Whole world in their hands: Icons design globes in aid of GOAL
A number of people have designed globes that will be auctioned in aid of GOAL, writes .
Sonia O’Sullivan and Jason Cooke
Iconic Cobh athlete Sonia O’Sullivan’s globe-trotting sporting career was the inspiration for Waterford designer Jason Cooke’s globe, titled ‘Roots In Ireland’.
Coloured dots highlight O’Sullivan’s international gold medals, training locations and the places she’s lived.
Speaking over the phone from her home in Melbourne, O’Sullivan says her peripatetic lifestyle has made her very conscious of the causes that GOAL supports internationally.
“I’ve been to the poorest countries and the richest countries,” she says. “It’s amazing to see the different circumstances that people live in. There are people living with so little.
"I’ve visited GOAL projects in Ethiopia and Kenya and it’s amazing that charities like GOAL do so much for such a long time.
“Sportspeople do travel the world and can be great ambassadors for all the good work that’s going on.”
O’Sullivan is coaching, both privately and in a boy’s school in Melbourne, where she now lives with her husband and kids.
She looks forward to her many trips home to Ireland, and says the title of her globe perfectly reflects how she feels about her native country.
“I’m really happy with the finished globe: I think it’s lovely. Ireland is still home, and everywhere else is just places I live in and spend time.”
Stephen Murphy and Joy Neville
Former Ireland women’s rugby international and referee Joy Neville joined forces with artist Stephen Murphy to create their globe, ‘Shoulder To Shoulder’.
Neville chose sporting heroes who she considers ambassadors for their countries and their sport to represent the spirit of teamwork, friendship and loyalty.
Murphy, who comes from Cork but who lives and works in Limerick, says working alongside Neville was an inspiration.
“The amount of her time she gives to things is amazing: she’s a real pioneer,” he says.
“I don’t have a background in sport but working with Joy, who’s so immersed in that world, it was really interesting to see how the people of Limerick related to her.
Every time I sat down with her people would come up to her: it was a lovely thing, as a solitary artist working alone, to see that impact on other people.
Murphy opted to fill in the textures on the provided resin globe, where the land masses are represented in relief, to give himself a smooth, if not flat, canvas to work with.
“Portraiture is one of my strong suits. Our globe is black and white partly for impact, but also because I was working on eight portraits and it made it simpler.”
Hetty Lawlor
Mayo-based Hetty Lawlor is one of the youngest contributors to the project with her globe, ‘The Butterfly Effect’.
The 18-year-old artist has been making waves in Irish art in the past year as both the winner of the Texaco Art Competition and as a finalist in Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year series.
Her globe is a reference to the butterfly effect in Chaos Theory, she explains: “I really like the symbolism, that small things can make a big difference; I think that’s relevant to the charity’s work.”
Lawlor worked from photographs in pencils and paints to cover her globe with highly coloured butterflies and portraits of children. She says she’s happy with the results and that working on a sphere was, quite literally, a learning curve.
“The proportions are really hard to get right when it’s rounded, so that was something I had to work with,” she says.
“Then the texture of the land made it impossible to use pencil on, so I had to use paint: there were loads of things I had to experiment with.”
Lawlor has just completed her Leaving Cert and is taking a gap year to focus on her art before deciding on any future studies.
“There’s a lot happening but it’s very exciting,” she says. “I’m taking a gap year to concentrate on art. I know I’ve a lot more to learn, but I’m winging it right now to see what will happen next.”
Mo Kelly
Themes of solidarity in global feminism inspired DJ and artist Mo Kelly’s acrylic paint and varnish globe, ‘The Soul Has No Gender’.
Kelly’s globe depicts the different struggles faced by women in the developed and developing worlds, she says.
“I drew a woman walking on a tightrope, representing the Western world and then a young girl walking representing the developing world who is balancing books and an apple on the one hand, to symbolise education, and on the other hand she’s balancing a wedding dress to symbolise domestic expectations of young girls.
I suppose in the Western world we’re more concerned with breaking through the glass ceiling and having equality for women and men, whereas on the developing world side it’s much more fundamental things that are at stake.
A belief in the importance of education for girls worldwide was also an inspiration to the artist and DJ.
“I come from a family of teachers,” she says. “I read that 98 million girls are missing from school at the moment: we need that to change.”
Tom Climent and Rachel Allen
Cork painter Tom Climent worked with Ballymaloe celebrity chef Rachel Allen for their piece, ‘Harvest For The Globe’, which focuses on issues of global food production.
“With Rachel’s work with food, the idea of harvest seemed like a good fit and was one I felt I could work with too,” Climent says.
“I also wanted it to reflect the type of painting I’m doing myself, which has a strong geometric structure.”
“It was important to me that we would reflect the fact that we are all beings living on this world. The idea of harvest was more than just a harvest of food, but a collective coming together to try and sustain, help and benefit all life.”
Working in oil paint and sand for added texture, Climent worked for two months on the project following his consultations with Allen.
The top of the globe has one of Climent’s distinctive geometric paintings, while the southern hemisphere depicts digging figures, and is also decorated with sheaves of wheat.
“There are two figures depicted, one in the shadows working unseen for the benefit of people, the other more in the light,” Climent says.
“What they harvest rises up and encircles the world, spreading light, colour, and possibility.”
Conor Langton and Jackie Tyrrell
Artist and illustrator Conor Langton worked with fellow Kilkenny man Jackie Tyrrell, the nine-time All Ireland winning hurler, to depict the toughest opponents Tyrrell has ever faced on the GAA field for their globe, ‘World Of Hurling’.
“I know Jackie, so it was great. We met up a couple of times. I’ve never worked with sporting figures before, but most of my work is portraiture so I was able to work my style into the project,” Langton says.
“Jackie came up with the idea: obviously it was going to be hurling-themed.
Jackie came back with the idea of representing the hardest guys he’d ever played. He’s faced them all, and these were the three guys that really challenged him.
Kilkenny’s DJ Carey, Tipp’s Paul Kelly and Waterford’s John Mullane were the hard men of hurling Tyrrell settled on.
Langton, whose distinctive collage style has earned him commissions with The New Yorker and Rolling Stone, found working on the textured surface of the globe a challenge, and toyed with including sculptural elements, but he was conscious of making his contribution stand the test of time.
“I was conscious that the exhibition is touring the country. I didn’t want something covered in dog-ears arriving at the auction: I wanted to make something that would last.”
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