Opening on Friday, November 30 at the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar is Flora lucid, a beautiful exhibition of glass sculptures by Mayo artist Emma Bourke. Emma is a visual artist working mainly in the medium of glass. Her artistic practice is inspired by the natural environment in the west of Ireland, and the wild flowers and plants that populate the countryside. Captivated by these enchanting plants, Emma creates collections of these wild flowers out of glass, eternally capturing their beauty.
“The transparency of the glass is intentionally maintained in order to heighten the ambiguity of an organic ecosystem. Adding colour to some petals allows each to become characteristically unique like the environment which inspires their conception.” Emma graduated with a BDes (Hons) from NCAD. One of her degree pieces was purchased by the National Museum of Ireland, while her thesis, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka and their glass models of sea creatures, was acquired by the Rakow Library, Corning Museum of Glass, New York as part of its Blaschka Archive. Emma received a scholarship from the Craft Council of Ireland under the Future Makers Awards 2009.
