Róisín de Buitléar

Seduced by glassmaking

• Róisín is a passionate advocate for glassmaking skills
• Her work draws on Irish culture and glassmaking history
• She enjoys collaborating with others

Always passionate about making, as a teenager Róisín de Buitléar wanted to study theatre design, but since no course existed in Ireland at the time, she was encouraged to take a more general crafts design course at art college in Dublin instead, and it was there where she was “seduced” by glassblowing. After college she travelled widely, learning from glassmakers around the world, before returning to work in Ireland. These days she continues to work collaboratively with other glass artisans as well as artists from different fields, creating sculptures and site-specific installations that tell stories and provide social commentary on themes that interest her, particularly Irish culture.

Interview

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What was it about glass that appealed?

Initially it was the idea of liquid coming out of a furnace and then turning into a solid material, and then being able to break it into thousands of pieces, that captured my imagination. Also the combination of light and shadow and colour and fluidity; that is a permanent occupation.

How did your early travelling inform your work?

I learnt a huge amount about my own culture and that is something that has become a central point in my own personal work. It helped me understand the importance of culture but also the depth of culture I had in my own learning, and how I could use that for artistic expression.

What type of work do you do?

I am very diverse in that I am not married to one particular technique, so I work on very large installations, architectural scale, as well as making smaller pieces for exhibitions. I start with a concept and then I look for a technique after I have evolved the concept.

What do you love most about glassmaking?

The challenge of working with glass is something I adore. I never feel that I will run out of ways of trying to challenge it, and it’s a question of trying to fill myself up with enough energy to be able to output it. Certainly the seduction of glass has never left me.

Róisín de Buitléar is a master artisan: he began his career in 1984 and he started teaching in 1986

Works

©Mike Kay

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