ROWAN GILLESPIE
Biography:
Rowan Gillespie was born in Dublin in 1953. His family emigrated to Cyprus when he was 3 months old and stayed there until 1963 when they were evacuated. He attended a Quaker school in York and left at the early age of 16 to enrol at York School of Art. He continued his studies in the sculpture department of Kingston College of Art, and briefly at Kunst og Design Skole in Oslo. He lived, married, and exhibited widely in Norway until 1977 when the family moved to Dublin where he set up his own one-man foundry. He lives and works there to this day.
From 1978 to 1986, he held many successful exhibitions in Ireland, at the Lad Lane and Solomon Galleries, in Holland with Galeri Husstege, and internationally, with the Jonathon Poole Gallery, London bringing his work to New York, Cannes, Los Angeles, Stockholm, Cape Town, and Moscow. He regularly exhibited in international group exhibitions including Rencontre avec des Sculpteurs Européens, Pan Amsterdam, Art Expo New York, Art Toronto, Puck Inaugural New York, BCAF Bath, ICAF London, and Art Miami.
In 1989, he decided to concentrate solely on site-specific work, which resulted in a number of major public sculpture commissions, initially in Ireland then around the world. He has not yet returned to exhibition work.
Possibly his best-known work would be his Migrant series, commemorative sculptures on Custom House Quay in Dublin, Ireland Park in Toronto, and Hobart, Tasmania.
Proclamation in Dublin, a personal tribute to his grandfather James Creed Meredith, commemorates those who were executed in Kilmainham Jail in 1916. Titanica remembers those who died on the Titanic.
Dagger John in Manhattan, Johnny Kilbane in Cleveland, James Joyce in Denver and Dublin, and William Orpen are among his Irish Greats, telling a story of staggering success in a lifetime. The female sculptures include convict women sent to Tasmania in Footsteps and From the Shadows, Mary Wollstonecraft, Rosalind Franklin, and the series A Woman. His Norwegian wife of 48 years is commemorated in a Dublin sculpture, Ciao Bella.
Rowan Gillespie is unique as a sculptor in that he works totally alone, in his Dublin one-man foundry, and personally carries out every aspect of the work from conception to installation.
Public Sculptures and major commissions:
1988 Blackrock Dolmen, Dublin ~ 1990 Cashel Dancers, Cashel ~ 1990 WB Yeats, Sligo ~ 1990 The Kiss, Dublin ~ 1991 Cycle of Life, Colorado ~ 1991 The Age of Freedom, Dublin ~ 1992 The Singer, Galway ~ 1992 The Herald, Dublin ~ 1993 The Minstrels, Denver ~ 1995 Aspiration, Dublin ~ 1996 Enigma, Rosslare ~ 1996 Pater and Ned, Dublin ~ 1996 Solon’s Law, Netherlands ~ 1997 Famine, Dublin ~ 1997 Birdy, Dublin ~ 1998 Homage, Arizona ~ 1999 Ambition, Rotterdam ~ 2000 Ripples of Ulysses, Dublin ~ 2001 Ripples II, Denver ~ 2001 Looking at the Moon, Netherlands ~ Looking to Sea, Dublin ~ 2001 The Dutch Dolmen ~ 2002 Arrival, Toronto ~ 2002 Men of Iron ~ 2003 Three Musicians, Brighton ~ 2003 Band of Contemplation, Dromore ~ 2003 Christ ~ 2003 Looking Together ~ 2004 Gerard Manley Hopkins ~ 2005 Looking for Orion, Liechtenstein ~ 2007 Migrants, Toronto ~ 2007 Proclamation, Dublin ~ 2008 Lazy Lady, Liechtenstein ~ 2009 L’Eta Della Donna, Treviso ~The Ages of Man Westlake Village, CA ~ 2010 Jersey Girl, St. Helier ~ 2013 Solstice, Rosslare ~ 2014 Fighting Heart, Cleveland ~ 2015 Dagger John, New York ~ 2016 Sir William Orpen, Dublin ~ 2016 Turlough O’Carolan, Chicago ~ 2017 Footsteps, Hobart ~ 2018 From the Shadows, Hobart ~ 2019 Failing Better, Dublin ~ 2020 Borrowed Time, Cotswolds ~ 2020 The Irish Nobel Laureates II, Dublin ~ 2021 Moon Shadow, Cotswolds ~ 2022 Looking at Life, Cheshire ~ 2022 Are You There?, Cotswolds ~ Mary Wollstonecraft, Dublin ~ 2022 Ladder of Life, Dublin ~ 2023, What’s Next …? Dublin ~
2024, VIV I, VIV II, VIV III, VIV IV in progress for the Cotswolds.
Rowan Gillespie 