The Sculpture, your Editor's view

Well, now that the Diary poll is completed and whatever I say won't influence it, writes Brian Byrne, I figure as the other Valley trustee I can safely voice my own opinion on the M9 sculpture.

I'm in favour of the proposal to locate it in the Valley, and especially the suggested position where it will be clearly visible from the bridge and from the Market Square.

I believe that part of the Valley needs something. It is a bit of emptiness, with a rather scruffy background of steep bank and scrub. Something fairly substantial there would better 'anchor' that section of the park, which is also the gateway to the place.

And I think a piece in that position would quite well triangulate with the other two existing elements, the spout and the 1978 opening edifice, and offer a greater visual depth. There's something about a trinity, whether it be people talking or things in a place, which will usually offer a greater dimension to whatever is going on.

As to the piece itself. My fellow trustee, Jim Collins, has expressed concerns that it is, among other things, 'too modern' for the park. He mentions the 200 years old spout and St Brigid's Well and suggests that the Valley and its 'natural beauty' has nothing to do with the M9.

The Valley itself was never an old amenity for Kilcullen, and only came into existence in the 1970s. Thanks largely to Jim Collins himself, who masterminded the purchase, payment for, and development of the ugly scrubland behind Molloy's milking shed. As children many of us in my generation had played there, sure, scuttling along a number of slippery and very unsafe paths created in the undergrowth. But there's nothing historic about today's Valley park except as a place with several plaques commemorating individuals who were outstanding in the development of Kilcullen through the 1970s and thereabouts.

The spout may well indeed be 200 years old, but it was never in the Valley itself. It was on a wall up near the main street, in a scruffy lane down to the river, usually cow-patted by the beasts driven up and down twice a day to Molloys. It had been one of the sources of the village's drinking water until mains water arrived. I have my own memories of lugging pails of water from the spout each day for my grandmother, who swore by it as much healthier drinking water than that mains stuff. 

The spout disappeared during the development of the Valley park, and it was only rediscovered in 2000. Again thanks to Jim's efforts, it was relocated and connected to the original spring from where it continues to pour today. As a direct relationship to the Valley park, it has nothing much; but it is good that it has been placed in the park, where its heritage and original value can be celebrated.

St Brigid's Well is modern myth. Again, many of my generation will recall it as a mucky spring in the bit of sloping field across the road from Nolans hayshed. If there was ever any documented connection to the patron saint of Kildare, I've never read it. But as part of the development of the Valley park, a proper surround was built, and the spring was subsequently graced with a fairly modernistic sculpture produced by the late Fr Henry Flanagan. But old and historic? Nope, more likely the runoff from the higher Nolans land above it. The water, by the way, was always unfit to drink, and still is as far as I know.

Now, the Valley not having any connection with the M9? Not directly, certainly. But indirectly it does have a number of parallels. For instance, that aforementioned lane down to the river by the spout probably was the way down to the ford across it. Before it was 'bypassed' by the first of the bridges which now link the two parts of Kilcullen. And the M9 has, since the first section was opened, bypassed that bridge and Kilcullen itself. 

The original road through Kilcullen was not just the way from Dublin to Kilkenny and points further south, but was also the main road to Cork out of the Pale. So the many motorists who still use the bridge driving about their local business would certainly be part of a connection with the M9 sculpture as they cross the Liffey southwards. The piece's title, 'Homeward', would certainly resonate with those drivers inching their way across the bridge at teatime.

As Jim rightly mentions, the work was designed to be viewed on the side of a motorway by travellers passing it. Which also means that it doesn't have a back in sculptural terms. If it were located in the Market Square, facing up the hill northwards, then those looking at it from behind—either in the square itself, or from the Valley across the river—would be looking at a blank rear. As for the Logstown Road junction, or the parking space beside the bank, each of those would be too close to the road for the size of the piece.

Placing sculptures in public parks is a time-honoured practice and has resulted in old, not quite as old, and modern pieces existing happily side by side. Attracting interest from both traditionalists and modernists. And as often as not marking moments of transition in an area or community. The addition of 'Homeward' to Kilcullen's list of public sculpture fills that last, I believe.

Comments have been made in other forums about 'spending the money on something more worthwhile'. The thing is, the money for these motorway project art pieces is ring-fenced, under the Per Cent for Art Scheme launched in 2004. It provides that up to 1 percent of the value of public works be set aside for related art.

And so to the Diary poll, which ended yesterday. Whatever its outcome, I find it very heartening that 116 people in the community felt exercised enough to register their feelings. In the context of some 3,500 people living in Kilcullen, and up to 20,000 pages viewed on the website every month, it may not seem much. But only a very small percentage of readers would ever use an Internet poll anyhow. The final tally was substantially more than I ever expected.

The 'no' side prevailed, by a small margin. I should mention that the poll was informal on the Diary's part, and was never going to be the basis of whatever decision is made. Though I reckon it will be noted. And it is interesting that the result reflects accurately the divergent views of the two remaining trustees of the Valley.

So what's next? I don't know. Pistols at dawn between Jim and myself in the Valley is not a runner, partly because we have been friends too long and, besides, we might not manage to miss each other. The making of the sculpture itself has just begun, as per the contract between Kildare County Council and the artist. Pretty soon, a decision has to be made about the location. 

Wherever it goes, the very worst decision would be that it ends up in some other place along the M9. We really don't want to lose this one.