'I want to insert myself right into the material', visual artist Orla O'Byrne shares her creative process [16]

Cork based Orla O’Byrne explores overlooked histories of sites and artefacts.  She works across a variety of media and techniques such as drawing, photography and sculpture. Orla rebelled against going to art college after school, travelled and lived abroad, before having children, setting up a bakery business and eventually went to art college aged 35.  She has an MA in Art & Process and a BA in Fine Art from The Crawford College of Art and Design.  She is a member of the board of directors of the Backwater Artists where her studio is based.  Some of her awards include The Lavit Gallery Student of the Year and the CIT Registrar’s Prize.   Orla talks to Éadaoin Glynn about:

• Rebelling against going to art college until she was 35


• Her love of drawing


• Her deep affinity with her materials


• Coade stone


• Maverick casting


• Casting from a cast


• Writing about art


• Recording the Crawford Art Gallery on the cusp of change


• Physical material signs of the stories contained within a building


• Looking Up


• Examining old glass slides used for teaching


• Overwhelm


• Analog processes


• Her studio: time management, organisation and storage


• Peeling the skin off stone


• Her relationship with colour


• About rejection


• Advice


• Upcoming exhibition with the F Project group, in Chapel Hill School of Art, Macroom about how we perceive light.

Full shows and images available in the blog.

www.orlaobyrne.com

Instagram: @orla_o_byrne

Contact Eadaoin

www.eadaoinglynn.com

Instagram: @eadaoin_glynn