Artist Vivienne Roche provides an insight into how she creates her giant metal sculptures.
Vivienne Roche is acknowledged as one of Ireland's most talented abstract sculptors. She came to sculpture late having been a painter synonymous with work that was often considered almost photographic. She has left painting behind her opting for a life as a sculptor.
Today she works not with pen or brush but with iron and steel and the heat of an acetylene torch.
In addition to the iron and steel that go into her work, she also uses sailcloth.
Reporter Peter McNiff meets Vivienne Roche at her workshop in Cork where she describes her work process. This usually begins on a small scale using aluminium before commencing work on the large scale projects. Vivienne Roche's work is very much about the use of time, space and material quality. Vivienne hopes people experience her work with an open-mind.
I'm making shapes from my own experience and I like people to come free enough to experience those shapes and translate it back into their experiences.
She emphasises the importance of making a sculpture for a specific site or for a public space in terms of architecture, materials, and forms.
With the average cost of a public structure ranging from ten to thirty thousand pounds, this can present a challenge for sculptors trying to make a living from their work.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 29 June 1987. The reporter is Peter MacNiff.
