Capturing the intangible

Talented and versatile glass artist Sophie Longwill loves pushing the boundaries with her glass practice. CGS Glass Network’s editor, Linda Banks, finds out more.

What led you to start working with glass?

I originally had the opportunity to try glass in the first year of my undergraduate degree in 2012 at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland. I immediately fell in love! I had previously completed a two-year diploma at Grennan Mill Craft School in Co. Kilkenny where I had the chance to learn metalwork, ceramics, printmaking, drawing, weaving and batik, so I already knew that I loved hands-on making and exploration with different materials and was so excited by the seemingly endless possibilities with glass. I have been working with it ever since as my primary sculptural medium and last year completed an MA in Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London.

What glass techniques have you used, and which do you prefer?

I think I have tried almost every glass technique there is, including kiln-forming, coldworking and the hot glass techniques of flameworking and glassblowing. After my degree I got myself a little kiln and focused on pâte de verre and other kiln techniques, but I love to dabble in everything. I especially enjoyed combining pâte de verre and glassblowing during my MA and while on a residency last year at Southern Illinois University (SIU) and have also been experimenting with combining glass with electronics, such as Arduino microcontrollers.

Please tell us more about your creative approach. Do you draw your ideas out or dive straight in with the materials?

My process generally begins with a period of deep research, following different threads of curiosity and inquiry. I am a voracious reader and love to learn new things. For example, my current book pile includes texts on quantum physics, Jungian archetypes, microscopic organisms, philosophy, and ritual practices. Once I feel the connections forming, I begin exploring my ideas through sketching and sculpture. I try to maintain a flow state while making, allowing an openness to what may come through, drawing on the embodied and tacit knowledge built up from years of creative work. I often don’t have a set design or plan and prefer to be in the moment, responding and collaborating with the material.

What message(s) do you want to convey through your art?

My work is often an attempt to express or capture intangible or ephemeral parts of life and so I find the amorphous magic of glass is brilliantly suited to the narratives and concepts that interest me. I try to imbue the objects and experiences that I create with an energy and curious beauty that draws people in, and hope to convey the feeling of flow, interconnection and wonder.

What is your favourite tool or piece of equipment and why?

My favourite and most important tool would have to be my hands! All through my life these brilliant tools have helped me make sense of the world around me through making. I think, especially because I am neurodivergent, making gives me a way to express and translate the thoughts and feelings that I struggle to articulate or communicate through language alone.

Do you have a favourite piece or collection you have made? Why is it your favourite?

My favourite work is generally my most recent because I feel most connected to it. My current favourite is a piece called 1000 Fleeting Moments, which is an installation work made of 1000 individual flameworked leaves that I made while on the residency at SIU last autumn. It is the largest-scale work that I have made so far in my career. I love that it has a large presence and impact and yet is made of many tiny individual components, much like ourselves – from our bodies to our communities. It was quite a labour of love with hundreds of hours of work. When it all finally came together it was a really joyful experience for me personally, but also has had the most beautiful feedback from the audiences who have seen it.

I exhibited it at a solo exhibition in Vergette Gallery in the United States at the end of the SIU residency and then brought it home to Ireland, where it was displayed in Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre earlier in 2025. At that exhibition it was voted by the public as one of their favourite artworks alongside the work of my studio mate Ben Reilly, which was such a special experience and validating for my practice.

Making this piece gave me a deeper understanding of my practice and I am continuing to explore this scale and way of working in the new body of work that I am developing now.  I am excited to see how it fares at its next outing at the Stanislav Libensky Awards Exhibition in Prague in December 2025.

Where do you show and sell your work?

I show and sell my work directly through my website and social media, as well as in exhibitions. I had a piece in the ‘Connecting’ exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin with the Glass Society of Ireland which finished recently, and the upcoming Libensky Awards, as mentioned above. Prior to those, I had work in a show in Hypha Studios in London and the RHA Annual exhibition in Dublin. I am currently finishing up a commission for Cork Opera House which will be part of their collection on permanent display, which is very exciting.

Do you have a career highlight?

I have been so fortunate to have had a wealth of opportunities in my career. My highlight so far is receiving the Märit Rausing Scholarship Award to do my Master’s degree at the RCA. I had always dreamed of going to the RCA so it was a real “pinch me” moment! It also came at the right time, when I was ready to push myself and my work to the next level. I learned so much and was in the most wonderful group of talented artists who I am honoured to call my friends.

The entirety of last year was such a highlight, as I also got a scholarship to take a class at Corning Museum of Glass and then had the residency at SIU. It was a period rich with inspiration, which is continuing to feed my practice and no doubt will do so for years to come.

Where is your creative practice heading next?

I have a studio at the National Sculpture Factory in Cork and am developing a new body of work, weaving together the threads of inquiry that cropped up in the last year during the MA and residency.  I am really enjoying mixing glass with other materials and working to a larger scale.

I’ve been busy building my creative network, connecting with curators and other arts professionals and my goal is to continue partaking in lots of exhibitions and hopefully get a significant solo exhibition here in Ireland. I think as artists our career path is never linear so it is hard to know exactly what will come next, let alone plan for it! So, I will keep working away and see what opportunities come about.

And finally…

I just want to say thank you for this opportunity and for all the great work the Contemporary Glass Society does. It is such a valuable resource and community, and I am proud to be a part of it.

Find out more about Sophie Longwill and her work via her website and follow her on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/longwillstudio/

Main feature image: Sophie Longwill’s Dream Seed I. Photo: Roland Paschoff.