Salmon Weir
14-meter ceramic, paint, and garden street installation. Commissioned by Limerick City Council. Thomond Weir, Limerick, Ireland. Completed June 2020.
This large-scale installation was produced in a former salmon processing plant beside a fishing weir which ceased production in the 1970s. The concept for the artwork was developed in consultation with residents, many of whom remember the weir and adjoining building as a working industry. The ceramic salmon are three distinct sizes illustrating the three stages of a salmon’s life cycle.
Some of the salmon were made as part of a participatory public workshop with Make a Move Festival in 2019. The fish body is stoneware clay with a black clay stencil on top. They are glazed and finished with mother of pearl lustre to give them a unique iridescent sheen. The work also depicts a traditional ‘snap net’ — with annotations as Gaeilge — a particular type of net that was used exclusively in this area for centuries up until the 1930s.
The wall art was installed in the Summer of 2020 with the final colours being chosen in cooperation with local residents. The area in front of the wall was planted with 3 oak trees and seeded with wildflowers to encourage natural ecological populations to the site and contribute to the ongoing effort to enhance the biodiversity potential of Limerick City. The work was complete in the summer of 2021 when the plants flowered, and the space became a place for wildlife as well as human presence.
Watch a video about the process of creating the work made by Crude Media for Ormston House.