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A GIANT ACORN will soon be installed in the grounds of Áras an Uachtaráin to commemorate the centenary of 1916.
Standing almost two metres high and three metres long, the bronze cast artwork will be placed in the woodland surrounding the President’s residence next to a new wildflower garden, and will be completed by the end of next year.
A spokesperson for the Áras said it probably wouldn’t be possible to view the piece from the wider Phoenix Park – as it would be out of the line of sight from surrounding pathways.
Artist Rachel Joynt’s proposal was selected as the winner of a competition to create a 1916 themed sculpture. A statement from President Higgins said brief was for a piece that would “inspire current and future generations to seek to realise the republican ideals proclaimed a century ago”.
Established artists like Imogen Stuart and Robert Ballagh sat on the jury that selected the eventual winner.
“Rachel’s proposal uses the symbolism of an acorn to represent the combination of individual stories and effort of men and women to imagine and forge a collective future for the Irish nation,” President Higgins’ statement said.
“The sculpture will be in bronze and will signify the promise of 1916 and of today for us to journey from seed to majestic oak. The sculpture will contain a ‘time capsule’, housing the writings of some of our youngest and oldest generations with their thoughts, ideas and wishes for Ireland.
I believe that Rachel Joynt’s project will be a fitting and lasting symbol of Ireland’s quest for self-determination and our ongoing effort to meet the aspirations of those who dreamed of a different Ireland.
Describing the artwork, Joynt said the hollow sculpture would have “a fibrous, organic textural surface and appear massive in proportion and somewhat mythically surreal, nestled comfortably in this mature woodland setting”.
“As you get closer to the sculpture the viewer will notice thousands of life-size pencils subtly integrated within the fibrous texture of the nut’s shell.
“Many pencils will have the first-name of their owner embossed in lettering on its surface. Having names of hundreds of people inscribed on 1000s of pencils suggests the ‘voice of the individual to shine, and yet become an invaluable part of a collective.’
The integrated pencils within the texture will become smoother nearer the ‘tip’ of the acorn and be replaced by the embossed text of people’s writing/poetry.
The names on the pencils “such as Magda, Patrick and Ahmad” will “reflect the rich cultural diversity that exists among our young citizens,” according to the artist.
I see this work as providing a welcoming, playful yet enduring and relevant symbol, an acknowledgment of the momentous events a century ago with a positive vision to cherish youthful energy and potential into the future.
Joynt graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Sculpture from NCAD in 1989 and has been commissioned to create artworks for a wide range of public projects, including the Weather Vane and Pool at Dublin Castle, and the landmark ‘Perpetual Motion’ at the Naas Bypass (below).
Parents responsibility to monitor the children not apples full stop
Actually it’s sharp practice and not that simple. I shall attempt to explain why.
If you buy the kids a free game app and are unaware of “in app purchases” as a concept then they can run up a bill while just playing the game within 15 mins of downloading app (15 mins of not prompting for password is the default setting but it can be changed to every time a password if you know how) (also you can inhibit in app purchases if you know how).
Some games have the in app purchase on the game screen beside the game functions, others encourage purchase of energy crystals, diamonds etc. so if your a normal joe it looks like your kid is just playing a game and you will not find out until your iTunes invoice arrives or cred card bill.
Alternatively they could read a book or kick a football. You give a kid your €400 iPhone and tell them to “go play”, well, tough luck.
I enjoy reading the Journal, the short snappy articles are easy to read and cover all sorts of interesting topics, however, please read the articles before posting them! The amount of typos and mistakes in the articles is mind boggling! For such short pieces, surely a quick proof read would be quick to do. I’m aware that if there are any mistakes with this comment it will be ironic, especially if I failed to use the word ironic properly, which I cannot guarantee, but I’m not a journalist. Kind regards.
Neither are they
Em….shrewd tech savvy 5 year olds should not be under estimated
Parents are 100% to blame. Apple should not have to pay back a cent!
Allow me to introduce my friend settings, he’ll let you enable restrictions so your kids can’t buy apps on the hundreds of euro worth of technology you’re letting them use as a toy.
$35 million is very small change for apple
Gibbs…
More to the point.
This is the responsibility of parents and not Apple.
Nothing to do with this story but is anyone else experiencing problems with the journal app. Taking forever to load, frequently freezing and crashing, even typing this comment took an age as each key was delayed before the chosen letter appeared on screen. Perhaps it’s my phone but other sites don’t produce the same problems. Anyone had the same situation?
That’s a very expensive apple
Yeah …… And loads of our comments keep going missing too
David Mc ummm.. ! What phone / operating system are you on ? I have iOS 7 and it’s given me loads of problems , not just in the journal app but most other apps too
It’s Mc Shite Mia………
David Mc Shite.
Phone is Sony Experia E. It’s the cheapest smartphone Sony do and petformes pretty solidly for my needs.
I enjoy the journal but it’s becoming almost unusable lately.
Thanks for your response Mia.
Having the same problems sometimes David
I had no idea what an app was as a child, an apple was something I was made to eat sometimes & had no clue what an angry bird was although my friend once hit a crow off a telephone wire with a catapult……..the crow died & my mam turned into an angry bird lol :D
You think murdering an innocent creature for fun is hilarious!?
Apple refunded me over a year ago when my child accidentally upgraded and app she was only 3 at the time. Was totally blaming myself until my friend told me to ring,she had been refunded, they also told me how to change my settings so it wouldn’t happen again.
Why on earth would you allow a 3 yr old to play with your iPhone?
They don’t have enough toys????!!
Apple,
Rotten to the core….
Because???
My son bought all the apps on my phone >.>
All of them were free though!
Heh, was just kidding. He’s not allowed touch my phone with his track record for breaking stuff!
Not to mention your phone porn stash.
Hard to know who to blame, the parents should absolutely be more responsible but it’s disgraceful that some apps have in-app purchases worth up to €90 in some that I’ve seen. They specifically target children whose parents have no idea that it could be so simple to authorise hundreds of euro worth of purchases with a few taps. It’s hard to blame Apple but they could always do with the good publicity, marketing is their only strength after all.
Apple giving back to their sheep!
If they put an apple logo on an abacus their sheep wud run out to buy the next generation calculator
No but judging by your handle, if sony put their logo on an inflatable dartboard you would buy it! :D
It might not be much to the most valuable company in the world but they’d no need to do this. Fair play to Apple!
My 7 year old cousin ran up a bill of over €50 on her Dads phone. He nearly died when he saw his phone bill!
Why do “responsible” adults give their phones / iPads to their little darlings in the first place without ensuring some form of control in the first place. You do no need to use a credit card to purchase apps from the App store. iTunes vouchers are safer and limit your exposure when your kids are treating it like being let loose in a sweet shop. I think it would have been a more valuable lesson to the next generation if they had to pay for their actions. We are now at the stage when wrongdoing is always someone else’s fault.
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