This article is from page 26 of the 2007-04-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 26 JPG
CLAIRE Neylon has secured her first major corporate design contract and she has yet to graduate from col- lege.
The Kilkee student won the con- tract to provide a piece of sculpture as part of the refurbishment of the mobile phone company O2’s head- quarters in Plassey, Limerick.
During May last year, the 22-
year-old, with fellow students from second, third and fourth year at the School of Art and Design in Limer- ick (affiliated to Limerick IT), were invited to submit a proposal for a piece of art that would best represent
the company.
This piece could be in sculpture or media form such as video or photog- eel eN VA
With a keen eye and a creative im- agination, Claire studied the O2 logo where the idea for her winning piece came from.
The student, now in her fourth and final year, was inspired by the O2 bubbles, which she proposed to display in the front window of the eluunKenbaren
She commissioned a glass blower in Northern Ireland to make 60 glass “bubbles” ranging in diameter from 80 inches to two inches.
On Saturday, the young woman, with the assistance of the college’s sculpture technician Pat Biesty, in- stalled the glass pieces.
Each glass bubble was hung at dif- ferent lengths on 10 steel cables to represent floating bubbles.
Claire was responsible for the en- tire project, and had to organise eve- rything from the professional glass blower to the installation.
She then had to submit the budget to O2 for the cost of the piece and the customary 20 per cent for the artist onto be
“This is a great opportunity for me as a Student to have work in the public domain before I have even left college,’ she said.
The piece of sculpture is now on display for all potential employers or commissioners of art to see, as well as being a welcome addition to her CV.
The Kilkee woman is planning to eraduate from her course in Sculp- ture and Combined Media in a few weeks time. She then hopes to work through art in the community.
Claire is a past pupil of Kilrush Community College.