Explore Carving Project

The stone carving installation is an ambitious arts project that involved Newpark students, staff and parents in designing and creating a six-metre stone frieze celebrating all aspects of Newpark life that will become an integral part of the new school building. The project provided an opportunity for the whole Newpark community to evaluate and consider what their school was all about.

The project has been running in Newpark since November 2006 and is the creation of stone-carver and Newpark art teacher Ciaran Byrne who devised and managed the complex installation under the Creative Engagement ‘The Arts in our Schools’ scheme. Carving stone is a difficult and slow process but the results can last for generations. Byrne wanted to offer the whole school community the opportunity to shape a legacy for the future.

He worked with students, staff and parents to create a series of carved stone panels to be mounted as a frieze on a wall in the new school building. The shape, dimensions and optimal final location of the frieze were finalised in consultation with the architects of the new school building. Fifteen students (including some from every year group in the school) were selected to train as carvers and work with Byrne on the frieze. Newpark art teacher Maureen Cronin was also a key member of the carving team.

The frieze stretches for four metres in one direction, takes in a sculptural corner piece, and runs for a further two metres around the corner. Byrne also designed a series of nine round cartouches each of which represents an aspect of Newpark life. These cartouches link the background rectangular panels where the focus was to capture the different voices, both formal and informal, of the Newpark community over the years.

Many of the themes apparent on the frieze arose from the brainstorming ideas from the whole school community and have been realised in both image and word form. The carving on the panels is mainly lettering with an emphasis on exploring diverse and creative letter forms to reflect the varied tones of the voices. The carving on the cartouches involves both figurative and symbolic images in relief. This relief work is far more detailed and sophisticated than anticipated – this was in response to the rapid development of the student carvers’ skills and interest.

On the 22nd January 2009 the completed frieze was exhibited in the concourse of the Town Hall in Dun Laoghaire. The piece was presented on a steel frame that was designed and made by an engineering team of Newpark students, led by teacher John O’Neill, and there was a series of information panels introducing the project that were designed by Derek Kennedy.

All those who took park in the project are looking forward to the arrival of the new school building. The frieze is to be sited inside the school building opposite the main entrance. The ends of the frieze have not been finished. This is intended as an invitation to the future generation of students, parents and staff to continue the piece. It is the intention to grow the frieze so that it wraps around the corridors of the new school through the decades of the building’s life. Byrne believes these next sections could be made of paper, or fabric, or wire. They could be permanent or temporary. They might be colourful, energetic or calm. These decisions are yet to be made and Byrne believes they are for another time. He is convinced this frieze will remain “alive” as long as the influence of being involved in it is felt in the lives of the participants.