President Michael D. Higgins was in New York in September for the United Nations General Assembly, where he attended many high-level bilateral meetings with other world leaders. While in New York, he also participated in various other events around the city with the Irish diaspora. At the U.N., Higgins delivered Ireland’s national statement to the General Assembly and later … [Read more...] about President Higgins in the U.S.A.
Sculpture
The Forgotten Irish American Artist of the Capitol Building
Geoffrey Cobb writes about Thomas Crawford, who sculpted the figure of Liberty and Freedom on top of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. People around the world recognize the massive, iconic statue of freedom majestically standing atop our nation’s capitol building in Washington, D.C., yet few people know that a New York Irish American, Thomas Crawford, created it. … [Read more...] about The Forgotten Irish American Artist of the Capitol Building
Bog Treasures
Five thousand years ago, on the windswept edge of Western Europe, near the village of Ballycastle, halfway between Benwee Head and Killala Bay, a community of farmers, cattlemen, crafters of wood and stone, men and women of passionate beliefs were engaged in an organic and spiritual existence alongside the daunting, relentless sea cliffs of North Mayo. The primeval forest of … [Read more...] about Bog Treasures
Gift Idea for Art Lovers
Irish sculptor John Behan's bronze memorial "Arrival" was recently unveiled at the UN Plaza in New York. Behan describes the work as having an emphasis "...on hope, the future. The people walk down the gangplanks into a new world having survived the wild, stormy voyage across the Atlantic. But the sculpture speaks to us of all peoples, not merely the Irish." Behan's work is … [Read more...] about Gift Idea for Art Lovers
The Molly Maguires Remembered
Controversy haunts memorial to the Molly Maguires. ℘℘℘ On 21 June 2002, to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the hanging of the Molly Maguires -- ten Irish Catholic anthracite coal miners convicted of intimidation and murder by an impartial jury of non-peers -- ten men who led the miners' fight against capitalist oppression through the Workingmen's Benevolent Association of … [Read more...] about The Molly Maguires Remembered