendun Community Association to create an artwork to Commemorate various institutions within Cushendun, including the Primary School, GAA Club, and Church of Ireland. The resulting artwork was created from a local granite known as Cusleeke Granite, which was supplied by the National Trust. The artwork refers to the context of Glendun, and it’s flora and fauna. The imagery also reflects on a poem about the River Dun by John Hewitt. His Poem was also shot-blast into the surface of the stone. I wanted to create an artwork in keeping with the natural environment and that would fit into the beautiful location. I did not want my work to compete with the view, but instead that could be discovered by curious visitors and tourists, like a kind of ‘gem’,and it was my intention that people could come across the artwork in an intimate way and find the imagery and poem by surprise.For this reason I intentionally selected a natural looking rock and shot-blast imagery into it’s surface like a rock encrusted with fossil animals, birds, flowers and plants all to be found on close inspection, as one would find plants and animals within the locality itself! On further inspection the viewer would realize that the artwork was is a simple representation of the adjacent river and harbor location itself.The Artwork and its production was supported by: The estate of John Hewitt, Awards For All - (ACNI), The National Trust, and Cathal Newcomb Junior.