Liz O'Connell Glass
Her practice evolved through the Master’s degree at the National Glass Centre, (Sunderland University; 2018-2020) after studying BA in Contemporary Craft at York College and Fine Art Foundation in Cork , Ireland.
Through the MA she began to visit the Archives at Sunny Bank Mills which have been instrumental in her work’s development.
Creating new interlinks between thematic ideas, beginning with researching her parent’s experiences working in the mills (both parents worked in Textiles upon arriving in the UK) and also looking at wider weaving narratives and processes.
She has created glass textiles pieces using glass threads, experimenting with the themes of domestic work and invisible labour and our psychological connections.
Then exploring the selvedge pieces in the Archive, this has inspired - ‘Emotional Fabric’. These thematic pieces reference our various psychological connections to thread, such as: fixing and mending, the state of 'losing one’s thread', and being 'threadbare’. Using the fragility of the glass threads to create pieces that reference processes such as selvedge , the glass is fused and formed in glass kilns along with the use of a flame torch.
She is exploring through her practice the processes and the heritage ; people and their lives, our experiences and in turn the viewer and wider community.
I am currently developing work with Bursary13 through Curator Space.