O'Brien, Catherine (1881–1963)
O'Brien, Catherine (1881–1963)
Irish artist . Name variations: Kitty O'Brien. Born in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, in 1881; died in 1963; studied at the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin, and the Tower of Glass.
Catherine O'Brien studied the art of stained glass at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, where a department on church decoration had been instituted at the behest of artist Sarah Purser at the turn of the 20th century. She joined the Tower of Glass (An Túr Gloine), a Dublin workshop dedicated to creating fine stained glass, a few years after Purser founded it in 1903. The workshop, whose co-operative members also made mosaics and related crafts, went on to achieve recognition as one of the premier creators of stained glass in the world. O'Brien continued running the workshop after Purser's death in 1943. Her windows can be seen throughout Ireland, including the following locations: St. Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea; Killoughter Church, Ballyhaise, County Cavan; St. Nicholas' Church, Carrickfergus, County Antrim; Downpatrick Church, County Down; and St. John the Baptist's Church, Clontarf, Dublin.
sources:
Newmann, Kate, comp. Dictionary of Ulster Biography. The Institute of Irish Studies, the Queen's University of Belfast, 1993.
Howard Gofstein , freelance writer, Oak Park, Michigan