May 24, 2009 Sunday Independent ALLIANZ BUSINESS TO ARTS AWARDS 2009 5
Sculptural feast for the senses An eclectic light symphony
This year’s prize for the Corporate Social Responsibility Award has gone to Bord na The revival of a 19th century tradition,
Móna for its support of the Sculpture in the Parklands project in Co Offaly where architects and builders bequeathed
art to a project, has won the Jim
McNaughton Perpetual Award for Best
WHEN you think of reaching green visitors’ pavillion, rooms, metal abstract art, renowned environmental
out to the community in mid- which will include a lecture even a tree growing through artist Patrick Dougherty for Commissioning Practice at this year’s
lands Ireland, sculpture is theatre and gallery for the one of the constructions. the annual residency. He went
probably not the first thing sculpture park. The one thing that unites on to create a monumental
Allianz Business to Arts Awards
that springs to mind. But The process of building a them, however, is the way sculpture installation called
that’s exactly the focus of the sculpture for the park runs as they have been embraced by Ruaille Buaille as well as quite
Bord na Móna Sculpture in follows: the artist comes the community. a bit of media interest. 2007, when Roche visited the Expo 2000 exhibition in
the Parklands project, which about six months in advance “This is probably because Also last year, Sculpture in building. One of the paint- Hamburg.
has won this year’s Allianz of the project to literally get people have watched the the Parklands was included in ings, entitled 15:33, captures She is also no stranger to
Business to Arts Corporate ‘the lie of the land’. They dis- sculptures being created and the programme of the 13th the exact shape and place the Allianz Business to Arts
Social (Cultural) Respon- cuss their ideas with Bord na have gotten to know the International Peat Congress, of a reflection at 15:33 on Awards. In 2007, her instal-
sibility Award. Móna, and, some months artist. It’s not just something which introduced delegates 5 June. lation Whitelight Garden in
The seeds for Sculpture in later, begin working on the that’s been dropped in to a potential use for cut- A stuccodore plaster work, Park West for Harcourt
the Parklands were sown project with the help of skilled overnight with a crane. The away bogs worldwide. entitled 15:35, is positioned at Developments won the
in 2000 when artist Kevin Bord na Móna employees. artists stay in the local B&B But, whatever about the a different level to its origi- Judges Special Recognition
O’Dwyer approached Bord To emphasise the natural and mix with the locals.” international accolades it is nating reflection, evoking the Award.
na Móna with the idea of and industrial legacies inher- The success of Bord na acquiring, O’Dwyer says that idea of a reflection being like Roche says her knowledge
inviting fellow artists to par- ent in the environment, the Móna’s collaboration with one of the most enjoyable an echoing reprise. of the CIT Cork School of
ticipate in an international artists use materials that are Sculpture in the Parklands and fundamental aspects of The final element of the Music building from early in
sculpture symposium to cel- found onsite, and a quick has also been greatly helped this park is how accessible it ensemble, entitled Night, life gave her a strong respect
ebrate the rich environmen- glance at the Parklands web- by financial investment and is to everyone. “It’s not like a plays with the way in which for its traditions.
tal and industrial heritage site, www.sculptureinthe- engagement from Offaly museum or art gallery where the elegant blackness of “I was conscious how it
of Lough Boora bog in Offaly. parklands.com, shows how County Council Arts Office you can’t touch anything. a grand piano passes on (the building) is primarily a
This became the impetus diverse the results have and The Crafts Council of Instead, people are encour- reflected light to the visually public space and that it has
for the 50-acre sculpture park, been since 2002. There are Ireland. aged to interact, to touch, to attentive music lover. a large enrolment of school-
which covers part of Lough pyramid-like structures of In 2008, this combined engage. Because of this, peo- Maoiliosa Kiely, market- children as well as adults, so
Boora Parklands – a series of stone, wooden meditation partnership secured world- ple feel very free here.” ing manager with Murray Ó its engagement with the pub-
wetlands created from a cut- Laoire Architects, says Roche lic was important, especially
away bog in Co Offaly. The light dapples through the new CIT Cork School of Music, was a joy to work with. in terms of the concert hall.”
The park is open every day
‘People are
where artist Vivienne Roche drew her inspiration “We couldn’t have entrusted Roche explains that the art
to the public, and artists are the work to a better person. project took 14 months to
invited to create site-specific
encouraged to
She and her team worked complete.
works during annual artist-in-
interact, to touch,
I
N the 19th century, there Roche’s core concept was on a proposal using graphic “What was important to
residence programmes. For was a tradition amongst to take a single moment in designers and 3D computer me at the time was engaging
each residency, Bord na Móna architects and builders time when the architecture of modelling and was really with the students and phys-
provides Sculpture in the that when a project was the building filtered light, enthused by the idea of light ically working in the build-
Parklands with manpower,
to engage’
nearing completion they which then cast as a reflec- working through the atria of ing. The painting aspect
public liability insurance, would jointly bequeath a tion on the walls of the atria. the building,” says Kiely. covered an eight-week period,
engineering expertise, piece of art to celebrate its Her Light Ensemble idea was “She had to work onsite, while builders were working
fabrication facilities and completion. simple – timing lies at the when the place was still very all around me.”
