Gates of Erris
On Wednesday the 8th January we unveiled out Public Art Sculpture, ‘The Gates of Erris’. This Art project was commissioned by the Department of Education and designed and manufactured by Mr William Doherty, from Bangor Erris and a past pupil of Our Lady’s.
In attendance were the school students, past and present Board of Management members, past principal Ms Josephine Moran, Mr. William Doherty, and the school staff members. The unveiling was completed by the Leaving Cert Leaders, Lauren Dixon, Dawn Worth, Daniel Barrett and Mikey Ginnelly.
This public art work symbolises an underlying theme in Our Lady’s Secondary School’s history in Erris, the fostering of true unity through a sculpture inspired by the rich cultural heritage of the catchment area of Our Lady’s Secondary School. The rural region of Erris is engulfed in history and folklore which has always been an important part of the cultural fabric of Erris and its people. The Gates of Erris is one such story that is as symbolic to Our Lady’s Secondary School today as it was to people living in Erris century’s ago.
The forgotten and once iconic Gates of Erris were located in a mountain valley in the centre of Erris called Glencastle. Standing in the middle of this glen and guarding a gateway in Erris stands an ancient fort called “Dun Domnall”. It was here at this ancient fort that The Gates of Erris once stood.
According to folklore & legends, every night The Gates of Erris were closed against all intruders. The remains of this once great fort is now three very large mounds close to the road on the right hand side as you travel westwards. These have never been archaeologically investigated but folklore legends recall that this was an old gateway in Erris and a toll had to be paid for each traveller who passed through or the traveller may never be seen again.
The idea of a stream of these ancient people, the ancestors of today’s students, passing through these gates over the ages, It is easy to see the similarity to Our Lady’s Secondary School as the conceptual form of this gate in Erris today.
Inspired by this piece of local folklore this sculpture takes the form of a contemporary conceptual gate. The gate is constructed from letter forms that spell out family names that make up the multifaceted identity of the students at Our Lady’s Secondary School together with the names of the Sisters of Mercy who founded the school and the families now living in Erris. By using this approach of connecting the names side by side it creates in the piece a feeling of unity allowing the students to see past conventional parish or town land barriers that may separate them but instead encourages them to look to the region and see each other as a whole. The use of typography creates a conceptual duality between the negative and positive space of the letter-forms and the surrounding landscape of the sea, sky and the school. This is intended to stimulate intellectual engagement, connecting the sculpture with the viewers on an intuitive level. The opening in the gate allows the viewer to interact with the work by moving through the piece and thus temporarily finding themselves becoming part of it.
Over the last eight decades Our Lady’s Secondary School has been the gateway, in so many forms for students in Erris:
A gateway to students inalienable right to an education. A gateway to students physical, moral and intellectual endowment. A gateway for students to pursue true freedom as they prepare to embark on the greater journey of life with courage and constancy. A gateway for students to the formation of the human person in the pursuit of his/her ultimate end. A gateway which students know will always be open.
With thousands of young people from Erris passing through the school since its foundation in 1943, Our Lady’s Secondary School can be seen as the modern day Gates of Erris.
The use of type in the sculpture pays homage to the development of letter forms and typography the work attempts to pare back our understanding of one’s education to the very simple development and understanding of regular letter-forms and thus expressing how extremely important education is in young people’s lives and how its influence ever grows in the social progress of this age.
The use of combined typographic elements as the main visual aesthetic provides physicality through words that convey an essence of a place, a people and the connection between them. Allowing a more integrated reading of the landscape the students and staff of Our Lady’s Secondary School inhabit. The design emphasises form and language, making it universal expressing the idea of when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved. By using the family names the work creates a gamut of emotions while also paying tribute to the families that make up the schools shared history with the community, creating a sense of belonging while integrating and honouring the personal and communal. The work has no negative assertions, but rather a message of hope, community, beauty and strength in unity.
