Glass sculpture pushes the boat out

A glass sculpture of a boat, entitled ‘A Voyage of Stories’, will be unveiled today by Micheal Murphy, the harbour-master for Bantry Port, in Donemark, Bantry. ‘A Voyage of Stories’ is a collaborative artwork, designed by artist Michael Ray and students at the National Learning Network.

The project, in association with West Cork Arts Centre, began in March. Ray is a glass artist and art therapist. He recently won the National Crafts competition in the glass category. “We knew there was a story associated with the townland, so that was our springboard,” he says of the legend of Cessair. “According to The Book of Invasions, written anonymously in the 11th century, Cessair landed at Donemark in 2361BC, 40 days before the Deluge. Cessair was allegedly Noah’s granddaughter. Her family built a boat, after being refused a place in the ark. All but Fintan died in the flood. He transformed himself into a salmon, and later back into a man, to tell the story. In an earlier myth, Cessair was the founding goddess of Ireland.”

“I didn’t have much interest in mythological stuff, until this project,” says one student. “It was interesting. Cessair and her group were Ireland’s first immigrants, really.”

The story captured the imaginations of the students. “We went to Donemark and had a look at the most likely landing place,” says Ray, “then decided a boat would be a good starting point. Once we’d woven a simple vessel shape with the willow rods, we made a skin with multi-coloured sheets of paper to see how it might look when covered by panels of glass. Then, I welded a steel frame and we wrapped it in copper wire.”

One unusual development was to include the wider community. A call went out, and poems and stories flooded in. Some students interviewed immigrants. “We sifted through material and extracted fragments of text that related to the experience of migration in both languages.” The Irish text is inside the boat. The English text, like a second skin, is on the outer surface of the boat. The students range from 17 to 60 years of age, and from those with literacy difficulties to post-graduates. Fergus is one student. “I talked to people who had moved here, and asked them what they missed about their homeland,” Fergus says. “It’s lovely to see the old, written Irish. I speak it, not fluently, but I don’t mind talking in Irish.”

Grace also enjoyed the project. “I did the English text,” she says. “We had to do a skeleton of it. Then, you had to cut glass. It was great. We put thin glass over thick glass, with text in between, wet, and then Michael would take it away and melt it. Then, we added the wire through the top and bottom of each panel. Then, we added them to the frame.”

The boat has been placed at the mouth of a water feature. “They wanted to suggest that it has just been pulled up on to shore,” says Alison Cronin, from the West Cork Arts Centre.

* The unveiling is today (Thursday, Sept 19) at 2.30pm at the National Learning Network, Donemark, just outside Bantry.