Wednesday 25 June 2014

Glassy Future Makers of 2014


This year’s Future Makers Competition has been a great success for Glass Society of Ireland members Karen Donnellan, Emma Bourke and Mags O’ Dea. The awards ceremony took place again this year in Fallon and Byrne’s function room in Dublin on June 11th. 

Karen received the Exhibitions Assistance support award, worth €800.  She plans to use this funding to assist with her solo show Resonance which will be held from August 9th to October 15th as part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival.  Her work will be displayed next to Róisín De Buitlear’s at the National Craft Gallery and both exhibits will innovatively explore the sonic qualities of glass.

 Present Moment Reminder - Karen Donnellan

Emma Bourke, who is currently a GSoI board member, was awarded a substantial Residencies and Training award.  This €1000 support award will allow her travel to Sunderland to continue training with the scientific glass-workers who own and run Wearside Glass at the National Glass Centre.  We must also mention her success earlier this year in receiving the Golden Fleece Award with which she purchased two new kilns and renovated her home studio in Mayo.

Drop of Desire - Emma Bourke
Emma receiving her award

Mags O’Dea received a Materials Support award in the student category. Mags just completed her BA in Glass Design in the National College of Art and Design and this DCCoI assistance will be very helpful in kick-starting her career.  Her winning piece was from the same body of work that was displayed in NCAD’s Graduate exhibition held last week in the Thomas Street campus.

Part of Mag's graduate exhibition 
Mags receiving her award 

The Future Makers Competition is held every year with various other awards and supports apart from the ones mentioned above.  Since the change from the Crafts Council of Ireland (CCoI) to the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCoI) it is not only a great opportunity for crafts people but for designers too.  Congratulations to Karen, Emma and Mags who received the supports out of a fierce competition of around 100 entrants.  We look forward to seeing how the funds will help their already beautiful art and hope to see even more GSoI members getting shortlisted and receiving awards from Future Makers over the next few years! 



Written by Laura Quinn, 
GSoI Student Rep, Dublin











Tuesday 24 June 2014

Ulysses Cylinders Public Lecture

by Fiona Byrne


In the lead up to the opening of the Ulysses Cylinders exhibition by Dale Chilhuly and Seaver Leslie with Flora C. Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick a lecture was held at Dublin Castle. This lecture looked at the making of the exhibition, glass in Ulysses and also gave an insight into why the artists and organisers decided, almost forty years after the exhibition’s original conception, to recreate this iconic show.
The evening began with introductions from Paula Stokes and Róisín de Buitléar, who have both been instrumental in getting this exhibition to Ireland for its very fitting launch to coincide with the Bloomsday festivities. A screening of the making process of these beautiful pieces took place and the complexities of the artistic process were clear. These pieces have been lavished in gold, had delicate and intricate glass drawings melted into their surface, and then skilfully blown to their final shape. This labour intensive process encapsulates the love and effort on the part of everyone on this project to make the vision of the Ulysses Cylinders a reality.

The passion for the project is infectious. Seaver Leslie gave a wonderful talk about his role in the project and his respect for his fellow artists, including Joyce himself, is worn on his sleeve. His modesty is such that he comes across as a man who is proud to have been allowed to be part of this project and not as one of its main characters. However, once he began to speak you can feel the connection and depth of knowledge that he has for his subject matter.

He stressed the links with Ulysses and Joyce that go beyond a mere visual representation of the book. ‘Proportion is everything in the making of art’, Leslie tells us, echoing the harmonics of proportion in Ulysses. The joy of discovery also links these two artists we learn as Leslie recounts the story of finding a description of glass blowing in Ulysses and describes the emotion and pride he felt at his discovery. This is something which translates to the objects in the exhibition, as Róisín de Buitléar pointed out, you have to walk around each piece to get the full picture, you have to actively seek it.

Relationships are important in this project and ownership is not seen as an issue. Leslie expresses how all art steals and borrows inspiration from others. This exhibition is about collaboration and creation, using the ideas and talents of a group to push the art form to new levels. His collaboration with Chihuly began a long time ago when Leslie first encountered Chihuly working the hot work shop in college. He described how Chihuly’s vibrancy attracted an entourage of fun, creative people.

