Sally McKenna - Seasonal Message 2003


		Nature's Seasons \| Winter Solstice 2001 \| Summer Solstice 2002 \| The Way Home \| Equinox 2008 \| Sculpture Officially Unveiled and Blessed: The unveiling of the new sculpture monument for Kiltimagh , county Mayo titled "The Way Home" was attended by over two hundred interested townspeople and friends of the Arts on June 23rd 2003. The Wetlands Park on the Swinford Road in Kiltimagh is the new home of the twenty foot sculpture installation. The five part sculpture tells a story from the folk history of Kiltimagh and illustrates the drama of the catching of salmon by the illegal gaff and spear on winter nights in the early 1900's. The six foot salmon is the hero of the piece. He is constructed of sheet steel and copper and encrusted with over 2500 old Irish coins. These coins were all given to me by the people of Kiltimagh and is a symbol of all of their labours. Each coin was soldered on to the copper skin. The result is a shimmering magical coat for this Salmon of Knowledge. In this story the salmon leaps through the instruments of his destruction. I attempted to give the tools a mythic quality by enlarging their size and casting them in glowing bronze . They are dramatic against the sky, with the sod of turf held twelve feet aloft above the ground. The sod is made of layered copper and the fused silver and gold in the glass catch the sun during the day. It is an abstraction of the process of fire devouring the turf and many colours are seen when looking up at the glass. At night it glows softly with solar lights from the interior. The journey of this salmon represents the journey of all who had to leave Kiltimagh due to hard times and is dedicated "In Honour of Our Ancestors. The anchor of the story/installation is the four foot pheasant cast in bronze who stands at the head of the line facing toward the salmon but looking back to keep silent watch. He is a symbol of all those who stayed behind and kept the home fires burning as they fought for freedom and created the Irish Nation. Without the pheasant, standing proudly on his land, there would be nothing to return to. He is our stability and strength while the salmon is the journeying wanderer, who swims into the unknown every season and may or may not return to spawn again. They both have survived in their own way to walk and swim into the millennium.