maintenance. That tradition was revived heart of music, light at the much a construction site, She says the overall expe-
“Bord na Móna has been a recently when builder John core of the visual. and Sisk had to construct rience is an encouraging
fantastic supporter of this Sisk & Son and Murray Ó The reconstruction of the a scaffold for her and her example of how business and
project,” says O’Dwyer, who Laoire Architects jointly CIT Cork School of Music technical team. It was a artists can work together to
nominated them for the commissioned and funded a building, which was an amal- very good example of solid make a genuine contribution
prize. He mentions “some number of artworks for the gamation of a 19th century teamwork.” to society.
great thinkers in Bord na newly completed CIT Cork building with a 1950s build- Roche has had an illustri- The new building also
Móna” who wanted to both School of Music. ing, has resulted in what ous career in the art world, includes original artwork
revitalise the brownfield site Sean Ó Laoire approached has been hailed as one of having participated in inter- in the form of plaques cre-
and explore its rich envi- Cork artist Vivienne Roche Europe’s finest purpose-built national group exhibitions ated in the Fifties by artist
ronmental and industrial about the idea, as her work music conservatories. in France, Finland, Sweden, Seamus Murphy, which were
heritage. Bord na Móna’s Detail of ‘Ruaille Buaille’ by environmental artist Patrick Dougherty, created in 2008 at had explored the connec- Light Ensemble has at its England and the US. In 2000, on the outside of the original
long-term commitment Lough Boora Sculpture in the Parklands. It was recognised at this year’s Allianz Business to tions between art and music centre reflections of light her piece The Amen of Calm building and have been
includes the building of a Arts Awards in the past. inside the building on 5 June Waters formed part of the reincorporated.
The power of art
Voicing ethical issues
therapy to heal
Through the medium of art therapy, and the Art Against Sigma alliance with
Artist Paul Meade
Lundbeck Ireland, Dr Patricia Noone has been pivotal in helping those using
has been awarded
mental health services recover faster and gain greater self-confidence
at this year’s
Allianz Business to
THE recipient of this year's Best Arts Cham-
Arts Awards for an
pion Award at the Allianz Business to Arts
Awards, Dr Patricia Noone, has played a
unusual project
defining role in helping clients of mental
health services around Ireland express them-
that uses theatre selves through the medium of art.
to communicate
A psychiatrist by profession, Dr Noone
has proactively brought her experience of
complex bioethics working in the mental health sphere to the
themes
world of art. She has done so via her collab-
oration with Lundbeck Ireland through the
George Moore Society.
Noone is a founder member and chair-
person of the George Moore Society, an
organisation that has been involved in the
development and promotion of visual, musi-
cal and literary events since its inception
in 1990.
The society has brought a number of arts
Pictured (above), from left to right, are actors Daragh Kelly, Ruth Hegarty, Janet Moran, Cathy exhibitions and musicals around Ireland
Belton, Fiona Condon, Barry Barnes and Conor Delaney at the reading of Paul Meade’s ‘Begotten and abroad.
Not Made’ at Farmleigh House; Inset (left): Paul Meade It was in 2000 that Dr Noone and the soci- Eithne Boyan, managing director, Lundbeck Ireland, with Dr Patricia Noone,
ety started collaborating with Lundbeck Ire- winner of the Best Arts Champion category at the 2009 Allianz Business to
land on the Lundbeck Art Against Stigma Arts Awards
T
HE term ‘bioethic-
s’ mightn’t be
‘There needs to
previous works, the award- House earlier this year and project, at a time when Lundbeck was seek-
winning play Skin Deep there are plans for a full- ing to become more involved in the holistic “[Art therapy] certainly has an empow-
immediately com-
be a lot more
focuses on an artist who scale production in 2010. management of mental illness. ering effect. After a few months of the arts
prehensible to all, steals body parts for artistic Meade says that with the Lundbeck Ireland is a research-based phar- course, you’d hardly recognise our patients.
but some of the discussion and
‘It is Dr Noone’s
purposes. Jim McNaughton/TileStyle maceutical company that develops drugs, It allows them to be much more expressive
issues it deals with – stem
cell research, assisted suicide,
legislation
With Begotten Not Made, bursary, he hopes to write particularly in the area of the central nervous
Meade says he received a lot another play focusing on
knowledge, her
and better able to communicate,” says
system and mental health. Dr Noone.
