Lorna Donlon is announced as UCD Conway artist-in-residence.

Tapestry weaver and textile artist, Lorna Donlon will begin a twelve month artist-in-residency programme in the UCD Conway Institute this month, in partnership with UCD Parity Studios and through funding from the Wellcome Trust.

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 about tapestry weaving from Lynne Curran in Italy. She increasingly makes ‘objects’ and creates arrangements that examine how we shape and build our world through our senses and the stories we tell.

A self-confessed magpie person, Lorna loves to collect, order, assemble and exhibit objects and ideas she finds around her as she goes about her day.

Lorna is uniquely positioned for this residency having recently completed an undergraduate degree in cell and molecular biology from UCD School of Biology & Environmental Science. She also has an appreciation of the patient experience from her time working in a palliative care setting as a healthcare assistant.

Lorna Donlon UCD Conway Institute Artist in Residence from Parity on Vimeo.

Her 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".

The principal aims of this residency are to support mutual exchange between the artist and researchers, to explore current and prospective research through the lens of artistic practice. Lorna will work closely with UCD Conway researchers in the first three months in an exploratory phase before beginning the process of creating new work to engage audiences about ongoing research.

About UCD Artist in Residence Programme
UCD Parity Studios facilitates collaborative projects and inspiring partnerships between artists and other researchers working across the traditional boundaries of their knowledge disciplines. 

*Funding is acknowledged from the UCD Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Fund, which was financed jointly by University College Dublin and the SFI-HRB-Wellcome Biomedical Research Partnership (ref 204844/Z/16/Z).