Art in State Buildings 1995 to 2005 - The Office of Public Works

CLOUD by Joy Gerrard
Glass and steel, 5m x 5m x 5m, Waterford
Government Offices, The Glen, Waterford
the entrance hall of 4 Kildare Street in
November 2003.
For the extensive refurbishment of the
Government offices, locally known as
‘The Glen’ building in Waterford city,
submissions were sought from eight
artists following consultations with the
local Arts Officer and the Chair of the
Art and Culture Committee of the
Waterford Chamber of Commerce. The
brief directed that the art work should
be suspended within the four-storey
glazed atrium, that forms the main
entrance to the re-fitted office building.
The commissioned work Cloud by Joy
Gerrard consists of over 1,000 glass
spheres, ranging in diameter from 50 –
150 mm suspended in the atrium. There
are also a number of light-boxes located
on the balconies, overlooking the
atrium. The glass spheres that make up
the ‘cloud’ are hand blown and vary
from transparent, white, silver and grey.
The work is designed to be viewed from
below, from the balconies and from
outside. Joy Gerrard is primarily known
as a printmaker. Her work ‘takes a number
of forms; representing mappings of densely populated
urban spaces; abstract and dynamic representation –
depicting and invoking the multiplicity of human
relationships through spatial relations, trajectories
and movements. I am particularly fascinated by the
flow and gathering of a crowd and this proposal is
particularly appropriate to a public space as this,
with a constant flow of people working and moving
through it.’
The above examples are just some from
the wide range of art works
commissioned by the OPW over the past
ten years. The Art Management Group
has worked closely with in-house staff
from the OPW Architectural Services
and Project Management Services and
with other government departments,
local authorities, consultant architects,
arts organisations and artists to ensure
best practice principles are adhered to
and that the process is satisfactory for all
involved. It is hoped that the insight and
experience gained from each project
assists in the pursuit of excellence in all
our endeavours to bring relevant,
interesting art to the public. The Art
Management Group looks forward to
continuing this work and embraces the
challenge of making connections
between architecture and art, in all its
forms, in all OPW construction
projects.
Angela Rolfe
Assistant Principal Architect and
Member of the OPW Art Management Group
xx Art in State Buildings 1995–2005