THE SCULPTOR Albert G Power is best known as the creator of the Pádraic Ó Conaire statue, once an integral part of Eyre Square, but now on display in the Galway City Museum.
Ó Conaire is by no means the only work Power produced for Galway. Indeed County Galway provided him with more commissions than any other county in Ireland. Beginning in 1923 he completed a memorial to Fr Michael Griffin in Barna, where the priest had been murdered by the Black and Tans. In the late 1920s, he carved several unusual altars for St Michael's Church in Ballinasloe and nearby Garbally College.
.
Passionate about using Irish stone rather than imported white Italian marble, these display a range of colours including green marble from Connemara. Later he would carve a statue of St Joseph and the Child Christ for the grounds of the college. A statue to Christ the King graces the main square in Gort (1932 ).
The life and work of Albert Power (1881-1945 ) will be explored in a lecture by Dr Síghle Breathnach-Lynch, at the Galway City Museum this Saturday at 2.30pm. Dr Breatchnach-Lynch is former curator of Irish art at the National Gallery of Ireland and author of the recently-published book, Expressions of Nationhood in Bronze and Stone: Albert G. Power RHA.
Admission is free but spaces are limited. Booking a place is via 091 - 532460.
