Alison Lowry

Glass sculptor

Glass art inspired by textiles

Alison Lowry is known for the pâte de verre technique
She has twice won the Glass Art prize at the Royal Dublin Show
Her work often explores historical and social issues

Alison Lowry always knew she wanted to work with her hands, and she did an art foundation course when she was 18. However, she didn’t pursue a degree at that point, spending the next decade working in a gym instead. It was only when she had children that she decided to return to art college. She initially thought she would work with textiles, since lacemaking and embroidery were family traditions, but she gradually turned more towards sculpture and “fell in love” with glass. However, textiles remain very much part of her work – she is interested in the human emotion embodied by clothing, such as a 100-year-old family christening gown that she turned into a glass sculpture for her degree show.

Interview

What techniques do you use?: I am most well-known for pâte de verre – casting glass with small particles. You can work with that in a number of different ways, it’s very adaptable. But I am also interested in imagery; I like to screen print on glass, and I use textiles as well.
What do you love about teaching glassmaking?: I like teaching my techniques and seeing where people take them, since everyone has their own way of expressing themselves. It’s also nice to have people in your studio sharing your enthusiasm and expressing their own enthusiasm for your techniques.
What keeps you making?: I don’t think anything is easy about making. I have to feel passionately to put myself through the pain and expense of making the work, so you have to really, really want to do it, and I do – 90 percent of the time!
How would you define craftsmanship?: It refers to the skill you have honed. Nobody comes out of art college fully formed, it takes you a long time to get where you are. It’s this idea of continuing to develop and hone your craft. A relationship between maker and object, and for the object to have integrity.

Alison Lowry is a master artisan: she began her career in 2009 and she started teaching in 2010