Abe uses glass to make her art outstanding

Gillian Stacey Abe is an emerging female artist with an ecstatic passion for glass. At the age of nine, she could understand acrylic tubes. An acrylic is a paint in which an acrylic resin serves as a vehicle. And with curiosity of trying them out, a crude yet interesting pair of sharp hills and a tree right in the middle, was created. She held onto this until she was 17, in 2008. She was studying for A-Levels. That is when she sold her first art piece. Today, she is an artist driven by emotion, societal situations and passion.

Abe is hungry and ready to find her bearing in a male dominated art industry. Her ambition is to create an impact at different intervals and is motivated by the urge to blossom and inspire other women.
She chose to stand out uniquely, using glass in her art. With glass, she has tried and erred, which has set her on a learning streak as she creates beautiful sculptures and paintings.

Choosing glass
“Working with glass started as a trial and error issue in school. While trying to discover a material I could work with uniquely and eventually call my own, I fell for glass,” she narrates why she chose to work with glass.
She gets her glass materials from glass marts or hardware shops that keep excess offcuts. This is the same for metal, which she also uses. She gets offcut metals from welding workshops.

“It is easy for me to paint and sculpt at the same time, without having to confuse the two because personally, they both involve a bit more thought, concept and ideas. I try to keep my paintings and sculpture as related as possible in terms of style and rhythm,” Abe adds.
She is a semi abstract painter. The abstraction comes in colour, composition or concept.

Abe seems to lean more on semi-abstraction as a style plus assembling and using fragments as a technique of working. Her inspirations are drawn from the environment and community around her, as well as her experiences, situations and circumstances.
Today, she works from home where she says she has enough space to “mess around”. Though a hobby for many, art is now a career for her.
“Art became a profession right from the time I took a decision to practise it at the university. I believe passion led me to it,” the artist says. Abe recently completed her Bachelor’s degree in Art and Industrial Design at Kyambogo University.

Asked how long she would take working on an art piece, Abe says it depends on the amount of pressure exerted on her shoulders. A sculpture weighing about three tonnes could take her a month or two or just a fortnight to complete. Perhaps inspiration and drive are other factors that come to play.
Unlike the common allusion that art is not commercially rewarding, the abstract artist says art is profitable and it all depends on situations, society, environment and general exposure.

She says: “It is refreshing to know that art in Uganda is thriving so fast and its appreciation is also on the rise. People are beginning to understand the true essence of art and what it is.”
But it is not only art that defines Abe. She enjoys travelling because she finds serenity in short trips as the best times for her to sort out her thoughts and plans. That is part of the proof that Abe is a fun-loving, adventurous and spontaneous young lady.

FUTURE PLANS

As an emerging artist, Abe thirsts for exposure and experience, a sure way to cut out a successful career in art. Her other dream is to see more investment in the arts industry, first from its players and then government. She adds that there should be emphasis on appreciation of art right from kindergarten to higher institutions, while creating awareness for it and boosting collaborations between artists, organisations and the public.
Abe looks up to famous Japanese sculptor, Sayaka Ganz (pictured R) for her works and visible strength in her personality.

[email protected]