New Paragraph
Artists in Residence 2020/2021
Lorna Donlon
UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research
I am a tapestry weaver, textile and installation artist. I am also a recent BSc graduate of UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science. I am a magpie person who collects, orders, assembles and exhibits objects and ideas I find around me as I go about my day. Among my cabinets of curious collections are things I have collected over years; a tiny bee clutching a flower, my own teeth wrapped in fabric, a matchbox full of my daughter's pencils pared down to stubbs, medieval looking precision tools, plant extracts, handwritten poetry on scraps of paper, found diary entries, letters and small items of laboratory equipment. These cabinets draw on a scientific aesthetic of classification and together with my tapestries, explore the tradition of narrative, both objective and subjective and question the distinction between the two.
My collages are created as ideas for tapestry narratives that will most likely never be woven. I am still learning how to be a good weaver.
Lorna recently graduated with a 1st class BSc in Cell and Molecular Biology from UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science in 2020. Prior to becoming a student of science through UCD Access and Lifelong Learning, Lorna spent 12 years teaching weaving at Grennan Mill Craft School in Kilkenny. She was taught loom weaving by Alice Roden in the late 1980's and continues to learn tapestry weaving from Lynne Curran in Italy.
Throughout and prior to her time at UCD she has worked as a tapestry weaver, textile artist and archivist in Tony O'Malleys studio in Kilkenny. Over the past 30 years her work has been commissioned for public and private collections across Ireland and America including a presentation piece for President Mary Robinson, OPW, Ministers Offices in Government Buildings Dublin, St. Aidan's Cathedral Enniscorthy, Irish American Foundation, Stephen's Green and Glanbia. She has exhibited extensively across Ireland and in the US and was selected to represent Ireland in Exempla '90, European Craft Exhibition, Munich. Her work has been supported through awards from Arts Council of Ireland, RDS Craft Awards, Showcase Ireland and Kilkenny Arts Festival.
She is currently working toward 'Unfolding' an exhibition at DLR Lexicon Gallery, Dublin, Oct 2020.
Previous Works
My most recent works are inspired by The Lady and the Unicorn, that hangs in Musée National du Moyen Age. This famous series of six tapestries woven in Flanders from wool and silk, is commonly interpreted as depicting the five senses- taste, hearing, sight, smell and touch. The sixth displays the words "A mon seul désir".
