Volvo Ocean Race

Irish artist Bobby Nash said he jumped at the chance to work with the Volvo Ocean Race after donating three of his unique 3D charts as in-port race prizes during the last race’s stopover in Galway.

PAUL TODD/Volvo Ocean Race

The pieces were so well received that Nash was commissioned to produce a series of pieces for each of the stopover ports this time around.

“The three skippers loved them last time,” Nash said. “So much in fact that they told me later that rather than pass them prizes on to the sponsors as normal, they kept them for their own homes.”

Nash said he was delighted to have the chance to work with the Volvo Ocean Race once again.

“This time we were asked to create a framed piece representing each leg, to be given to the stopover ports as a thank-you for taking on the event,” he said.

“What we decided to do was incorporate the local charts of the two stopover ports for each leg into each piece.”

Lots of painstaking work goes into each piece with several paper charts required to be carefully cut up and then reassembled.

“It’s a very labour intensive process and many man-hours go into making each chart -- often up to a full man-week per chart.”

“Each piece is made by hand and in the process of making it we use several paper charts to create the 3D effect. We we cut the individual charts by hand and then remount them on to a substrate which is then cut once more.

“So every single piece is cut twice until we end up with a massive jigsaw which has to be put back together.

“Like any piece of art, the framing is very important and we build lights into our frames so the finished piece looks exquisite wherever it is displayed."

You can find out more about Nash’s work at his website.