Desmond Egan,
Lecture given at The James McKenna Retrospective,
Riverbank Arts Centre .
James McKenna, above all else, is remembered as a Sculptor. It was as a sculptor that he enjoyed the high regard of his contemporaries and it is here that we must begin to assess his achievement, above all, its figurative element.
James McKenna, Irish Stone Sculptor
Creator of The Hopkins Monument in Monasterevin (1991)
James McKenna's Hopkins Monument (Limestone (Life size)
Commissioned by The Gerard Manley Hopkins Society 1991
James McKenna's Hopkins Monument is installed on the banks of the River Barrow in Monasterevin. This lifesize limestone monument (Lifesize) Commissioned by The Gerard Manley Hopkins Society Ltd. in 1991. Thanks to generous sponsors, the Hopkins Festival Committee Society were able to commission James to create this splendid monument to Gerard Manley Hopkins, an English poet who described Monasterevin as 'one of the struts and props' of his existence'. Hopkins spent his last years in Ireland and in the opinion of many, has written some of his best poetry while teaching in the Royal University in Dublin. He is buried in the Jesuit Plot in Glasnevin Cemetary.
James McKenna was involved with the Gerard Manley Hopkins Festival from its commencement in 1987.
The splendid monument, depicting two figures, also includes a lectern, used each year during the Hopkins International Summer School. The monument is located opposite the Cassidy home, where Hopkins stayed when in Monasterevin.
This Hopkins Monument is a proud landmark in Monasterevin and when in 2008, it was vandalized and even insensitively sand-blasted, ageing the monument overnight by about twenty years. There was huge concern about the future of this fine monument. Now, things to have settled down and it is to be hoped that the Monument can be left in Monasterevin.
James McKenna's magnificent Gerard Manley Hopkins Monument in Kildare is a lasting monument to James - and to the enthusiasm of the Hopkins Committee at that time.
Stone Sculptor James McKenna, a Celebration
In October 2002, two years after his untimely death, friends gathered in The Riverbank Arts Centre to celebrate the memory of this fine spirit. James McKenna, A Celebration (edited by Desmond Egan) was launched.
Among artists who contributed are: Robert Ballagh (Irish artist); Brian Bourke (Irish artist); Ronnie Drew (Irish musician - the Dubliners);
Ulick O'Connor (Irish writer); Noel Sheridan (Irish playwright);Fergus Bourke (Irish Photographer);
Benedict Byrne (Irish Sculptor) Read about this Celebration of sculptor, James McKenna
With great sadness, the Hopkins Festival Committee and his many friends and admirers from the Artistic World said a sad farewell
to James McKenna, one ot the Festival founding faithers. He was buried in Kilbelan (St. Conleth's) Cemetary, in Newbridge, in October 2000.
The monument erected over McKenna's grave features his sculpture The Woman of the Woods. Lettering on grave was by Benedict Byrne; epitaph by Desmond Egan.
McKenna's Ghost Riders in the Sky, a Sad Tale of Neglect...
Mebh Ruane, Art Critic,
The Sunday Times,
March 18, 2001
Many in the Arts world find a source of great grief and a sad comment on 'the Arts establishment' in Ireland that McKenna's magnificent Ghost Riders ride no more in Hazelwood Sculpture Park. The Ghost Rider Group is no more and due to a combination of vandalism and public neglect, have now largely returned to dust...
James Healy,
Journalist,
The Leinster Leader,
Kildare.
Thursday 3 August 2000
In 2000, Hopkins Literary Festival had a huge McKenna sculpture, a larger than life horse and rider, Oisin Caught In A Time Warp, or,
Oisin in Dhiaidh ne Féinne. McKenna is possibly the finest artist working in Ireland today. This magnificent piece is now on display in Arus Chil Dara, Co. Kildare admin HQ. Well worth a visit ...
Oisin Caught In A Time Warp
James McKenna Sculptor, Playwright and Poet
Aidan Dunne,
Art Critic,
The Irish Times,
Saturday, Ocober 14, 2000
James exhibited work with the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1957 and the following year with the Sculptors' Institute Exhibition. In 1960, he exhibited with Noel Sheridan, Patrick McElroy, Patrick Pye, Elizabeth Rivers and others He was a founder member of Independent Artists, a major force in Irish art well into the 1970s. The Group's first exhibition featured a virtual show within a show of his work.
Brian Fallon, Art Critic, The Irish Times
The Irish Times.
McKenna first exhibited with the Exhibition of Living Art in 1957 and with the Sculptor's Institute Exhibition in 1958. He helped found the Independent Artists Group in the 60s.It featured ten of McKenna's works.
James McKenna was awarded a Macaulay Scholarship to Italy. He continued to exhibit with the Independent Artists.
The Gerard Manley Hopkins Society celebrate the life and work of sculptor James McKenna and his contribution to The Hopkins Festival since its inception in 1987. James McKenna's last Exhibition in July 2000, when he exhibited his magnificent Oisin Caught in a Time Warp, may well have been his most amazing, most nourishing.
James McKenna Sculptor
Patrick Murphy, Chairman,The Arts Council, had this to say of James McKenna at the time of his deatih in 2000.
'James McKenna was one of the most talented artists of his generation. Truly a renaissance man with a multiplicity of talents in sculpture, drawing, poetry, drama, music and languages, I had the honour of opening James's last exhibition at the Gerard Manley Hopkins Summer School in July. I will miss him as an artist and a friend. Ar dheis Dé; go raibh a anam dhílis'.
McKenna, Recipient of the 1996 O'Connor Award
James McKenna was awarded The O'Connor Award, to a standing ovation, during the 1996 Hopkins Literary Festival.
James McKenna, Man of Compassion
'James McKenna continued to explore his theme of men victimised not through their own fault but by
the uncaring world in which they lived. Each piece of sculpture is beautifully carved, chiselled, with loving attention. His figures have
life in them; the faces, however, come as a surprise like the actors in his plays. They wear masks; frozen in their aloneness; poignant;
serious; essentially tragic. Such is the McKenna perception.'
The James McKenna Retrospective Exhibition
This Exhibition held in The Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge and curated by Catríona Fallen is a major highlight. McKenna is our finest sculptor and his giant wooden horse
sculpture stuns visitors. Desmond Egan: James McKenna, A Celebration (The Goldsmith Press c. 2001).
Oisin Caught in the Time Warp
In 2000, Oisin Caught in the Time Warp was installed in Arus Bríde, the new administrative headquarters of County Kildare. This monument is much admired by visitors.
A 16 foot high Oisin on horseback, sculpted out of pine planks dowelled together: was an immense undertaking which occupied James for much of five years.
The Hopkins Garden
Opened in 2000, The tree-filled Hopkins Garden leads down to the River Barrow, 'burling, brown' fittinlgy situated behind The Hopkins Monument. Each year, until 2001, a tree is planted to remember departed friends of the Hopkins Festival. In 2001, a fine oak tree was planted to commemorate James McKenna and in 2004, another commemorates Hugh Kenner's support of the Hopkins Festival over many years.
