For the New Republic Niall Walsh, invited the citizens of Manorhamilton to propose their own ideas and images of what they imagined a new republic might look like. There were a number of processes by which this took place: using templates from a range of countries to compose designs for a flag, currency and stamps; collecting short articles that the artist later assembled into a new constitution; informal discussions based on a range of political and philosophical models and in response to daily screenings of a variety films and documentaries.
The project was a response to recent economic and political events and was based on the involvement and empowerment of citizenship towards envisioning collective political futures.
The SHELTER project was the culmination of this process, emerging as a result of the artists consultation with the public and acting on their suggestions and concerns. Here Walsh used local and recycled materials to construct both sculpture and a functional response to the publics desire for a bus shelter on the N16 route through the town. During the exhibition the artist displayed the various public responses within the project as well as consulted with the local authority on siting the shelter.
Niall Walsh was born in Dublin in 1963. He works and lives in Manorhamilton North Leitrim and is a long time associate of the Sculpture Centre. Walsh completed an M.A. in fine art at Dunlaoghaire institute of Art and Design and has had solo exhibitions in The Dock in Leitrim 2007, the Higher bridges gallery in Enniskellen in 2006, the Model in Sligo in 2004, and Lithuania 1999. His group shows include, Alter-native at Boyle arts week in 2010, The Blue wall Gallery also in 2010 and the Lab, Dublin 2009.
Walsh’s international projects include the Jardin des esculptures in Mexico , Quebec, Canada, and SanFransico U.S.A. and he has participated in various sculpture symposia in India, Korea , Poland ,Germany, Netherlands and Ireland. He has completed numerious public Commissions in a variety of contexts through-out the island of Ireland including a recent work for a sculpture symposium near Duseldorf in Germany concerned with environmental issues. His work is included in private and public collections including the Lalit Kala akadamie India, the U.K. National Trust, the Arts Council of Ireland and the Artist’s Museum, Lodz, Poland.
Walsh is currently working on a public art-work for the new hospital in Enniskellen in Nothern Ireland due for completion in May 2012 and he will be exhibiting at Wex Art, a new visual arts space in Wexford in April 2012.
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