IT’S a cold, crisp day Wednesday afternoon and a garage to the rear of a house in Lismonaghan hums with activity.
Stone sculptor Redmond Herrity’s workshop has a large and airy feel but with six pieces to get ready for shipment he has little time to engage in idle chat.
On Tuesday next, Redmond’s work will go on public display at the London Art Fair – the UK’s premier Modern British and contemporary art Fair and all pieces were due to be dispatched on Thursday last.
Redmond, a self taught stone sculptor, has travelled extensively creating private and public commissions throughout Ireland and abroad. He has been given many awards in Ireland including ‘Sculptor of the Year’ in 2009 by the Royal Hibernian Academy.
A full-time Product Design student at Letterkenny Institute of Technology, Redmond (41) will also exhibit his pieces at the RHA 1916 Exhibition in Dublin in March.
Redmond’s collection of ‘recycled’ pieces are on permanent exhibit to the Artcatto Gallery in Loule, Algarve, Portugal. That series consists of bottles and cans, a dented milk carton, a discarded olive-oil bottle. They freeze forever in marble momentary shapes of what are literally throwaway objects.
That discarded olive-oil bottle together with two pieces he calls ‘Under Cover 5’ and ‘The Unveiling’ will be among his work which will be on show in London next week.
“The last few years I’ve become known for doing the re-cycle stuff so both the olive-oil bottle and a really large ring pull, which is currently on exhibition at the RSA in Belfast, and both made from Donegal granite will be going to London,” he said.
‘Under Cover 5’ is cut from Black Kilkenny Limestone while ‘The Unveiling’ has been crafted from Carrara marble.
“It’s a fairly controversial piece (Under Cover 5) as it could possibly be seen as the man behind the mask at the 1916 Exhibition in Dublin but in London people will get a different slant on it,” he said.
Two years have passed since he closed the door at his studio in Lismonaghan and returned to full-time education.
“I’m doing my best to keep my name out there. Anyone else would probably have admitted defeat at this stage and given up but it’s a labour of love. I would love to get back to the dust eventually but education is easily carried so, in the meantime, I’m learning more about this business from a different perspective,” he said.
This is the tenth year Redmond has been asked to exhibit at the Royal Hibernian Academy which, in itself, is a massive achievement.
“When you do allow yourself to take a step back I’m starting to see that I haven’t done too bad I suppose,” he said.
Apart from the permanent exhibit to the Artcatto Gallery in Loule, Algarve, Portugal, Redmond’s work is also on display in Sweden and Italy. Closer to home, he has exhibitions at Ballymaloe Country House, Shanagarry, Midleton, County Cork in the summer while his work was also be shown at the RHA show in Dublin, the Royal Ulster Academy show in Belfast, the Kilkenny Arts Festival and Dublin’s Botanic Garden.