daa

Artist and woodturner, Kathleen Walsh, pictured on O’Connell Street presenting ‘Balance’ this year’s Business to Arts Award, which has been commissioned by daa for the 29th year. Picture Conor McCabe Photography.

Each year daa generously commission an artist to create a suite of sculptures which are awarded to the winning companies. Uniquely daa have awarded this commission every year for the life of these Awards. Previous artists have included Ed Miliano, Michelle Byrne, Seamus Gill, Felim Egan, Dick Joynt, Grace Weir, Cormac Boydell and Kevin O’Dwyer – see gallery below. Cothú and Aer Rianta first worked together with the idea of supporting emerging Irish artists by commissioning a limited edition original sculpture each year, for the annual Business to Arts Awards, rather than follow the trend of purchasing award pieces ‘off the shelf’. It is of enormous credit to the changing staff over the years at Aer Rianta, Dublin Airport Authority and now, daa that their commitment to this process never waned.

‘Balance’ by Kathleen Walsh for the 2021 Business to Arts Awards

“My work is an ongoing exploration of materials and processes, an attempt to find reconciliation and a balance between seemingly opposing elements such as the traditional and the modern.

Using the intrinsic qualities of each material, the natural and the manufactured, I like to challenge the perceptions of the traditional skill of woodturning.

In my piece ‘Balance,’ I build further on this concept, searching for equilibrium or balance between the elements necessary for successful partnerships between the arts and business communities.

The industrial feel and a solid base evokes feelings of formality and permanence, the wood growing in nature from seed and the modern synthetic resin bringing an interplay of translucency, light and energy.”

Materials used: Wood, Resin & Acrylic and Acrylic composite.