IVF – are ones that most of us
will have heard of. But how
around the
of help and support from bioethical issues, given that he Using arts for rehabilitation has been
legal, theatrical and bioeth- has learned so much from his something that Dr Noone has always been
contacts and
Boyan says the project also helps develop
amongst the general public a better under-
does one turn such complex
whole area
ical experts. ICB collaboration and has interested in, and the Lundbeck Ireland and
ethical issues into artistic “It was a really great com- developed many contacts. George Moore Society alliance is no stranger
her generosity
standing of people with mental health diffi-
culties, thus reducing stigmas.
forms that people can engage
of bioethics’
mission to get. I did about He believes his work with to the Allianz Business to Arts Awards,
with and relate to? four drafts, and was given the ICB has been a symbiotic having won the Best Use of Creativity by Busi- of time that
“We couldn’t have done this without Dr
Noone and her contacts. We have hosted art
This was exactly the chal- lots of help and information process, with both getting a ness category in 2007 and the Dublin Airport exhibitions by clients at very prestigious
lenge for entrants to a com- from the panel.” lot out of the collaboration. Authority Arts Award in 2003.
stand out’
events in locations such as Office of Public
petition run by the Irish that confront humanity daily, The play centres on three “The reception by the var- Eithne Boyan, managing director, Lundbeck Works buildings and the Hunt Museum in
Council for Bioethics (ICB), is one that is extremely well interweaving stories: one ious interest groups to the Ireland, says it was because of Dr Noone’s keen Limerick.
the national body set up to suited to the realm of drama.” on the topic of assisted sui- reading in Farmleigh was interest in the area of art therapy that the As a result of the whole process with Dr
consider ethical questions The competition involved cide, the second on a couple very good. And we’ve also Lundbeck team sought her involvement in the Noone, Lundbeck Ireland also gives a bursary
raised by developments in writing a play with bioethical going through IVF and the done a reading for members Art Against Stigma project at its outset. been incredibly influential in seeing the bene- towards the art services to help provide
science and medicine. elements, and garnered some third dealing with sibling of the judiciary who said they “Dr Noone has been instrumental in giving fits for the clients of mental health services to financial support, so that they are able to pro-
Dr Siobhán O’Sullivan, 120 submissions globally. donation. found the play a very good Lundbeck Ireland guidance on how to develop engage in art therapy. vide the best environment materials and art
managing scientific director, The eventual winner was “The three stories were way of stimulating debate. the whole concept and support of art Dr Noone says the reaction to the Art space for the clients.
ICB, says the unique initiative writer and actor Paul Meade, supposed to chime themati- “The ICB feels that there therapy to clients in the mental health serv- Against Stigma project has always been very Explains Boyan: “Dr Noone also helps
presented an intersection who went on to develop the cally,” says Meade. “All the needs to be a lot more dis- ices,” explains Boyan. encouraging. source the adjudicators who decide which art
between science and the arts. play Begotten Not Made in characters cross through cussion and legislation “Dr Noone has been totally on-board from “It was very positive from the start. The centres provide the best environment for
“It allows for the possibility collaboration with the ICB. each others’ world, but they around the whole area of the word go. She guides, helps and supports patients were all very interested and became the artists. So, these centres are subsequently
of exploring philosophical and And for this collaboration, don’t ever really meet.” bioethics, and a play is a pow- us, giving us advice. If we need Dr Noone to very involved. One of the things they were awarded another bursary in recognition of the
medical themes in a theatrical Meade has now also won the He says the purpose of the erful tool for doing that.” open an exhibition, for example, she will be most enthusiastic about was the art therapy. improvements provided in the art services
form … Given Ireland’s liter- Jim/McNaughton TileStyle play was to encourage people O’Sullivan adds: “The there to do it and, if not, she will find another It was very important in their recovery, and over the past 12 months.”
ary tradition, the ICB decided ¤10,000 Bursary for Com- to think about the issues Council is delighted that suitable individual.” helps with their self-confidence.” Ultimately, it is Dr Noone’s knowledge, her
to commission a play, which missioned Artists at the 2009 depicted and how they relate Meade has been awarded the According to Boyan, Dr Noone’s interest in Many of participants on the project have contacts and her generosity of time that
would raise public con- Allianz Business to Arts to each other. “If you see one Jim McNaughton/TileStyle art, along with her experience as a doctor, has gone on to do third level courses in the arts. stand out, says Boyan.
sciousness and stimulate dis- Awards. issue in isolation, it’s easier to Bursary for Commissioned
cussion on these complex, but A trained actor and co- be black and white about it. Artists and feels it is a ringing
pertinent, topics. founder of the theatre group The play introduces a bit endorsement, not only of the
“Bioethics is an open- Gúna Nua, Meade says he more grey.” bioethics playwriting compe-
ended topic and, because of has always had an interest in A reading of Begotten Not tition, but also of his immense
its ability to pose questions bioethical issues. One of his Made took place in Farmleigh talent as a dramatist.”
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