Artist's Statement

I have been making things throughout my life.The art making process though for me, has been something necessary, uncontrollable and the most important part of what makes me who I am. I became aware of the insistant creative drive when I discovered clay at school, while others were throwing it at each other I became immersed. My creativity is rooted in the tradition of Ceramic vessel making which I persued for 25 years; I also have a professional interest in psychology, which feeds into my work.

Ten years ago I discovered Glass it has offered me a method of transposing images from my inner world and providing a place for them to inhabit.The places I find in my drawings I bring into glass, resulting in spaces, fluid, dense and constructed - in multiple layers and numerous firings. My work is to be entered into, surrounded by and engaged with. I have transferred many ceramic skills and sense of aesthetic to working in glass, a necessity born out of my desire to explore the internal canvas of the containing space. From this has developed a body of work focusing on the contents of the material and of the aesthetic form containing it. By integrating a combination of technical and intuitive technologies I produce pieces made for contemplation. For me the work aims to embody some of the complexities inherent in contemporary culture. It offers a window into an inner world of constructed and deconstructed elements co existing with the interplay of light.

The functional qualities of my glass pieces although sculptural in appearance are firmly anchored in the vessel making tradition. By synthesising techniques of glass casting and fusing with the innovative use of ceramic materials, I have developed a personal language. I assemble individual elements which become suspended in a boundaried space, where the interplay of depth, light and colour create a three dimensional window. The glass object becomes a lens for viewing what is on the other side as well as within the work.

Exhibitions:

2004 Exhibition: The Bridge Gallery Dublin

2004 Exhibition: West Cork Craft and Design Guild National Craft Gallery ‘Feast’

2004 Selected and exhibited work RDS National Craft competition.

2004 Selected and exhibited work Christmas presence RDS for Crafts Council of Ireland.

2005 Exhibition: Fota house Cork West Cork Craft and Design Guild.

2005 Selected and exhibited work Christmas presence RDS for Crafts Council of Ireland.

2006 Selected and exhibited work St Patrick’s presence Leicester Square London for Crafts Council Of Ireland. Selected and exhibited Collectors event: Hunt Museum Limerick and NCG Kilkenny.

2007 Exhibition Crafts Council of Ireland Leicester square London.

Seomra Exhibition Paris March/April.

Awards:

Prizewinner: RDS National Crafts Competition 2006.

Purchase Award Crafts Council of Ireland Collection 2006.

Development award Cork County council for large scale sculptural Glass 2007.

Commissions:

Commissioned to produce presentation pieces for Dublin International Piano Festival 2006.

Commissioned to produce presentation piece for National Lottery 2007.

Collaborative commission with Video Artist David Bickley ‘The Glass book’ for Cork County Council 2007.

Commission National food awards for State food agency Bord Bia 2007.

Collections: Public and private collections in UK, France, USA, Australia and Denmark including: The Irish Embassy Collection and the Crafts Council of Irelands National Collection.