A marriage of stone and steel

Clare artist Barry Wrafter is to unveil his latest masterpiece, as his sculpture, The Cattle Drover, is due to be installed at Cois Daoil, Rathkeale, Limerick.
Barry secured the commission from Limerick County Council through their open submission competition. His piece is derived from the Patrick Kavanagh poem, Shancoduff.
The poem’s final verse begins, The sleety winds fondle the rushy beards of Shancoduff/While the cattle-drovers sheltering in the Featherna Bush/Look up and say: “Who owns them hungry hills/ That the water-hen and snipe must have forsaken?
“I thought a sculpture of what he penned would be apt in an abstract way of honouring him. Instead of a visual statue of the man, my sculpture is a visual statement of the man. It is these lines that I am taking inspiration from. What I am depicting is the moment the farmer decides to move on his stubborn cow, he gently taps his hindquarters in turn the cow raises his head in anticipation of the tap while also looking up to the hungry hills that surround him,” Barry said.
The sculpture, which stands six feet high by 12 foot long and is four foot deep, is due to be erected at Cois Daoil this month. The materials Barry decided to use also add to the grandness of the piece, as he successfully marries Kilkenny cut limestone and stainless steel.
“I always try to do something different and I like to mix and match and try new things and when you try new things, some people like it and some don’t.
“The farmer has his hands in his pocket, their arms and limbs are in stainless steel and the bodies and heads are in stone. I wanted to see if it would work,” he added.
Having the different materials work together in such a way was a difficult process, Barry admits, and its assembly was like a jigsaw puzzle.
“Steel is a very tough material to work with and if you get something wrong, it’s hard to fix. On the upside, it will last forever, it won’t tarnish and it will be there for hundreds of years. It might be an old world theme but it is done in a modern contemporary style to appeal to both worlds, the old and the new.
“The angularity of the sculpture and the sharp contrast of line catches the light in such a way as to throw the high points forward and give shadows to the deep recesses to give stark contrasts between light and dark or as the Italians would say, chiaroscuro,” he concluded.