Karen Donnellan (b. Wicklow, Ireland) is currently Assistant Professor of Glass and Director of the National Casting Center Glass Facility, NYSCC, Alfred University, NY. Her work encompasses sculpture, installation, sound, video, drawing and performance. Donnellan is the recipient of numerous residencies, most notably Toledo Museum of Art, OH; Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland; and the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris. Her work is held in public and private collections and has been shown at venues internationally, including the Irish Museum of Contemporary Art, Tushanwan Museum, and the Corning Museum of Glass. Donnellan earned a Bachelors of Design from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and an MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology, NY.

Artist Statement:

I make images, objects, and installations that, paradoxically, evoke the intangible essence of things. While I use a wide range of media, glass and sound are central to this endeavor. Glass captures light; sound captures vibration. Both mediums speak the language of the mystical. Probing that space between the visual and aural, I explore how the two can influence each other.
For me, art lies at the nexus of light and energy. Glass is one of few materials that can hold facture in stasis. It is this temporary state that lends itself to ideas surrounding the mystical and mythical traditions from which I draw my imagery and base my practice.
Central to my imagery is the circle—a universal symbol and a symbol of the universe. The circle is also a recurring motif as an invocation of the Divine Feminine. My practice engages with a politically fraught world through works that envelop the viewer visually and acoustically.
Or
Improbable
Imaginary
Invisible
Tuning sound to bodies
Bodies to sound