Rowan Fergus Meredith Gillespie (born 1953) is an Irish

bronze casting Lost-wax castingalso called investment casting, precision casting, or ''cire perdue'' (; borrowed from French)is the process by which a duplicate sculpture (often a metal, such as silver, gold, brass, or bronze) is cast from an original sculp ...

sculptor of international renown. Born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

to Irish parents, Gillespie spent his formative years in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. From conception to creation, he works alone in his purpose-built

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

Clonlea Clonlea or Clonleigh () is a civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. The main settlement is the village of Kilkishen. It is part of the Catholic parish of O'Callaghans Mills. Location Clonlea is in the barony of Tullagh. It is to the north of ...

, in

Blackrock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...

. This is one of the things that make him unique among the bronze casting community. Influenced by the sculptor

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...

and the painter

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...

,Kohn (2007), pp. 13 and 95 Gillespie uses the

lost wax casting Lost-wax castingalso called investment casting, precision casting, or ''cire perdue'' (; loanword, borrowed from French language, French)is the process by which a duplicate sculpture (often a metal, such as silver, gold, brass, or bronze) is cas ...

process to portray human emotions. Having worked almost exclusively on site specific art since 1996, Gillespie's public works can be found in his native Ireland,

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, the United States, and Canada.

Background

His father, Jack Gillespie, was a medical doctor and his mother, Moira, was the daughter of James Creed Meredith, the translator of

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

Critique of Judgement The ''Critique of Judgment'' (), also translated as the ''Critique of the Power of Judgment'', is a 1790 book by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Sometimes referred to as the "third critique", the ''Critique of Judgment'' follows the ''Crit ...

, a

Supreme Court of Ireland The Supreme Court of Ireland () is the highest judicial authority in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is a court of final appeal and exercises, in conjunction with the Court of Appeal (Ireland), Court of Appeal and the High Court (Ireland), Hig ...

judge, and a member of the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers (), also known as the Irish Volunteer Force or the Irish Volunteer Army, was a paramilitary organisation established in 1913 by nationalists and republicans in Ireland. It was ostensibly formed in response to the format ...

. According to Gillespie's official biographer Roger Kohn, the sculptor's work, ''Proclamation'', sited across the road from

Kilmainham Gaol Kilmainham Gaol () is a former prison in Kilmainham, Dublin. It is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Government of Ireland. Many Irish revolutionaries, including the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising (Patrick Pea ...

in Dublin, was created in memory of both the

Proclamation of the Irish Republic The Proclamation of the Republic (), also known as the 1916 Proclamation or the Easter Proclamation, was a document issued by the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army during the Easter Rising in Ireland, which began on 24 April 1916. ...

and of his grandfather's dream of a Utopian society.Kohn (2007), p. 152

Education and career

At the age of seven he was sent to boarding school in England, although the family remained in Cyprus until he was ten. In 1969, he attended York School of Art where he was first introduced to the

lost-wax casting Lost-wax castingalso called investment casting, precision casting, or ''cire perdue'' (; borrowed from French)is the process by which a duplicate sculpture (often a metal, such as silver, gold, brass, or bronze) is cast from an original scul ...

process by the bronze sculptor Sally Arnup. Here he also met his wife to be, Hanne, who runs the Clonlea Yoga Studio in Blackrock. In 1970, he attended

Kingston College of Art Kingston University London is a public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded in 1899. It received university ...

where he was tutored by woodcarver John Robson and through whom he met, and was encouraged by,

. Following his studies at York and Kingston, he completed his studies at the Statens Kunstole in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. He lectured for three years at the

Munch Museum Munch Museum (), marketed as Munch (stylised in all caps) since 2020, is an art museum in Bjørvika, Oslo, Norway dedicated to the life and works of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The museum was originally located at Tøyen, which was opene ...

, the Norwegian painter having a profound influence on him. Munch remains the great artistic influence on him up to the present day. At the age of 21 he married Hanne, they had their first child Alexander and he held his first solo exhibition in Norway. In 1977 he returned to Dublin where he set up his

/workshop and established himself in the years between 1977 and 1995 with solo exhibitions at the Solomon Gallery in Dublin, arts fairs, and numerous group shows throughout Europe and the United States. He then decided to concentrate on site specific art, notably ''The Cycle of Life'', Colorado (1991); ''The Famine Series'', Dublin (1996/7); and ''Ripples of Ulysses'' 2000/1. In 2007 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Fine Art by

Regis University Regis University ( ) is a Private university, private List of Jesuit educational institutions, Jesuit university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1877 by the Jesuits, Society of Jesus, the university offers more than 120 degrees th ...

in Denver, Colorado.

