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Emer O’Donnell is a Dublin born artist who grew up in Dalkey. Currently, Emer is completing a BA (Hons) in Fine Art, with a concentration in Glass at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Emer engages glass engraving processes and graal technique to exploit the transparent properties of glass.  The surface treatment and form development of her hand-blown, cut and engraved series of works, entitled Equus, are inspired by her love of horses and research of equine hair formations. Emer received a full scholarship study engraving at the Studio, at Corning Museum of Glass (2016).  In the summer of 2016 she worked as a glazier assistant to artist Catherine Lamb in the restoration of Adare Manor stained glass windows. Emer has exhibited her work in Zozimus Gallery, (2016 and 2017); the Glass Arts Society Online Student Exhibition; Sculpture in Context, at the Botanic Gardens (2017) and shortlisted for Future Makers 2017.

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My project Equus, explores equine hair formations as inspiration of surface treatment and form development for a hand-blown, cut and engraved series of works.  I choose to research horses because horses have always been an integral part of my daily life. Having many years of horse grooming experience I decided to focus on hair formations known as whorls. These whorls are like fingerprints that are documented and used to identify each horse. At the core of the whorl is a spiral which expands outwards and changes direction like a vortex. 

Through processes of drawing I capture the essence of the whorls visual movement. I develop my drawings into surface patterns aimed at exploiting a visual movement between the internal and external surfaces of my glass forms. The transparent nature of the glass is important to the designed overlapping interaction of the internal and external mark-making. In some works I engage a processes of mark-making through cutting the glass surface to create another dimension of movement through the action of light refracting upon the cut glass surface.

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