Iconic artwork handed new lease of life
The pressure the pandemic placed on council coffers led to an unavoidable delay in reinstating several of the county’s most iconic works of art. Among them, the ‘Hands of Peace’, formerly located at Market Square in Cavan Town, designed by German-born Irish sculptor Imogen Stuart.
Erected in the early 1990s, it was moved as part of the town centre refurbishment in 2017. The hands have now been designated a new position, elected members attached to the Cavan-Belturbet Municipal District area were told last week.
At once stage, it was decided to relocate the hands to the former Richmond House site at Tullacmongan, next to the junction of the R212 Dublin Road and Owen Roe Terrace.
However, that plan was scrapped and work is currently ongoing on laying foundations at a new location - within a green area on Railway Road - next to the Cavan Town Mart and adjacent to McCarren’s meat processing factory.
The council is in the process of installing a concrete plinth on which the ‘Hands of Peace’ will sit, together with an accessible walkway to the sculpture.
‘Peace for All’
Along with the ‘Peace for All’ sculpture by Kildare artist Derek A Fitzsimons, damaged during an audacious attempted theft in 2016, Ms Stuart’s Travertine stone monument have been missing from public view since they were last placed in storage.
Both sculptures were due to be reinstated by the third quarter of 2020, subject to funding and resources, but that never materialised.
Now senior engineer for the Cavan-Belturbet Municipal District area, Paul Mulligan, said that, in the case of Ms Stuart’s ‘Hands of Peace’, progress has been made.
He told the meeting of elected members last week that the council’s executive and a delegation from the local arts office met with Ms Stuart personally, and outlined their proposal.
“It’s all go at the minute,” he said of the work currently taking place after Ms Stuart gave her blessing.
He added that there were some “minor repairs” to be carried out to the monument prior to it being hoisted into place and that these were being managed by Rhonda Tidy in the Cavan Arts Office.
Mr Mulligan noted that, once the ‘Hands of Peace’ are erected, it will provide a visual centrepiece for any visitors arriving to Cavan Town from that direction.
It would also become a focal point on the recently opened Urban Greenway.
Fianna Fáil’s John Paul Feeley welcomed the progress, describing the artwork as “iconic”.
Party colleague Patricia Walsh added that the change of location would be best in the long-term, given that the council is still weighing up options for the junction at Tractamotors, and whether additional land might be needed. “It’s better it move once, and not have to be moved a second time,” she said. “Where it is going to be now, it fits perfectly.”
Mr Mulligan concluded by saying that it had been a “privilege” to meet with Ms Stuart, now aged in her mid-90s who travelled down from her home in Dublin to visit the site.
He stated: “Sometimes changing the goalposts can be a positive thing. She went and looked at the location and was very happy.”
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