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Size is important

For South Dublin artist Orla Whelan, being offered the large studio space at Draiocht for a six month residency has given her the ability to expand – literally!

“For the past few years, I have been very mobile and this has had a profound effect on the scale of my work,” she smiles. “If you have to keep packing up every few weeks, then you need to have small, easily-packed paintings and I have found my work keeps getting smaller and smaller as a result!

“Another factor has been the fact that my two most recent exhibitions – in the Goethe Institute in Merrion Square and in This is not a Shop in Benburb Street - were held in two of the tiniest galleries that you ever saw, so my work had to be scaled down considerably.

“Of course I have never been able to rent a large studio space, so this residency at Draiocht comes at just the right time for me. It will give me a chance to develop some larger pieces for a change!”

Orla was reared in Rathfarnham and now lives in Drimnagh. She graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from the National College of Art and Design in 1997 and recently completed a Masters in Visual Arts Practices from the Institute of Art Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire. She has exhibited previously at Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin, the Goethe Institute, Dublin, Archeus Fine Art, London, the Christopher Hull Gallery London, Pallas Studios, Dublin, and the Ashford Gallery Dublin.

When it comes to subject matter, Orla has not limited herself to one particular style of painting though she works principally with oil on canvas. She has done everything from landscapes to abstract and indeed last year developed a series of paintings that focused on roads. These roads were mostly curved and would wind back on themselves if followed. On closer inspection, it appeared that the paintings were of hedges and trees, of what was on either side of the road, the road itself being blank.

“At the moment, I am doing a lot of figurative work,” she says. “These are mainly images of people and places, though they often contain inanimate objects too. It’s really all quiet eclectic at the moment!”

Orla’s motivation to make art works stems form a desire as she once said “... to know more about the world and to better understand the things in it. I don’t know why I feel that painting is a good or viable means to explore this.

“Perhaps because it’s only about looking and seeing. Painting has clear limitations and I feel that there is greater potential for achievement when certain limitations are applied. If nothing was given, I wouldn’t know where to start.”

The mother of a two and a half year old daughter – “how can you be a full time artist with a young child?” she asks - will spend her time at Draíocht expanding the scale of her work in preparation for a number of projects, including a group show at The Lab, Dublin City Council’s new space for contemporary art in the city centre. “The show at The Lab, which is opening in June, will be a three person exhibition but it is a really large exhibition space,” she says. “Yet another reason why I am delighted to get this six month residency with its large studio space.”

“Orla creates gentle and elusive images drawn from a range of sources of personal significance,” says Draíocht’s Visual Arts Officer Carissa Farrell. “Redundant memorials, religious statues, forgotten monuments, or cosmic elements such as the moon, clouds and stars appear pared down in a barely visible manner. We are delighted to welcome her to Draiocht.”

Orla Whelan is artist in residence at Draiocht up to and including June 2008.

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