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SHE’S WHITE AND half dressed, reclining on a rock, and you can see her in many windows across Dublin.
She’s the Lady on the Rock, a familiar sight in homes around the capital. Art teacher Linda Keegan from St Michael’s Holy Faith School in Finglas was fascinated with the statue, but knew next to nothing about her.
So with her fifth year art class, she set about to discover her history, and re-imagine the statue at the same time.
Where it all began
“I was looking at these things in the windows and thinking’ what’s the attraction, I don’t really get it’,” she said. “I’ve a really good bunch of fifth years and I was thinking if I could get hold of some of these, maybe I could get the girls to do something with them.”
She contacted axis: Ballymun and secured exhibition space, and then set about researching the Lady on the Rock with her students.
Once they had permission from the principal of the school to buy some of the statues, they could really get stuck in.
They delved into the history of the Lady on the Rock, to find out were the rumours true.
“I thought these were imported from China, mass-produced stuff you could get for a few quid in a Eurostores,” said Keegan. “It’s quite a unique little thing. It’s very Dublin.”
A documentary by Jessie Ward O’Sullivan was one of the first places they went to, which is how Linda realised that the clay to make them came from RPM, which supplies the school with clay.
Keegan learned from Vincent Doran, who makes the statues, that 25 years ago, a man called Harold Gardiner made the first Lady on the Rock out of clay. He was an artist and a number of visitors to his studio said they liked the look of the statue, so he began making more.
He didn’t know how to make a mould, so he contacted Edward Loughman of RPM, who showed him how to make a split mould.
After Gardiner passed away, his widow contacted Loughman to have a look at the workshop, said Keegan, and he took the mould back. Vincent Doran saw the mould, bought it from him, and began making the Lady on the Rock into the phenomenon she is today.
They’re for sale these days at Dublin Mouldings on Parnell St.
The class spent about four weeks on and off working on the project.
The statues are meant to be put in every front facing window, and though there are many myths out there about them, Keegan and her students discovered the real story.
But they didn’t stop there – the pupils gave their statues their own back stories.
One of the ladies was re-imagined as Icarus’s sister, who learned from her brother and father’s failings and crafted her own wings.
Another saw the lady transformed into a mermaid, who was captured by a ‘mermologist’ who used her as an exhibit.
“They loved doing it – some of them really went to town on it,” said Keegan of her students’ work. “They are a particularly talented bunch.”
How has the project changed how she sees the Lady on the Rock?
“I no longer think of her as this bland white statue – I now see her as a woman with tremendous potential and possibility, just like the girls.”
The exhibition will open at axis: Ballymun on 11 March. The students are still searching for Harold Gardiner’s family members – if anyone has information, contact aoife@thejournal.ie.
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Angela Kerins, the reason I no longer donate money to charity.
@David Oppenshore: Well said sir. Money only going to pay CEO salary and outrageous expenses.
No charity, sporting or other such organisation should be given public money unless they first waive any ‘rights’ to protect themselves from public scrutiny of their finances. They can carry on freely without that money if they chose. Take it or leave it.
@Sega Yolo: totally agree
@Sega Yolo: perfectly said.
Imagine that. Kerins took home a ludicrous salary whilst miserably mismanaging the running of a charity and somehow is managing to outdo herself and create a lasting damage on the public’s ability to hold future disasters to account…
Just when you think you know the limits of someone’s toxicity to society, she goes and out does herself once more without even being in the room.
The Irish charity industry is destroyed by the greed of the few!
Vote with your feet,
Don’t give a penny to them!
@Niall Power: will never give a penny to any charity that pays their CEO and subordinates excessive salaries.
The pac committee full of incompetent politicians is not fit for purpose. The questioning of the fai officials the other day was very weak, pure amateurish, they really didn’t know their brief, what questions to ask.
@Adrian: they could have asked what day it was and still not received a straight answer.
@Dave O’Keeffe: they’re not legal experts, they were afraid to ask the questions the other day because of the potential legal repercussions, hence the farce that it was. They need legal experts on those committees, they should be able to come to some arrangement without turning them into tribunals. A bunch of incompetent politicians protecting their own interests, paying themselves 15k fees while asking stupid questions like “how many bank accounts do you have?”, turns the whole process into a joke and achieves nothing.
@Adrian: the questions were 100%. The problem was the FAI officials refused to answer. Nothing the pac can do about that.
@Adrian: They were told what they could ask “legally”. The law seems to protect the wealthy wrongdoers.
People in high positions have to be held accountable in public. However I struggle with the idea of giving the likes of Ruth Coppinger and others the power to carry out public investigations and give them compellabilty. If that became the case I could see people’s good name and reputation coming second to political point scoring.
Totally irrelevant nothing to do with FAI. The FAI is not a charity – it is a business and why they kept quoting the Kerins case is s mystery to me.
Looking at some of the motley members of various committees one would have to be dubious. Some are up to the task but many others fail miserably. Some are rude, arrogant, ill-informed and totally oblivious to their briefs. If they are that determined to cross the line then they should be open to full retribution in the courts. The verdict in the Angela Kearns case was spot on!!
@Chris Gaffney: I don’t know about that, why should good TDs and Senators who ask the difficult questions be muzzled by a ruling like that? I do get that there are some clowns on these committees, and they say things for headlines and there 30 seconds on sixone so the voters back home can see them sticking up to the dubs, but the real nature of these committees should be open, honest and sometimes difficult conversations with people like Delaney.
Lawmakers unhappy that the have to work within the law, my heart goes out to them.
Even if there was no Kerins ruling the public voted to reduce the powers of the committee so they are limited from the offset .
Kerins is looking for and going to get a multi million damages award for her suffering at PAC ..this is the biggest joke of all.
Delaney puffed and bluffed and ran circles round the PAC the Kearins judgment rules thst the PAC cannor go outside its remit or in other words tits terms of reference. Once the PAC keep within its remit lile asking questions on the €1000 loan then it would not fall foul on the Supreme Courts judgement.
Who can afford to bring a case to the High Court or Supreme Court ?
The Courts and Judges are only there to interpret the Law and ensure it is upheld. They do no make law.
If the PAC feel that the ‘Laws’ of our land are not sufficient, then it is up to them as legislators to change the ‘Laws’, so that their tongues are not tied when questioning individuals and agencies about their conduct. They have no one to blame but themselves for the situation the PAC finds themselves in.
1/ The Kerins issue is not case law yet, is awaiting determination on appeal, & is not relevant. Mr. D used the pending determination to ward off awkward questions, left them hanging out there, & thereby damaged his public standing.
2/ The committee did not need to subject anyone, including Mr. Delaney, to interrogation on their income or expenses, & just stay on track about the application of public funds & FAI corporate management. The investigative journalists have put these questions out, the public are expecting the FAI to provide the answers.
3/ Sport Ireland can with hold funding, insist on a forensic audit of the FAI accounts for the years when public funding was drawn down, & require appropriate governance structures, in accordance with the separate reviews already commissioned.
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