A Whale of a Wexford Story

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There’s a story behind every door in Wexford Enterprise Centre. One such story began hundreds of years ago in the sea off the coast of Ireland and landed in Helen McLean’s Art Studio, which has its home in the Centre. The ‘Wexford Blue Whale: Chanies Across the Sea’ project is County Wexford art project which connects shipwrecks, a blue whale and a 77-year-old woman’s extraordinary collection of pieces of pottery collected over the years on the beach in Rosslare. A large whale mosaic created by Helen, in association with Wexford Arts Centre, supported by Wexford County Council, recalls the 25m blue whale which beached in Wexford in 1891 and whose skeleton now hangs at the entrance hall of the Natural History Museum in London.

It is as much of a community project as it is an artistic one. The story of the whale and that of Ann Borg, who collected the shards of pottery over the past seven decades, has sparked the attention of people on both sides of the Atlantic, including that of the Natural History Museum in London.

RTÉ recently interviewed Helen, Ann and Elizabeth Whyte of Wexford Arts Centre about this fascinating project https://rb.gy/uwnnsg

The Whale Mosaic will soon be installed permanently on Wexford’s Quay at the Wexford Bridge side. It will be officially unveiled as part of the Arts Council’s ‘Brightening Air/Coiscéim Coiligh’ festival and will be open to the public from Saturday, 12 June. A beautiful story of history, the community of Wexford and art – all coming together. This tale is set to be told for many more years to come.

If you’d like to know more about Helen’s Artwork, visit her website on https://www.helenmcleanart.com/ or follow her Facebook and Instagram.

Wexford Enterprise Centre opens back up to the General Public on Wednesday, 2 June 2021

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Wexford Enterprise Centre is delighted to welcome back the general public into the Centre after the easing of Government restrictions. From Wednesday June 2, the Centre will be open to the public from 8:30am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. Social distancing, mandatory wearing of facemasks, hand sanitizing and temperature access control procedures will continue to be in operation.

The re-opening of the Centre means that anyone wishing to meet with any of the businesses located within the Centre or avail of the popular Centre Point Cafe may once again do so during normal business hours. The Centre Point Cafe is also open from 8:30-3pm daily for ‘Grab & Go’ service until indoor dining resumes on Monday, 5 July.

In addition, the two state-of-the-art Conference Rooms, The Williams Innovation Room and the McConnell Conference Room, have both been upgraded with additional safety features, including the installation of perspex screens and are now open for booking once again.  The Williams Innovation Room can comfortably and safely accommodate up to 6 people, while the larger McConnell Conference Room can safely accommodate up to 11 people.

We wish to especially thank our 30+ Resident Companies who unreservedly supported all the Covid-19 health and safety measures implemented in the Centre over the past year, which included the restriction on outside visitors. It was because of their efforts that the Centre continued to operate and remained a safe place to work for their businesses and their staff.

We look forward to welcoming you back! Stay Safe.

Centre Point Café
Pre-order your breakfast / lunch: anna@ovendoorcatering.ie or ring 053 9144055
Meeting Rooms
To book the Williams Innovation Room or the McConnell Conference Room email info@wec.ie or ring 053 914 1711.