Kathleen Mulcahy: Steady Flow of Cool
The Susquehanna River inspired Kathleen Mulcahy’s exhibition, Steady Flow of Cool. One afternoon, while drifting along in a canoe, her arm dropped over the edge and as her fingers gently sliced through the water a vision was born. “Now I begin my work by recalling a body of water,” she says. “It could be the deep blue of the open sea, the emerald green of an alpine lake or the sharp horizon line of the Gulf.”
Through her art Mulcahy transforms hot glass into meditations on cold, sparking water. Her subtle, transparent surfaces gently collide, fuse and intersect to create unending depths of luminosity and intensity.
“I am always amazed at what this material can do,” she says. “I set up my pieces, not knowing exactly what the outcome will be.”
Mulcahy, who along with her late husband Ron Desmett are recognized by their peers as two of the most innovative and giving artists in the world of glass, launched the Pittsburgh Glass Center over 20 years ago. Through their dedication and persistence, today the center is a thriving gallery, glass studio and public-access school dedicated to teaching, creating and promoting studio glass art.