President helped us to find balance

Local artist Sandra Bell tells Margaret Roddy that President Clinton took the time to write to a letter of thanks for landmark sculpture

When US President Bill Clinton was presented with ‘Rhythm and Rhyme’ a piece of sculpture created by Sandra Bell he raised it in the air to the cheers of the thousands who had gathered in Dundalk Town Centre on December 12, 2000 to see him during his historic Mission of Peace to Ireland.

Nowadays, a large version of the sculpture stands in Earl Street on the site where the temporary stage was elected so that President Clinton could address the people of Dundalk, while the sculpture he received is on display in the Clinton Museum.

Sandra has been awarded many prestigious commissions since but none with the same historic significance as this. It was a huge honour for the self-taught artist whose work can be found in public and private collections at home and abroad.

However, she reveals that she didn’t make the sculpture especially for the occasion.

‘I was actually on holidays in Cypress with my husband Derek when two weeks beforehand I got a phone call from the Council asking me if I had anything suitable for a presentation to President Clinton. I remembered that I had made a piece of two figures intertwined which would be very fitting so

I phoned my daughter Tasha and asked her if she could get it back from its owners!’

Sandra’s daughter drove to Newry, collected the bronze sculpture, packed it and gave it to the Council for presentation to President Clinton.

‘I was back home for when he came to town and I remember standing quite close to the front,’ says Sandra. ‘When he was presented with the sculpture, he held it up and everyone cheered. It was a momentous occasion.’

She explains that the sculpture of two figures is not made to sit on a base, but is balanced so that it makes a gentle rocking motion whe touched.

‘ The rocking represents the uncertainty of those times and the need to maintain balance. President Clinton did so much to help us get that balance and he achieved that,’ she says of his work in relation to the Peace Process.

Afterwards she received a letter from President Clinton telling her that the sculpture was on display in his museum.

And as a ‘ thank you’ to Sean and Grace Digney who had parted with their sculpture, Sandra then gave them her own artist’s copy of the piece, which she engraved with a message of gratitude.

When he was presented with the sculpture, he held it up and everyone cheered. It was a momentous occasion