The Great Hunger Memorial at Macy Park in Ardsley, New York

09/06/2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

The Great Hunger Memorial at Macy Park in Ardsley, New York was unveiled on 26 June 2001 to commemorate the suffering of millions of Irish who died or were forced to leave lreland. The monument’s sculptor, Eamonn O’Doherty of Ireland, describes the memorial as comprising three related elements. The first represents five members of an […]

#OTD in 1865 – Oliver Sheppard, sculptor, is born in Cookstown, Co Tyrone.

10/04/2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

Oliver Sheppard was born in Cookstown, Co Tyrone. After his birth the family moved to Dublin, and he studied at the Metropolitan School of Art. He won a scholarship to the South Kensington Art School, where he studied from 1889 to 1891 before spending a year in Paris. He taught in Leicester and Nottingham. When […]

#OTD in 1874 – Birth of sculptor, Jerome Connor, in Annascaul, Co Kerry.

23/02/2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

Jerome Connor was born in Coumduff, Annascaul, Co Kerry. In 1888, he emigrated to Holyoke, Massachusetts. His father was a stonemason, which led to Connor’s jobs in New York as a sign painter, stonecutter, bronze founder and machinist. Inspired by his father’s work and his own experience, Connor used to steal his father’s chisels as a child […]