Limerick museum on the Hunt for unique trees!

LIMERICK’s Hunt Museum is to stump up a cash prize for creative tree artists.

The facility is seeking designs for the remains of a tree which sits in the centre of its museum garden, and is encouraging artists to come forward.

The Chestnut tree was sadly felled for health and safety reasons last year, but museum bosses want to ensure its legacy lives on with a unique new structure as part of its Museum in a Garden.

The sculpting should be able to take place over this summer.

This all came about after the public voted for the remaining tree trunk of the diseased Chestnut tree turned into a sculpture.

Ideally, it will reflect objects in the museum – but it could also be a climbable structure.

The garden behind the Hunt Museum is currently being landscaped as a new public space for the city centre, with many pieces included giving nods to the tidal estuary and eclectic objects from its collection.

Included is space for a community and sensory garden, plus cobbles and benches from the museums fund a cobble campaign.

There’ll be plenty of seating, a garden chess set, a chance to play boules, and artificial hills to roll down.

Conceived as an extension to the museum, there are seven sculpture plinths in situ surrounded by planting that express the proposed sculpture’s origins.

The technologies of 3D scanning and 3D printing are being used to reproduce large scale replicas of artifacts within the museum, “hidden” in the collection cases.

The winning artist will receive up to a maximum of €4,000 in prize money, depending on the judges assessment, and attend the launch of the Museum in a Garden on June 24, at 6pm, and to complete the work over the summer.

Opened in 1997 at its present location in the Georgian Custom House, the museum holds a personal collection donated by the Hunt family.

Entries are to be submitted by Friday, May 28 by 5pm.

Please call the museum at 061-312833 for more information.