The contrast between the more singular process of a painter and this very team orientated process of glass blowing served to draw Leslie in to the world of Chihuly. He describes himself as being hidden in a forest and Chihuly being out there causing a storm. I for one am glad he chose to come out of his metaphorical hiding place and add his talents to the Ulysses Cylinders project.
Soul is the word which occurred again and again, finding something deep and essential within art, taking it, and making it your own. Leslie leaves us with the thought that Ulysses is a spiritual book and not to be daunted as, ‘you will find what you need’ from it.



After Leslie has spoken Dr. Luke Gibbons takes us ‘Through the glass darkly’ in his talk about the importance of glass in Joyce’s writing. He tells us that Joyce asked us to look at the glass and not just through the glass. To illustrate this he described the first scene of the Dubliners where there is a young boy looking up at the stained glass windows in a church.

Joyce used glass as a carrier of meaning in various ways, once saying that ‘only a transparent sheet separates me from madness’. Gibbons informs us of the fortuitous meeting of Joyce with Thomas Pugh of Pugh’s glass manufacturers. In Pugh he found a man who had claimed Ulysses as a seminal work but who operated outside of the academic circles, this, Gibbons tells us, was Joyce’s intended audience.
Though if seems artistic collaborations can sometimes go awry. Gibbons tells us of the mix up with a commission involving the artist Matisse who was asked to illustrate Ulysses. However misunderstanding the commission he illustrated Homer's Odyssey instead, leaving Ulysses without illustrations.

This project has had its set back also. Thirty nine years ago a tragic car accident stopped the original exhibition in its tracks and resulted in Chihuly losing the sight of his left eye.  Today the Ulysses Cylinders exhibition is on display at Dublin Castle after a long time in the making. This beautiful collection of objects holds more stories than those illustrated on their surface. They are alive with narratives waiting to be unlocked by the viewer.


Monday 9 June 2014

GSoI Dublin Events 17th of June _ #chihulysses

To celebrate the arrival of Dale Chihuly in Dublin, the GSoI is hosting a number of events in the city on June 17th to coincide with his lecture and exhibition of the ‘Ulysses Cylinders’ at Dublin Castle. 
We hope that our satellite events will encourage even more of you to come and make a day of this event. Follow #chihulysses on facebook and twitter to keep up with events as they happen. 

After the lecture at Dublin Castle we will also be hosting an informal get-together with drinks, food and a small glass display for anyone interested at Bagots Hutton Bar (28 South William Street, 15min walk away from Dublin Castle) which will be a lovely chance to catch up with old friends and maybe make some new ones. 

 Here’s what will be happening on the day:


Historical Glass at the National Museum of Decorative Arts

Debbie Dawson will lead a group around the Visible Storage section of Collins’ Barracks. Debbie will look at the historical collection which consists of Irish, American and European glass dating from the 18th to the 20th Century. Traditional collecting centered on the industrial manufacture of Belfast, Cork, Dublin and Waterford in the late 18th to mid 19th Century. Debbie will also discuss the important collection of high quality Irish/Irish-related contemporary works that were purchased in association with the Crafts Council of Ireland.


The stained glass windows of St. Teresa’s Church
Peadar Lamb will give a talk on the series of stained glass windows in St. Teresa’s Church on Clarendon Street, Dublin. The stained glass windows date back to the 1960’s; some of which were executed by the Abbey Stained Glass Studio. In 1989 a series of windows for the nave were commissioned and executed by Irish artist Phyllis Burke. The windows depict scenes ranging from of the Resurrection to portrayals of various saints.



The Blaschka Collection at the Museum of Natural History

Emma Bourke will lead a tour of the Blaschka glass models of sea creatures in the Museum of Natural History. This unique collection of Blaschka glass is one of the largest in the world and is still displayed in its original 19th century cabinets Researcher of Blaschka glass and trained as a scientific lampworker, Emma has an intuitive understanding of this work. At 3pm she will lead a group up to the restricted third floor balcony, where she will explain the importance of these pieces to our national collection, the creation of the work and the restoration of the exhibits. Spaces are limited on this tour so registration is essential to be
guaranteed a space, contact emma.glasssocietyofireland@gmail.com to reserve a space.