US Architect Makes Dublin Bloom

A temporary installation for the famous Bloom Festival 2011 is to be permanently located in north Dublin once the poetry festival has ended.

Builders will move in and shift the UNESCO City of Literature Garden to Phibsborough Library, North Circular Road, Dublin.

Then, through the support of the Dublin City Libraries and the Central Area Office, it is to be maintained by Dublin City Council's Parks and Landscape Services.

Earlier this summer, the 'River Run' Blooms in the Park facility had its official opening by Councillor Mary O'Shea.

Representing the Lord Mayor of Dublin, it was unveiled as part of the 2011 Bloom Festival in Phoenix Park.

'River Run' was designed by Maryann Harris of Dublin City Council's Parks and Landscape Services to celebrate the designation by UNESCO, of Dublin, as a City of Literature.

Ms Harris is a landscape architect and landscape ecologist, working in planning, designing and managing public landscapes in Ireland since 1993 and is a native New Yorker who received her B.Sc. (Hons) in Landscape Architecture from Cornell University, where she was awarded a Fellowship to work in Ireland and Europe on historic gardens.

She has worked for the Office of Public Works and has been practising as a landscape architect in Dublin local authorities since 1997.

She has been employed by Dublin City Council as a Senior Executive Parks Superintendent for nine-years and is currently Vice-President of the Irish Landscape Institute.

She said that some fragments of salvaged stone from Dublin's old city street's "walked upon by residents' ancestors" were reused in the garden and that the Liffey river - which flows through Dublin's heart and which inspires Dublin's literature - takes a 'journey through it', reappearing in a majestic sculptural piece by Leo Higgins.

Also commenting Councillor O'Shea said: "This truly poetic garden is symbolic of Dublin's ability to reinvent itself time and time again, constantly striving to produce inspiring stories.

"Dublin's creativity, like River Run, is still flowing strongly today," she said, at the opening in June.

Dublin now joins Edinburgh, Melbourne and Iowa City as a City of Literature.

The designation is permanent and acknowledges Dublin's literary heritage and culture.

Heritage

'River Run' was created as Inspiration for this garden came for Ian Hamilton Finlay's garden at Little Sparta near Edinburgh and also from living and working in the places of the City of Literature. Promoting sustainability the plants and materials will be re-used in Dublin parks after the exhibition.

Park and Landscape Services design and manage the city's landscapes to provide an attractive and sustainable city. Its is responsible for managing 3,500 acres of parks and open spaces, protection and promotion of biodiversity and the provision of playing pitches, golf, tennis and playgrounds. Dublin city has more green spaces per square mile than any other European capital city.

(BMcC/GK)