FERNS HISTORY GETS A SPLASH OF COLOUR WITH NEW MURALS
THE rich history of Ferns is being brought to life in colourful fashion with three large murals that have been painted on walls around the village. Artist Adam Warren, or ADW as he goes by, was extremely busy last week as he spent hour after hour raised up on a cherry-picker in the baking hot sun, intricately painting the murals onto the walls using spray paint and stencils.
The trio of works focus on the genealogy of the one historic family, one devoted to Diarmuid MacMurrough, one to Strongbow and Aoife and finally one to William Marshal and Isobel. They are situated on the wall at the Applegreen Service Station, Mace and on the side of a house on the Main Street.
The whole process for this work began months ago and Adam, who originally hails from Dublin but now lives in the Midlands, has been busy carrying out historical research and designing ever since.
‘Wexford County Council were looking to get the murals done and they got in touch with a group called Waterford Walls,’ he explained. ‘Artists were invited to put forward designs and I got picked to complete the work. I first came to Ferns to meet with County Council officials and local historians back in March. It was fascinating and a lot of imagery was conjured up. A lot of research went into it and all of them - Dermot MacMurrough, Strongbow and Aoife and William Marshal - they were all fascinating characters. Some of the stuff reads like Game of Thrones!’
Rather than just painting faces on a wall, Adam was determined to offer something different and tried to bring in other elements to add to each piece.
‘One of the things I did was used different Irish animals in each piece,’ he explains. ‘For Diarmuid MacMurrough, I used a fox, which is to signify the cunning that he had. For Strongbow and Aoife there’s a wolf to symbolise loyalty and then for William Marshal there’s a salmon, the salmon of knowledge, to signify wisdom. He lived through five different kings which was unheard of. There’s also a stag on that one to symbolise his regal strength.’
The work took months to conceive and design and Adam spent approximately three days on painting each mural. With near record temperatures last week, it was tough work.
‘I spent around three days on each piece, three long days,’ he laughed. ‘You’re basically working from dawn until dusk when the light goes and your body can’t do any more. Once you’re in the zone though, you just paint and you want to get it finished.’
Putting the finishing touches to the third and final mural last week, Adam was looking forward to bidding farewell to the cherry-picker which had become his workplace for the past week, however, it was a real labour of love and he’s very happy with the finished product.
The work certainly catches the eye of drivers passing through the village and is certain to be the subject of quite a few photos going forward.