Public Art

In 2019, Mide arts embarked on an ambitious public art project called Iora Nua – Squirrels Reimagined. Iora Nua is designed to engage professional artists and communities in an ambitious art project that seeks to positively transform public spaces through sculpture.

Iora Nua is a temporary public art project involving the placement of large-scale fibreglass squirrel sculptures in public locations across County Longford. The four sculptures were designed by Kilkenny based artists Thomas Duffy and have been rendered in fibreglass with a concrete base and are approximately 2.5 meters in height. The blank sculptures were designed and rendered by local artists through an open call invitation.

The project draws inspiration from the infamous connection Longford has with the release of the grey squirrel into the Irish countryside in 1911. As the sculpture is a mixture of both the red squirrel and the grey squirrel (as Gaelige – Iora Rua agus Iora Glas) we thought it fitting that this new squirrel about to be released from our imagination be christened Iora Nua (New Squirrel).

Currently there are four Iora Nua sculptures in the County:
Myths and Legends by Phil Atkinson
The Mythic by Kevin Flood
The T-1911 by Mary Fleming
Mr. Nuts by Thomas Duffy

The final phase is currently underway to expand the Iora Nua project to 30 smaller squirrel sculptures that form a ‘squirrel trail’ around the county and interact with Longford’s natural and built heritage, a major aspect of Iora Nua. Communities constituted by location, ethnicity or shared interest will be
offered the opportunity to engage with an artist to design and render a squirrel sculpture.