NATIONAL HERITAGE WEEK 2021

National Heritage Week , 14-22 August 2021
      Harold’s Cross Heritage Apple Trees with

Eoin Mac Lochlainn

 Olivier Cornet Gallery,  Dublin (Ireland)

The Olivier Cornet Gallery is a repeat participant of National Heritage Week. Check out our project with Yanny Petter's wonderful Calla Lily Blue in 2020 for instance.


For National Heritage Week 2021, we are excited to reveal an interesting project: Harold’s Cross Heritage Apple Trees, a project documented by one of our artists: Eoin Mac Lochlainn.

Eoin Mac Lochlainn joined the Olivier Cornet Gallery in 2014. The artist is also well known for his Irish Art Blog called Scéalta Ealaíne. In it, he muses about art and themes such as homelessness, the Irish diaspora, the environment and other topics that are at the core of his practice as a visual artist.

Yanny Petters, Calla Lily Blue, oil on gesso panel, 106 x 46 cm
“Responding to stories in the media, I find myself being affected by a sense of frustration on the one hand and by fear and anxiety on the other, and these feelings have coloured my work in recent years. However, I believe that art may produce a deeper and more enduring understanding of the contemporary experience than do media images and recently, I have been developing a body of work which reflects on climate change and in particular, the significance of trees.”

The idea of the Harold’s Cross Heritage Apple Trees project was to re-establish the tradition of growing apple trees in Harold’s Cross by planting new communal orchards in public spaces, in the parks and urban squares, in order to raise awareness about biodiversity, the importance of pollination and the growing of our own food.

“We started with ten apple trees. These were traditional Irish Heritage apple trees which we sourced from Irish Seed Savers in Co.Clare. Unlike some varieties that have been introduced from abroad, these native varieties are perfectly suited to our climate and growing conditions, and a natural food source for our pollinating bees and insects. We then organised for representatives from the various streets to take responsibility for individual trees…”

During National Heritage Week 2021, the artist, who is a Harold’s Cross resident, will publish a blog post to tell us more about this ongoing project, how he and the team look forward to it developing and flourishing over the coming years, now that there is a renewed enthusiasm for gardening and learning about the environment – across all age groups in the neighbourhood.

Eoin Mac Lochlainn, Hallowe'en Apple 7, oil on canvas, 20x20cm, National Heritage Week 2021
Eoin has also been putting together videos, making a record of the progress of the project as it continues to grow and develop. Some of these videos will also be available from his blog post.

The wonderful community spirit of the project and the growing awareness of our place in nature feeds into the artist’s own artistic practice.


During the first weekend of National Heritage Week 2021 (i.e on August 14 and 15), members of the public will  be able to admire some of the artist’s apple paintings and other environment-related work here at the gallery. and on our social media platforms the rest of the week (as the gallery is closed from 16 to 31 August 2021).


Click here to access Harold’s Cross Heritage Apple Trees, the artist's special blog post for Ireland's National Heritage Week 2021



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