catherine keenan

Glass blowing allows Catherine to express an obsession with colour and pattern.  At the International Glass Centre, West Midlands, she specialised in glass blowing techniques of colour application, such as overlays, cup casing and trails.  She also refined cold working processes, in particular carved lens patterns.  This has culminated in her 'Eye Candy' body of work for which she has recieved much recognition, winning her awards at the National Crafts Competition, Ireland (Second Prize in Glass Category and The National Crafts and Design Fair of Ireland Award) and also, she has recieved the Anna Cheyne Award for Visual Arts in Northern Ireland.

She seeks to generate positive emotions, interested in our instinctual response to colour and pattern she aims to create forms that give solace and joy.  The physical nature of blowing glass is a major draw for her, the immediacy of working with molten glass and the dexterity and swift, confident gestures required.  She has been working in glass since beginning her degree at the National College of Art and Design Dublin in 2003.  It is the breadth of different techniques available in glass blowing and the high level of skill needed to master them that has solidified for her a life-long curiosity with liquid glass.