KATHLEEN MULCAHY
Kathleen Mulcahy's glass drop installations incorporate bent and etched plate glass on patinaed or textured steel. As an avid kayaker, she experienced a moment that changed the direction of her art. A storm came upon the river suddenly. In its wake it left her with a moment of pure joy, of wonder, that she works to recreate in her drop installations. Her inspiration, drawn from the natural world – water and rivers, often titled after excerpts from poems exploring the boundaries and freedoms that affect relationships; people to people and people to nature. Nature is the reflection point of her work. Kathleen pushes the limits of the medium, merging sculpture with craft to create masterful works in glass and metal.
Mulcahy received a Masters of Fine Arts in glass sculpture and three-dimensional design from Alfred University. Afterwards, she directed glass studio programs at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh then went on to develop the Pittsburgh Glass Center, one of the premier public access glass studios in the nation. During this time, her own work – installation pieces, cast glass, and blown glass objects – evolved into unique and poignant statements. Kathleen received Fellowship Awards from the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts. the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Creative Glass Center of America. She received The Lusk Memorial Award through the Fulbright Foundation, The Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. In 1992, she was named Artist of the Year by the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Pennsylvania Artist of the Year by Governor Corbett in 2013. Her works are in many public and private collections including the American Craft Museum, The Corning Museum of Glass, The Carnegie Museum of Art, The Renwick Galleries of the Smithsonian Institution and The Westmoreland Museum of Art. In 1997, she was selected as Fellow of and Artist in Residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.
Mulcahy positions herself as an intentionalist – a word she coined to describe someone who uses art and the making of art to transform communities. Drawing on individuals of different backgrounds and ethnicities, the community comes together to make and appreciate expression and skill in a unique and challenging material.
