Glyph sculpture by Sally McKenna
At the Glore Mill Art Centre we have been working in the sculpture and labyrinth gardens making signs for all the paths so that visitors can find their way around better. Ray Cooper has built four labyrinths with entrances facing each other to form a central platform of stone. Visitors begin by standing there first and breathe deeply before moving into the circular path of the labyrinth.
Glyph sculpture by Sally McKenna
At each main seasonal point around the large enclosing stone circle, made by my husband, is a sculpture that I have welded. At the Equinox point is a sculpture called Glyph that I made in 1976. Little did I know then that it would travel to Ireland and stand at the half way point of balance between light and dark.
The sculpture is painted in red and gold and is intersected like the day of the Equinox into equal parts. It is a time of balance and in Ireland the day often has an eerie quality of calm. Mark the sun rise and it will be exactly 12 hours to the sunset. For the rest of the year the coming months will be a time to welcome souls at Samhain, then to move on to the Winter solstice, an ancient time for burying the dead at the Newgrange tumulus in Meath.
About Sally McKenna
Sally McKenna is an artist and sculptor at the Glore Mill Art Centre in Kiltimagh, County Mayo. A graduate in Art from Arizona State University, she has worked as a professional artist and sculptor for decades. Her paintings and sketches inspire her sculpture and record her travels across Ireland and the United States.
Her work fuses fibre with welded metal: a blend of papers and paint, rewoven canvas and hand-loomed fibre encased in steel, copper or brass. Commissions include public and private pieces in Ireland and the United States, among them the Raftery Monument in Kiltimagh (2011) and "Sun Under Tara" at Dalgan Park, County Meath (2005). She illustrated Cill Aodáin & Nowhere Else, a limited edition book of original poems by Terry McDonagh, signed and numbered by both authors.
See also Equinox Reflection and Artwork.