Abstract

This art commission consists of a stone table, five bronze bowls with historic artifacts, a fiber-optic light, flowing water, and a living tree. The table is constructed from Limestone, and is hollowed out to contain water. Each of the five bowls on the table represents an era of human history in the area, (i.e. from the first inhabitants of Ireland at Mountsandel in the early Stone Age, through the late Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, until the contemporary Information Age.)Each bowl contains artifacts from each epoch, such as, Mesolithic flint tools, a Porcelanite axe, bronze axe, iron axe, and computer components. Water flows from the first of the bronze bowls, which represents early man’s artifacts, and then flows out the last in the sequence of bowls, which represents our contemporary Information Age. The artwork refers to the long history of human habitation in the Coleraine area on the Bann and at Whitepark Bay. The flowing water reflects the river Bann and the passing of time and the span of history.The artwork was commissioned by Coleraine Borough Council via the Sustrans Cycle Network, and through an open tender competition process.