A piano decorated by a Waterford artist is being permanently installed in a Dublin Dart station this morning.
Its hoped commuters will play while waiting for their train and brighten people's commutes.
The piano has been decorated by Waterford artist Sarah Edmonson with an underwater scene, including a giant octopus.
Sarah, from Ballygunner, said her friend, piano tuner, John Murphy was inspired by pianos in London stations like St Pancras, and approached Irish Rail with the idea,"So Johnny had seen these pianos installed in public spaces in other cities, and realised there was none that he knew of within Ireland. The idea was to install a piano in a public space, that is there for use, that can be played. Then obviously his role in the project is that he is a piano tuner so it's going to be his responsibility to return to the station and tune the piano. So I suppose it's to interrupt a public space with something that's fun and enjoyable for the public."
The first tune of many #PearsePiano @irishrail @sarah_edmondson #publicpiano #pearseststation #musiccantakeyouanywhere #pianotuning pic.twitter.com/S8UHJRgYON
— Murphy Piano Tuning (@irishpianotuner) September 6, 2017
The piano has been illustrated with sea creatures, Sarah says the theme was chosen to fit in with the coastal Dart route, "Johnny approached me because I make illustrations based on sea life so we were inspired by the coastal route taken by the Dart. But I think for my own illustrations I was inspired by the fact that I spent a lot of my childhood in Dunmore East. I actually currently have pottery for sale in Breakwater Gift Shop in Dunmore East that are illustrated with the same kind of imagery of sea creatures."
Sarah says they hope people will respect the piano, " It is in a public space so I suppose....will it be vandalised or is that part of the project? I really don't know how people are going to react. I do find or even from experience in schools that when something looks really good people tend to have respect for it. And it is a gift to the public so we'd like to believe that it will be treated with respect."
