Fred Conlon (1943–2005) was an Irish

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. Born in

Killeenduff Killeenduff () is a townland within the boundaries of the civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Easky, County Sligo in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Located about a mile from the village of Easky, Killeenduff has an area of approximately . ...

Easky Easky or Easkey (; ) is a village in County Sligo, Ireland. It is on the Atlantic coast, from Sligo and from Ballina, County Mayo. The village name derives from the Irish language term for fish () and literally means "abounding in fish", due ...

County Sligo County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...

, where he was schooled, Conlon won a five-year scholarship to the

National College of Art and Design The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is Ireland's oldest art institution, offering the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the country. Originating as a drawing school in 1746, many of t ...

in 1960. Domhnail O'Murchadha, assistant professor of sculpture, encouraged him to complete a sculpture diploma. He then spent a year obtaining an Art Teachers Certificate and became a sculpture associate of the college, where he stayed until 1972 apart from eighteen months as art teacher in Navan Vocational School. In 1972 Conlon returned to

Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...

to teach at the Sligo Vocational School for a year before becoming a lecturer at the Sligo Regional Technical College (now Sligo Institute of Technology), where he helped to develop a diploma course in art. For the next sixteen years he lectured in sculpture and drawing there until his early retirement 1989. He worked full-time as a professional sculptor until early 2004, when a

brain tumour A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...

(

Glioma A glioma is a type of primary tumor that starts in the glial cells of the brain or spinal cord. They are malignant but some are extremely slow to develop. Gliomas comprise about 30% of all brain and central nervous system tumors and 80% of ...

) was diagnosed. Although some 80% of the tumour was removed, Conlon was physically incapacitated and required extensive care for the remaining year of his life. During that year he worked on a video installation entitled ''Become''. Conlon's works include ''Millennium Garden Sculpture'' at Lucan Community College. He worked in stone, creating large abstract forms. He exhibited with Independent Artists,

Oireachtas The Oireachtas ( ; ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of the president of Ireland and the two houses of the Oireachtas (): a house ...

, the

Royal Hibernian Academy The Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the Royal Irish Academy, the academy retained the word "Royal" after mo ...

and Sculpture in context. Jack Harte has written an account of Conlon's life, ''Unravelling the Spiral - The Life and Work of Fred Conlon (1943–2005)'' (Scotus Press, Dublin, 2010). Harte and Conlon were born within fifty metres of one another, and ten months apart, in the townland of

. They were cousins and close friends until Conlon's death. In this book Harte warmly tells the remarkable story of Conlon's life and provides a unique insight into his ideas and inspiration. Pursuing the sculptor's fascination with the spiral motif, Harte unravels the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

symbolism of the Spiral and the

Newgrange Newgrange () is a prehistoric monument in County Meath in Ireland, placed on a rise overlooking the River Boyne, west of the town of Drogheda. It is an exceptionally grand passage tomb built during the Neolithic Period, around 3100 BC, makin ...

Monument to illustrate the subliminal

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

inspiration underneath Conlon's overtly

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

spiritual urges. The book is illustrated with photographs of Conlon's work.

References

Conlon, Fred. 'Biography', ''Fred Conlon Sculptor''
Retrieved 6 July 2005.

Retrieved 6 July 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Conlon, Fred 1943 births 2005 deaths Artists from County Sligo Alumni of the National College of Art and Design 20th-century Irish sculptors Irish male sculptors 20th-century Irish male artists People from Easky