Sculpture pagesepsitename%%

An Ensō Sculpture Commission to Mark a Birthday

August 15, 2016 by Victor

It was a pleasure to produce this piece as a commission to mark a birthday

Jane Keenan commissioned the scupture to mark the birthday of her husband Terry. Terry, who lives on the Sheep’s Head peninsula here in West Cork, is an ordained Buddist monk, the Rev. Saigyo Yuho, as well as a writer and painter.

The Ensō circle at the top of the sculptre is a Zen Buddhist symbol which represents a state in which the
mind is free to let the body and spirit create.

The harp inside is based on one of Terry’s drawings, and the Baile is the way he writes it himself.

How wonderful to have a piece of sculpture that has such a powerful set of meanings for the person receiving it as a gift!

Filed Under: Abstract Sculpture, News, Sculpture

Stone Rings: An Enduring Puzzle

November 17, 2012 by Victor

The intertwined stone rings in this sculpture offer a puzzle to the mind, asking to think in new ways about shapes and ideas.

Of course, we use rings to symbolise connections that cannot be broken. In theory, we think of stones as symbolising permanence too. Still, the fluid shape of the ring is at odds with our other ideas about stone, which we can sometimes dismiss as being rigid, inflexible and unforgiving.

In this sculpture, stone takes on the smooth, fluid properties of the ring. Meanwhile, the ring takes on the solidity and permanence of stone. It’s an intriguing piece of abstract sculpture, but it remains a very accessible piece too: the puzzle about how the stone links are connected to each other keeps everyone’s eyes and minds absorbed.

Filed Under: Abstract Sculpture, Sculpture Tagged With: Sculpture, Sculpture Commission, Stone Rings

Carving a Modern Ogham Stone

November 17, 2012 by Victor

Victor’s Modern Ogham Stone

It’s interesting, as a sculptor in the twenty-first century, to get the chance to experiment with a type of stone-carving that was at its most popular in fifth-century Ireland. Ogham stones served as a means of commemorating someone, and the lines along the side of the stone spelled out their names, and sometimes details about property ownership, in the ancient Ogham alphabet, made up of a series of intersecting lines.

Holed Ogham Stones

This modern Ogham stone commission involved including a hole in the stone, a striking feature which is present on some of the original stones still standing in Ireland. Though there are not certainties about what the hole first signified, they say that you can renew marriage vows or seal contracts by touching thumbs through it!

Filed Under: Letter Cutting, Sculpture, Stone Carving Tagged With: ogham stone, tradition