Recent developments

Sculpting life

In 2007, Shane Brennan and Tom Burke of Moondance Productions released a film biography on Gillespie's life and work, called ''Sculpting Life''. The film received critical acclaim following its first broadcast on the Irish channel,

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

. The film, also aired on the Arts Channel in New Zealand, portrays the sculptor as he creates a series of famine sculptures from research, through to unveiling in Ireland Park, Toronto. Partly based on his reading of

Joseph O'Connor Joseph Victor O'Connor (born 20 September 1963) is an Irish novelist. His 2002 historical novel '' Star of the Sea'' was an international number one bestseller. Before success as an author, he was a journalist with the '' Sunday Tribune'' newspa ...

's novel, '' Star of the Sea'', Gillespie enters the world of its central character, the murderous Pius Mulvey as he haunts the decks of a coffin ship and becomes an emaciated ghost, living among the hundreds of Irish emigrants crammed into

steerage Steerage is a term for the lowest category of passenger accommodation in a ship. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, considerable numbers of persons travelled from their homeland to seek a new life elsewhere, in many cases North Amer ...

. The documentary follows the sculptor as he brings the character to life in bronze.

Looking for Orion

More recently, an artistic biography ''Looking for Orion'' by Gillespie's lifelong friend, the artist and publisher Roger Kohn, provides an insider's view of Gillespie. The biography documents his contributions to his art over the last 36 years, and explores the influences of

and

on the artist. Gillespie is unique among the

fraternity in being able to claim that all moulding,

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or ...

and finishing is done entirely by himself in his Dublin studio/

. In addition, all installations are either carried out or supervised by him.

Themes

The

Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact ...

and subsequent catastrophic migration has motivated two of Gillespie's works. In several of his site specific pieces, such as ''

Famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...

'' (1997) on the Custom House Quay in Dublin, his life-sized human figures are emaciated and haunting. In June 2007, a series of statues by Gillespie was unveiled by President

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer, academic, author, and former politician who served as the president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. McAleese was first elected as president in 1997, ...

on the quayside in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

's Ireland Park. The work commemorates the arrival of

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

from the Great Famine. The Hamilton Spectator described the work as follows: Famin Sculpture

"''The early immigrants are now honoured at the Toronto waterfront park by five haunting bronze statues created by Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie.'' ''One figure depicts a man lying on the ground, emaciated; another shows a pregnant woman clutching her bulging stomach, while behind her a meek child stands wide-eyed. One frail figure is bent over with hands clasped in prayer, contrasted by a man whose arms are extended to the sky in salvation.''"

In lesser known, archived works such as ''Ambition'' and ''Aspiration'', which climbs the wall of the Dublin Treasury Building, the artist reveals his sense of humour and somewhat different preoccupations. In his recent biography, an altogether different picture emerges. In his portrayals of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Society of Jesus, Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame places him among the leading English poets. His Prosody (linguistics), prosody – notably his concept of sprung ...

, and

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

, Gillespie has undertaken his own spiritual and literary journey. His more conceptual and abstract pieces such as ''Looking at the Moon'', ''The Kiss'' and the more recent, ''Proclamation'', span the whole gamut of human emotions, from love and awe, to hate and self-destruction. As his biographer writes:

"''Rowan's passionate and often draining encounters with his subjects, and his willingness to undergo personal transformation and rebirth in light of them, takes shape in the gnarled and volcanic textures of his later pieces. They stand before us as a mature, fully fledged portrait of an essentially rough-hewn and raw witness to the emotional turmoil of our time.''"

Proclamation

The original model for ''Proclamation'' was called ''Imagine'' and according to Gillespie's biographer:

"it alluded not only to the
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
peace anthem, but also to the dreams for a utopian society in Ireland espoused by Rowan's grandfather, James Creed Meredith (1874-1942)".

''Proclamation'' has, as its backdrop, the courthouse in which Meredith presided when he was a Circuit Court Judge.Kohn (2007), p 155 Fourteen figures stand in a megalithic circle, at the centre of which is a plaque containing a copy of the Proclamation of Independence, engraved in bronze. Each figure has at its base a small plaque, engraved with the name and the British military tribunal's verdict and sentence of death. The figures are perforated with bullet holes. Since the original commission was for the seven signatories of the Proclamation, Gillespie has donated the other seven martyrs to the site himself.

