Jenny Mulligan, born 1992, is an Irish glass artist. She graduated with a BA (Hons) in Art and Design history and Craft Design from NCAD Dublin, Ireland in 2015; Taking a semester abroad at SIU Carbondale, Illinois. She has since interned at Berlin Glas, e.V., studied at Jyderup Højskole, Denmark, and worked as a glassblowing assistant in Bergen, Norway. In 2021 she completed her studies at Riksglasskolan, Sweden’s National School of Glass with a focus on both hot and cold glass. Most recently she has set up her own engraving and coldworking workshop at her home south of the Swedish Glass Kingdom.
Jenny's first introduction to wheel engraving was in 2015 during Katharine Coleman’s Bild-werk course in Frauenau, Germany; Relighting her glass fire after final year burn out. Finally in Spring 2018 she returned to the wheel at Wilhelm Vernon’s engraving course in Dublin and subsequently purchased her own machine.
Working with glass is a metamorphosis of materials, transformed through artistic idea and the crafters hand. Its captivating ethereal qualities, as it flirts with light and colour, make it a wonderful medium to convey my ideas.
My artistic practise focuses on traditional techniques of glassblowing, cutting and engraving, and applying those techniques in contemporary ways to challenge traditional customs. Playing with the structure of the vessel and formal viewpoints, my own humour is apparent in the work.
Coldworking for me is about embracing the challenges and chasing the cracks. Experimenting with one of the oldest decorative processes I form viewpoints in lenses, cuts and openings in my vessels forcing the viewer to observe from various angles. My high-polish deep-cut series “Confluence” explores the movement and essence of line.
