Wexford Blue Whale: Chanies Across the Sea
Produced by Wexford Arts Centre in association with artist Helen McLean
When: 11 – 20 June
Where: Wexford Quay
Ticketing: Free
Since 1857, pottery fragments from a shipwreck bound for Savannah, Georgia have washed ashore on beaches across Wexford. These fragments, or chanies, will be used to create a new, permanent mosaic artwork at Wexford Quay.
The Wexford Blue Whale, by Helen McLean, installed at Wexford Quay.
The Wexford Blue Whale: Chanies Across The Sea project, produced by Wexford Arts Centre in association with artist Helen McLean, involves the creation of a large-scale whale mosaic and four accompanying buoy mosaics, in collaboration with local people and the global Wexford diaspora, which will be installed permanently at Wexford Quay.
The materials used in the making of the mosaics are shards of pottery, ’chanies’, from Stoke on Trent that have, for more than a century, washed up on the shores of the harbour from shipwrecks, including a ship bound bound for Savannah Georgia USA in 1857. The mosaics represents hope in our ability to stay connected and sustain community collaboration on a local and international level.
The mosaic whale recalls the 25-metre blue whale beached in Wexford 1891, subsequently sold to the Natural History Museum in London where it now hangs in the entrance hall.
The chanies within the whale and the four buoy mosaics preserve the history and the journeys that connect Wexford with the UK and Savannah, home to generations of Wexford’s emigrants.
Special Event
Wexford Blue Whale: Chanies Across the Sea Panel Discussion
Tuesday 15 June at 7pm. Hosted on Zoom.
All are welcome to join a panel discussion on the creation and importance of this beautulf new permanent artwork installed at Wexford Quay.
Participants include Helen McLean, Richard Sabin, Principal Curator, Mammals, Natural History Museum London, Dr Howard Keeley, Director, Irish Research & Training, Georgia Southern University, Savannah, Anne Kinnaird, Co-Director and Lead Artist, Festival Stoke and more guests to be confirmed.
