Sculpture of Irish Handballer Joey Maher
Sports Sculpture Commission by
the Joey Maher Sculpture Committee
Drogheda, Ireland
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World
Handball Champion Statue Sculpture of Irish Handballer Joey Maher Sports Sculpture Commission by the Joey Maher Sculpture Committee Drogheda, Ireland |
Press release issued by lead artist, sculptor Laury Dizengremel and former Drogheda Councillor W. Frank Godfrey, Tel: +353 (0) 86 60 06 02 61 A New Sculpture Commission for Drogheda: Joey Maher Sculpture Drogheda, Ireland, 3 January 2008 The award-winning sculptor Laury Dizengremel has just been commissioned by a Committee recently formed in Drogheda to honour World Handball champion Joey Maher, a sporting hero born in Drogheda. The Joey Maher Sculpture Committee is headed by W. Frank Godfrey as Chairman, and includes members of the Maher family as well as other Drogheda residents: Antoine Campbell Maher, John Kelly, Linda Collins, Eddie Maher, Cllr. Frank Maher, Cllr. Malachy Godfrey, Liam Reilly, Liam Wilson and Peter McAuley. The same sculptor, who created the sculpture of Olympic bronze medallist boxing champion Tony “Socks” Byrne installed in December 2006 on the south bank of the River Boyne near one of the entrances to Scotch Hall, will now turn her hand to creating a lifesize bronze of one of Ireland’s most famous handballers. Amongst other credits, Laury counts numerous monumental sculptures in France, Honduras, Vietnam and China, sculptures in the collections of private and corporate art collectors around the world, a bronze bust of actor John Travolta, and the larger than lifesize Tennis Terracotta Warrior series commissioned a few months ago by the world’s professional tennis association, the ATP. Her full figure statues of the world’s top 8 tennis champions, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Nikolay Davydenko, Fernando Gonzalez, David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet were created just a few months ago to promote the “best of the best” tennis event of the year, the Tennis Master Cup Shanghai 2007, held in November 2007 in China. All 8 of the sculptures portray these contemporary tennis heroes as Ancient Terracotta Warriors wielding tennis racquets – and are about to be installed for several months exhibition at Wimbledon Museum in England. An exact date for the completion of the Joey Maher sculpture has not yet been set, but it is anticipated it should be ready in the summer of 2008 by Laury Dizengremel as the lead artist, working with her usual team of fellow sculptors Shen Xiaonan and Zhang Yaxi. Laury says “I’m so happy to be entrusted with this new commission! Drogheda is a very historical Irish town and such a beautiful place to have sculptures located in. Members of the Joey Maher Sculpture Committee are full of enthusiasm for the project, and after meeting the man, I love the dynamism of Joey himself – he fully deserves this honour. His country, family and the Committee are rightly proud of his accomplishments, and a permanent sculpture will pay a wonderful tribute to him.” Photographs of the Tony “Socks” Byrne bronze and other sculptures by Laury can be seen on her website www.sculpture-design.com as well as this announcement concerning the Joey Maher Sculpture commission. The sculptor was accompanied by her father Jean-Pierre Dizengremel, himself a town councillor of Saint-Saens (Normandy, France) for her visit to Drogheda 2 to 4 January to meet Joey Maher and members of the Committee.  World champion handballer Joey Maher being photographed by sculptor Laury Dizengremel for a new sport sculpture commission in Drogheda, Ireland Photo credit: Jean-Pierre Dizengremel (the sculptor's father) |
