The latest addition to Belfast's growing collection of environmental art is strictly for the birds. Glinting in the afternoon sun, a giant steel cormorant was carefully fastened to the top of an old beech tree trunk in a south city park yesterday.
The cormorant - created by Dublin artist Betty Newman-Maguire - is part of a series of sculptures commissioned for urban forestry organisation Forest of Belfast as part of its Art in the Park project. The group has commissioned around 20 sculptures on environmental themes around the greater Belfast area over the past five years.
Motorists driving along the busy Shaw's Bridge Road will have a fine view of the sculpture, which stands almost 4 ft tall and has a 51/2-ft wing span. The majestic-looking cormorant gazes down onto the road and on towards the nearby Lagan river.
Taking photographs of the sculpture at its new home on the side of a hill in south Belfast's Barnett Demesne, Ms Newman-Maguire said she chose the cormorant because the bird had occasionally been spotted in the locality. "She feeds off fish from lakes and then will perch on a tree, drying her wings out and regurgitating food," she said.
The artist who also created the Viking Ship, Baite, on Wood Quay in Dublin, is a stickler for detail. A closer look revealed the bird had the remains of something fishy in its beak.
Dr Ben Simon of the Forest of Belfast said the wooden, metal and stone sculptures placed around the city had prompted the same level of public reaction which had greeted Dublin city artworks. "While we are not yet on the same scale as Dublin, we think these representations of plants and animals have helped bring a smile to people's faces and encourage urban dwellers to visit the parks," he said.
Some of these works include a family of tree people, seven lifelike oak figures by local sculptor Owen Crawford, which can be seen on a small roundabout at the top of the Malone Road. Ms Newman-Maguire has also used fallen oak to create three seats in the shape of acorns for another Belfast park. These works will eventually decay naturally where they stand.
Dr Simon said the sculptures had a different kind of symbolism than that normally associated with the city. "In Belfast, where symbols have all too often been perceived as being divisive, environmental art is offering a new way for residents and visitors to look at their surroundings that is appreciated by all."