Solo exhibitions

* 1974 Moss Kunst Foreningen, Norway * 1975 Galleri Cassandra, Norway * 1976 Galleri Cassandra, Norway * Lad Lane Gallery, Dublin * 1977 Galleri 71 Tromso, Norway * Bodo Kunst Foreningen, Norway * Austin Hayes Gallery, York * Lad Lane Gallery, Dublin * 1978 Galleri Cassandra, Norway * 1979 Alwin Gallery, London * 1980 Lad Lane Gallery, Dublin * 1981 Galerie Hüsstege, 's-Hertogenbosch * 1982 The Solomon Gallery, Dublin * Galleri Cassandra, Norway * 1983 Puck Inaugural Exhibition, New York * 1983 Poole Wills Gallery, New York * 1984 The Solomon Gallery, Dublin * 1986-88 Solomon Gallery, Dublin * Galerie Hüsstege, 's-Hertogenbosch * Jonathan Poole Gallery, London * 1989 - 1994 Concentrated on site specific work * 1994 - 95 Solomon Gallery, Dublin * Galerie Hüsstege, 's-Hertogenbosch * 1996 Decision to stop exhibition work in order to concentrate on site specific work.

References and sources

;Notes ;Sources *

External links

Artist's website

The Migrants, Toronto

Artistic Biography and Catalogue of Work, Looking for Orion

Gallery

File:Dilemma, Rowan Gillespie.jpg, ''Dilemma'' (alloy and plexiglass), 1978. This sculpture is 53 cm tall. (Courtesy of Roger Kohn) File:Yeats by Rowan Gillespie.jpg, ''

Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

'' (bronze) 1990. 240 cm. File:The Eternal question, Rowan Gillespie.jpg, ''The Eternal Question'', (bronze), 1991. 37 cm File:Birdy Rowan Gillespie.jpg, ''Birdy'' (bronze), 1997. Height 122 cm. Perched on the windowsill of 3, Crescent Hall, Mount Street, Dublin. File:The Pregnant Woman.jpg, Rowan Gillespie's Great Famine memorial ''The Pregnant Woman'' in Ireland Park on Toronto's

Harbourfront HarbourFront is a waterfront district situated in southern Singapore. Whilst HarbourFront's boundaries are ambiguous, its location is roughly represented on the URA's Master Plan as a subzone called Maritime Square, located within the Bukit Me ...

File:Famine memorial.jpg, Great Famine memorial in Ireland Park, Toronto

File:The Migrants, Rowan Gillespie.jpg, ''Migrants'' (bronze), 2007, Ireland Park, Toronto

. The ''Jubilant Man'' stands 320 cm tall. File:Ireland Park Statue 1.JPG, Rowan Gillespie's Great Famine memorial in Ireland Park, Toronto

File:Famine_memorial_sculpture,_man_with_arms_up_high_in_Ireland_Park,_Toronto.jpg, Detail of Rowan Gillespie's Great Famine memorial in Ireland Park, Toronto, Harbourfront File:Joyce Merrion RG.jpg, ''Ripples of Ulysses'' (bronze), 2000.

Merrion Hotel Merrion Hotel is a hotel in Dublin, Ireland, which comprises a block of four terraced houses on Upper Merrion Street, built in the 1760s by Charles Monck, 1st Viscount Monck, for wealthy Irish merchants and nobility. He lived in No. 22, which b ...

. 200 cm File:Gerard Manley Hopkins, Rowan Gillespie.jpg, ''Gerard Manley Hopkins'', (poet in bronze), 2005. Slightly larger than life-size.

, Denver, Colorado. File:Lazy Lady, Rowan Gillespie.jpg, ''Lazy lady'' (bronze), 2005, 29 cm. File:Looking at the moon, Gouda RK.jpg, Rowan Gillespie's ''Looking at the Moon'' (bronze), 2001, Gouda, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Stands 335 cm tall. File:Helmut Kindle and Rowan, Triesen Jan 2006.jpg, ''Looking Together'' with Helmut Kindle and the artist Rowan Gillespie, taken in

Triesen Triesen (; dialectal: ''Tresa'') is the third largest municipality in Liechtenstein. It contains several historic churches dating from the fifteenth century. It also has a weaving mill from 1863 that is considered a historical monument. The popu ...

2006 File:Lazy Lady1.jpg, ''Lazy Lady'' with her creator in

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

, June 2008 File:L'Eta 2-1.jpg, ''L'Eta Della Donna'', Veneto Banca, Montebelluna-Treviso, Italy, 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillespie, Rowan Living people Irish sculptors People from Blackrock, Dublin 1953 births Irish male sculptors