On-site peatland interpretation: art installations

Case study

Sculpture in the Parklands

Site

Lough Boora Parklands, Ireland

Lough Boora Parklands in County Offaly has used sculpture as a medium to draw visitors into the peatlands and to highlight the Parklands as a creative resource of international significance. This includes two new sculptures commissioned through the LEADER+ peatland project, which also supported the production of a new leaflet, paths and interpretive boards to assist and inform visitors to the Sculpture Park and its surrounds.

Plan

Ideas for after-use of the cutaway boglands at Boora have been developed since 1991. This was when a group of eight employees at Boora - all active members in there own communities - formed a study group to examine further potential for the boglands there. Group members also had great interests in shooting, fishing, nature, and rambling and generally were very concerned about their environment. According to the group co-ordinator, Tom Egan, They all worked on the Boora bogs in some role and had an intimate knowledge of the areas involved.

According to Tom Egan in his paper ‘A Landscape Uncloaked ‘ , excavation work for development of lake-based angling was the catalyst for forming the Boora Enterprise Group: "The group spent many hours developing and discussing plans," notes Tom, "and it was decided to broaden the scope from a single lake and instead to look at a plan that would derive the maximum benefit to the local communities from the cutaways around Boora."

"The project was called "Lough Boora Parklands" because of the importance of Lough Boora and the potential to develop a new landscape from the totality of the cutaways into the future. The study group continued for two years and consulted many experts and visited numerous sites countrywide. The group received funding from Offaly LEADER ll Co. Ltd., to produce a report of their studies and plans. In 1994 "Lough Boora Parkland - a pre-feasibility study" was published. This study outlined a total integrated land use plan for 2,000 hectares of cutaway bogland around the central Boora area. It incorporated all the existing developments and blended these into new ones that had an amenity and environmental focus."

Do

Sculptures

The use of large-scale 'land-art' and other sculptural installations has given Lough Boora an international reputation as a site where art and environment can be appreciated together. Since 2002, Lough Boora Parklands has hosted a series of International Sculpture Symposia. The symposia have brought together Irish and international artists to create a series of land and environmental art using natural materials within the landscape. The artists, inspired by the rich natural and industrial legacy of the boglands, have created a series of large-scale sculptures that are now part of the Parklands permanent collection. The sculptures are some of the most innovative land and environmental sculptures in Ireland.

The artists work and live within the community for three weeks. Photographer, James Fraher has recorded the Symposia and his portraits of the sculptors accompany the finished works. Members of the public are invited to visit the site at Lough Boora Parklands during the installation of the artwork and to follow the progress of the project through on the Lough Boora Parklands website. A primary education programme, hosted by the Sculptor's Society of Ireland, was held at the Parklands during the 2002 symposium in which more than 60 students from 5 schools took part.

Review

Wider perception of the sculpture work at Lough Boora gives a means of reviewing the success of the venture so far. The project has had a high media profile in the Irish Press and in international arts and sculpture magazines. It received a visit from the Irish President and has won several prestigious arts awards. It has undoubtedly helped to raise the awareness of the cutaway peatlands as a cultural and recreational resource.

During the LEADER+ peatland project’s second Irish meeting, in Co. Offaly in March 2007, delegates visited the Sculpture Park. They saw the new interpretive boards and signage created with support from the project, walked new paths and appreciated the various sculptures. These ranged from the much-photographed ‘Sky Train’ (now almost symbolic of the Sculpture Park to the two new sculptures created during the project, each drawing inspiration, in very different ways, from the shape of the cooling tower of the former peat-fired power station (now demolished) which once stood near this part of Co. Offaly’s cutaway peatlands.

For further information visit the Lough Boora Parklands website.

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