NCAD end of year show: Student Profiles

As promised talented graduate number two – Meadhbh McIlgorm

Meadhbh has recently been awarded the CCOI Future Makers Student Award and one of her pieces was selected for the RDS Craft Exhibition. Watch this space!

Meadhbh’s work is an installation made up of numerous ‘intangible’ objects. The delicate pieces are suspended within the space creating a refraction of light and casting thin shadows. These light and dark elements are as much a part of the work as the glass itself – they are the finishing touches.

In her own words Meadhbh is ‘attempting to capture both the tangible and intangible essence of cloud formations’. The beginning of this exploration was research into the manipulation of light. The changeable nature of light and the challenges involved in capturing some of its magic has been approached here with skill and consideration. The result is a piece of work which captures the fragility of glass. The wispy shapes look as if they would crumble if touched (although Meadhbh told me they were tougher than they looked!).

I asked a little about the process of making this work and Meadhbh explained how the forms are heated in a kiln, letting gravity act of the glass allowing an element of random formation. This seems an apt approach to the chaotic but beautiful objects which this process creates.

The pieces will be displayed in Sculpture in Context in September so if you missed this show stopper at the degree show you have been granted a second chance!

Written by Fiona Byrne