Battle of Clontarf artwork brightens up the street of downtown San Jose!

Artwork by a nine year Irish boy from Co Galway on the theme of the Battle of Clontarf recently went on public display in San Jose, California, USA.

The winning entries from the Battle of Clontarf Art competition which was organised by the Clontarf Historical Society and Raheny Heritage Society were submitted to the San Jose’s Downtown Doors competition. Josh Evason, age 9, from Castleblakeney National School, Co Galway was the lucky winner.  Josh is now the youngest competitor to have his artwork selected in the twelve year history of the San Jose Downtown Doors competition. Josh took the inspiration for his artwork from the story of Brian Boru.

The Downtown Doors is an art competition and outdoor exhibit produced by the San Jose Downtown Foundation. Blank service and utility doors on major streets are used as “canvases.” Each piece that is selected is enlarged and reproduced on the door sites. The artwork is typically displayed for two years. The large-scale installations including Josh’s were unveiled in June this year.

To mark the millennium anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf, Clontarf Historical Society and Raheny Heritage Society ran a number of school competitions and one of these was an Art Competition with the theme “Clontarf 1014-2014”.  This competition was run in conjunction with primary schools in Clontarf, Raheny, schools in Dublin 3 & 5 and a number of schools outside Dublin. The competition was sponsored by Nolan’s of Clontarf and the Clontarf Resident’s Association.

“We were delighted to work with Dublin City Council’s Art officer James Doyle and artist Alan Mongey to select the winners for the Battle of Clontarf Art Competition. By coincidence at the same time Dublin City Council were invited to submit entries for San Jose’s Downtown Doors competition and invited us to submit the winners from our competition” said Collette Gill, chairperson of the Clontarf 2014 Committee and treasurer of the Raheny Heritage Society.

Dublin and San Jose have been sister cities since 1986. This is the first time that the San Jose competition had an international dimension with entries from their five sister cities – Dublin, Ireland, Okayama, Japan, Pune, India, San Jose, Costa Rica and Tainan, Taiwan.

Recently, Tim Quigley, Chair San Jose – Dublin Sister City Committee was in Dublin and with the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Christy Burke presented Josh with his prize of $300 and a certificate.  Collette Gill, chairperson of the Clontarf 2014 Committee also accepted a prize on behalf of the historical societies.

Josh and his parents had a wonderful visit to Dublin, a day which began with lunch in Clontarf Castle Hotel with Kay Lonergan (chairperson of the Clontarf Historical Society) and Douglas Appleyard (chairperson of the Raheny Heritage Society), the award ceremony in the Mansion House followed by a guided tour of the Mansion House lead by Michael Sands of Dublin City Council. To end the day Josh got to experience firsthand Viking and Medieval Dublin with a visit to Dublinia.

So if you are visiting San Jose do take the time to checkout Josh artwork – it’s located on First Street, between Paseo de San Antonio and San Carlos Street outside the Camera 12 Cinemas.