Irish Independent: ‘I still hold out on the dream to light up Dublin’s Pigeon House chimneys’

Patrick O'Reilly (64) is a sculptor renowned for his bear sculptures. Born in Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny, he lives in Howth, Co Dublin, with wife Geraldine.

Tell us about your childhood
Ballyragget is a small rural town where one could feel perfectly alone.
It allowed me the privilege and pleasure of daydreaming.
Three words to describe you
Loyal, mercurial and gentle.
Tell us about your schooldays
My schoolhouse was in a beautiful old building with no electricity and with an open fire in winter.
I remember the teacher arriving each morning on his bicycle and boiling water for his instant Nescafe on a small paraffin stove.
What did you read as a boy?
Ratty, Mole. Mr Toad and all the humanised creatures in Kenneth Grahame's masterpiece The Wind In The Willows were my absolute friends. The humanisation of the characters in the book is a theme that has continued right through my own work and has been an enormous influence on me.
Tell us about fishing and the bliss of solitude
I really liked to go fishing. In those tranquil moments of pure solitude, I could dream of a life far away, a very different life. Being alone was not a choice but a necessity. This is still the case.
Talk to us about art as a boy
I was passionate about drawing, being creative and using my hands. I enjoyed breaking up old linoleum tiles into rough squares to make mosaics pictures.

As the youngestof seven, you were sent to Mungret College boarding school in Limerick with the Jesuits when you were aged 11. Tell us more.
The Jesuit priests were incredibly supportive of my creativity and they provided me with a studio in a disused dormitory. Two of the priests demonstrated enormous kindness when ther helped me to prepare my portfolio and supported me to sit the entrance exam for Belfast Art College.
Why are you a sculptor?
It is all I have ever dreamt of doing. I feel so privileged. l am obsessed with trying to put emotion into three-dimensional form.
What does it take to be a sculptor?
Your life. A burning desire and afr enduring compulsion.
Best advice you were given?
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart,is true for all men.
Best advice you give?
In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.
Tell us about working with bronze and what you have in this new exhibition
Bronze is a noble material and is forever. Bronze sculptures lost at sea more than 2,000 years ago have been recovered in a better condition than the day of manufacture.I will show some previously unseen new abstract pieces.
They are the culmination of a number of years of development: oil on canvas with bronze, a hybrid between sculpture and painting.
What drives you?
I am driven by the possibility of what I might do tomorrow,
Tell us about finding inspiration for your work
Inspiration comes from within. It is associated with my activities of reading, music and walking alone. I put up my sail and draw freely from where the wind takes my imagination.
Despite tragedies, sets backs. disappointments and dark times, life goes on.
Talk to us about your bear sculptures
The bears represent resilience.
They stride forward reaching towards future better days. Thope the bears give solace, strength and courage. And to know the journey is so important, not the destination.
Do the other arts influence you?
I have a deep interest and passion for classical ballet and dance. My other enduring passion is music ranging from Wagner to U2.
Do you have any dreams for Dublin art?
I still hold out on the dream to light up the Pigeon House chim-neys. In this age of LED it is more possible than ever.

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/theatre-arts/sculptor-patrick-oreilly-i-still-hold-out-on-the-dream-to-light-up-dublins-pigeon-house-chimneys/a686854407.html