RACHEL JOYNT

Clutch

Date: 2006

Medium: Cast Bronze

Dimensions: Each egg is 85cm x 115cm. Book: 20 x 27cm (not including rock)

Location : Baltray, Co. Louth

The three eggs are situated in a ‘clutch’ on the grass adjacent to the shoreline at Baltray. The bronze eggs have a dimpled texture and are patinated a light cream colour with spots and blotches of brown. The eggs are similar to those of the Little Tern which nest locally. A bronze book on eggs lies open on a rock next to them.

‘A playful, rather surreal and interactive feature to this expansive costal landscape’.

When the artist first visited the site, she was struck by the “wild bird oasis”. She contacted Birdwatch Ireland to find out more about what types of birds nested and migrated to this area of Louth. She then based this work on the eggs of the Little Tern, Ireland’s rarest nesting seabird, which nest on the shingle at Baltray. She says “it was important for me to achieve a realism when working on the enlarged eggs to create a surreal effect and to try to retain the delicacy of these eggs.

“Mark Holmes from the Natural History Museum allowed me to study and photograph the little eggs which he pulled out from their enormous specimen egg archive. The egg was spun in plaster to get the pure form and finally the wax eggs were cast in bronze at Bronze Art Ltd. In the foundry working with Chris Newmann we patinated the eggs to create the particular colours and blotches that characterise these eggs.”