Maggie Madden, Gathering, 2022, stone and marble; photograph by David Monahan, courtesy of the artist and Fingal County Council.
Artwork Title: Gathering
Artist’s Name: Maggie Madden
Commissioning Body: Cosgrave Developments
Date Sited: 1 April 2022
Budget: €60,000
Commission Type: Local Authority
Project Partners: Fingal County Council’s Public Art Programme
Maggie Madden, Gathering, 2022, stone and marble; photograph by David Monahan, courtesy of the artist and Fingal County Council.
Gathering (2022) is a series of four stone and marble sculptures commissioned for a new housing development in Santry, County Dublin. The work is located at the entrance to the development, adjacent to a row of protected mature oak trees, and across from the playground, a place where people meet and gather.
The sculptures allude to ancient stone circle monuments, which served many possible purposes, including ceremonial sites and gathering places. The artist designed each piece with a maximum height of 55cm and a flat level top to make them accessible for the public to use as seats. The seat shapes were derived from the 1830s Ordnance Survey map of the Santry area, showing linear boundaries of enclosed fields and woodland.
The stone and marble were sourced from different countries. These durable, natural materials, slowly formed over millions of years, have a beautiful materiality to them. The layers and veins of colour that emerge, when the stone is cut and honed, invite you to run your hand along it, connecting back to the earth and the land. Madden wanted to engage the public with a simple work that invites a physical experience; not just through looking, but to sit, pause, and connect.
