Bend in the River - Alison Mac Cormaic

Now living in Galway, Ireland, Alison Mac Cormaic was born in Scotland, where she studied Architectural Glass at Edinburgh College of Art during the 1990s. Finding inspiration in botanical forms and surface patterns, Alison employs mosaic to investigate the intersection between nature and culture, most frequently using Mexican smalti, an exquisite, opaque glass with luminous natural resonance. She builds on intuitive colour responses, with the selection, matching and rearranging of colour blocks a significant element in her process. Exploring a strong agency of personal drawings and mark-making, she creates work developed from observation, with a rapidly drawn line or contour often informing a whole mosaic. Alison completed an MA in Design History and Material Culture at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 2016, carrying out several site-specific sculptural and architectural commissions for The Arts Council, National University of Ireland and Irish County Councils since then. Creating more intimate works, Alison began exhibiting in 2022 and has shown both nationally and internationally. During 2025, she was selected for The Venice Glass Week HUB and Opere dal Mondo, the International Association of Contemporary Mosaicists-juried exhibition at Ravenna’s Biennial of Contemporary Mosaics, Italy.