Member’s Spotlight

Áine Ryan

By looking to my past and my rural upbringing, I explore the complex ties that bind us to past generations, traditions and the physical landscape. My interaction with materials and objects of the rural landscape become creative catalysts stirring memories as they move through my hands. Universal themes of identity, belonging, and place can be found within my work – my sites of memory.
Kilformed glass became a large part of my recent degree show. I used the qualities of glass to convey the disappearance of rural traditions and skills from Irish culture and history. Using both cast glass and pate de verre, the objects created highlight the fragile nature of memory, history and cultural identity.