New mural turning heads in Ballina

A new colourful eye catching piece of artwork on the side wall of Liam O’Rian’s Pub in Ballina featuring local images, has generated a lot of interest from locals and tourists.
The mural depicts local landmarks such as Brian Boru’s Fort, St Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe Bridge, the Lakeside Hotel, Killaloe train station and Ardnacrusha Hydroelectric Power Station, which resulted in a lot of changes in the river landscape after the construction of the Shannon Scheme.
Ms Acheson enjoyed creating an interesting water spiral shape with buildings around it and a constant flow from the sky to the hills, lake and river.
“I did all the buildings in black and white and nature in crazy colours to ensure nature wouldn’t get lost in the overall image. This also provides a bit of a contrast,” she said.
The centre image in the mural shows a turbine under construction during the building of Ardnacrusha Hydro Electric Power Station in the late 1920s. A dam was built at Parteen, downstream from Killaloe, to divert water from the river, the force of which still powers the turbines at Ardnacrusha. To achieve this, major river works, including widening and deepening the river took place in the Killaloe/Ballina area.
The artist was greatly influenced by old photographs provided by Killaloe historian, Una Kierse for her sketches and Ms Kierse has also provided some historical background on some of the key components in the mural, which is expected to be part of an accompanying information plaque.
It was commissioned by Tipperary councillor Phyll Bugler (FG), on behalf of Ballina Boher Tidy Towns, and was paid for out of the council’s mayor’s fund on the recommendation of Dr Bugler.
“It is an amazing piece of art. This took a lot of work over six months. Michael O’Neill gave us the use of his premises on Main Street, Ballina so that Ms Acheson and other volunteers could work on it,” she said.
“Liam O’Rian’s side wall had to be powerwashed and painted before the mural was erected. It took a lot of manpower to place one board over the other properly so the circle could appear in the middle.”
Opting not to paint the 64 square foot mural directly on the side wall of Liam O’Rian’s bar, Ms Acheson worked on two separate waterproof marine plywood that she had to ensure connected properly before the final product could be unveiled.
Mixed media materials included an initial layer of emulsion, acrylics, tile adhesive for the image of the salmon and silver leaf before it was finished with a weatherproof yacht varnish.
One of the advantages of this approach is the mural can be moved to another location.
Volunteers in Ballina Boher Tidy Towns and others erected scaffolding and did a lot of work to put the mural high up on the wall.
Delighted with the final product, Ms Acheson loved incorporating nature and animals such as a heron, kingfisher, squirrel and flowers.
Born in the United States of America and raised in South Africa, Ms Acheson completed her Leaving Certificate in Cork, residing in Italy for five years of art college and numerous locations including five years in Killaloe and now Nenagh.
Working as a visual artist using oil painting, watercolours acrylics and various different materials, she also hosted regular art workshops in the Bridge Studio, Ballina, Killaloe and other local venues for the last ten years.
Back in 2020, she won an award in the Birdhill Art Hub for her painting of two greyounds and is now a judge for this year’s competition.
Providing adult art classes, art therapy for elderly patients in Milbray Nursing Home, Newport and Newport Day Centre as well as teenagers provides her with a great deal of satisfaction.
Her students range from four to 103, Fr Placid, a monk in Glenstall Abbey, who learned how to paint some great paintings over a five-year period while he was residing in Milbray before his death.
“He could read these tiny bibles perfectly. His mind was razor sharp up to the day he died. His paintings were meticilous and amazing,” she said.
“He had a great aura of peace and happiness around him.”
In this mural, artist Kerry Acheson illustrates scenes, past and present, which have shaped and continue to shape the community.
The twin towns, Killaloe and Ballina are nestled beneath the Clare and Tipperary hills where the glorious River Shannon exits Lough Derg and meanders between them on it’s way via Limerick to the Atlantic ocean.
High King, Brian Ború was born in Killaloe in 941 and ruled all of Ireland between 1002-1014 from his palace at Kincora overlooking the Shannon River. Not only is the Shannon a major landmark in this area but as the longest river in Ireland, served as the main artery for accessing the heart of the country before we had a road system. Brian and his Dalcassian forces controlled Viking activity on the river here, thus preventing many Viking incursions further upriver.
Connecting the twin towns is the early 18th century bridge. The larger arches are on the Tipperary side: these arches replaced arches washed away during flooding in 1822. A monument in the centre of the bridge commemorates four volunteers murdered by Auxiliaries on the bridge in November 1920.
A short distance from the bridge is the 13th century St Flannan’s Cathedral, still used weekly by the Church of Ireland community. This mainly Gothic, Cathedral features an impressive Romanesque doorway from a 12th century cathedral which was located on the same site.
Other artefacts to be seen here include the Ogham stone, an impressive East Window and a Kilfenora high cross.
The Ballina side of the river is dominated by two buildings closely linked to the river. The Lakeside Hotel situated just above the river, has an interesting history. Opened in 1900, it was taken over by British Forces in 1916 and occupied by them during the War of Independence. It was burnt during the Civil War in 1922 and reopened as a hotel in 1934. It has operated as a hotel since then.
Killaloe railway station was located where Flanagan’s on the Lake is today. The railway first opened in 1862 moving both passengers and goods. The last train left in 1948.
Acheson also depicts local wildlife. This area, once famous for its trout and salmon fishing is today renowned for coarse fishing. Lough Derg is renowned for the reintroduction of White Tailed Eagles who are successfully breeding at Mountshannon.