Edmond Byrne — Maker Moments

We are delighted by the arrival of the new collection of glass vessels by Edmond Byrne to the gallery. One of our favourite glass artists - a long time friend of the gallery whose glass has a rare sense of warmth and softness. Edmond Byrne endeavours to create in glass, physical manifestations of our everyday emotional states by his careful selection of colour. His vessels use the materiality of glass to examine the psychology of colour. Emotions captured through multi-tonal, translucent vessels that provoke a meditative response.

“Through the exploration of colour, texture and form, I make glass vessels which induce an emotional response in each viewer. In a way, they are manifestations of emotions. I do a lot of drawing. My visual inspiration comes through interpreting the marks, gestures and energy of my drawings into glass.”

Edmond Byrne’s glass vessels reflect our feelings and resonate with the past. Edmond’s technique involves the creation of hand-made moulds, which are lined with materials such as clay and fabric to create patinas and cracks on the surface of vessels. He first sketches his forms on paper and then constructs the moulds based on these abstract drawings. He blows glass into these lined moulds creating organic, rippled textures, adding china clay to the surface of the glass to emphasize the weathered patinas. Each mould is only used once, making every piece unique.

“I’m intrigued by objects that have a resonance from the past. I add patina and cracks to the glass surface to recreate the weathering of Ancient Roman glass. Subconsciously this places my vessels in the past becoming artefacts of the mind.”