Oisin kelly sculptor nicola

Irish sculptor

For the Irish hurler, see Oisín Kelly (hurler).

Oisín Kelly (17 May 1915 – 12 October 1981) was an Irish sculptor.

Life and career

Oisín Kelly was born as Austin Kelly in Dublin, the son of William (willy) Kelly, principal of the James Street National School, and his wife, Elizabeth (née McLean).^[1] He studied languages at Trinity College, Dublin.^[2] Until he became an artist in residence at the Kilkenny Design Centre in 1966, he worked as a teacher of Art, English, Irish and French from 1943 to 1964 at St Columba's College, Dublin.

He initially attended night class at the National College of Art and Design and studied briefly in 1948–1949 under Henry Moore.

He originally concentrated on small wood carvings and his early commissions were mostly for Roman Catholic churches.

He became well known after he was commissioned to do a sculpture, The Children of Lir (1964), for Dublin's Garden of Remembrance, opened i