Dr Vanessa Cutler at the National College of Art and Design

Dr. Vanessa Cutler recently visited the National College of Art and Design in Dublin to speak about her recently published book ‘New Technologies in Glass’. The Glass Society of Ireland was invited to attend and we also got the chance to have a few words with Cutler after the talk.

Cutler’s dedication to her chosen medium and technique is clear. Utilising the technique of

waterjet cutting in her sculpture, she pushes the limits of glass and stretches the technology to its boundaries. She challenges herself and those she mentors and collaborates with to look at things inside out and upside down, she turns our perceptions of craft, design and the applied arts on its head.

Although Cutler does not define herself as an engineer, she shares an engineer’s mentality in striving to achieve a specific desired outcome, whilst as an artist she finds freedom in sometimes allowing the equipment to dictate the final aesthetic of the work. She fully acknowledges the tension that exists in her work between art and engineering. This is not surprising when you hear of her father’s influence in her life, himself an engineer, from whom she developed an early interest in the workings of the world around her. It seems natural then that her interest in glass would meet her love of technology and waterjet manufacturing has allowed this to happen for her.

Taking risks with glass is a huge part of Cutler’s practice: seeing how close to the edge she can cut, how close together can the cuts be? This constant pushing of the process and material has resulted in some innovative pieces of glass (although she laughs about the resulting transportation issues). “Don’t stay within the compounds of what you know” is Cutler’s motto. True to her word, she has spent the last decade finding answers to questions, often with triumphant and unexpected results. This is seen in her series Fingertips, which proved that blown glass can successfully be cut by waterjet.

When asked about her influences Cutler noted the great respect she holds for other contemporary makers she has collaborated with. Stemming from the beginnings of her career in stained glass, architecture is a key stimulus to the development of her work. Her pieces employ simplicity in their aesthetic. She deals with composition with a minimalist approach, often repeating a shape within a formal arrangement which tests her technical knowledge to the limit.

Her pieces are also sparked from a sense of place and memory. She rarely takes photographs of her travels but uses the impressions of the places retained in her visual memory to inform her practice. Shapes stay with her, sometimes for years after a visit, until they find their way into an artwork. In this way, she believes that, “glass can say more about you than you can say yourself”.

For more information on Cutler and her work visit her webpage HERE

To purchase her book 'New Technologies in Glass' CLICK HERE

(by Fiona Byrne & Emer Lynch)