Lora Whelan — Artist’s Biography
Studio: Downeast, ME
Born: NYC, NY | 1963
Lora Whelan lives in Downeast, Maine, where she maintains her painting studio and home. She grew up in New York City during a time of political chaos and social unrest, has lived in Vermont on an old farm, lived in a ghost town in New Mexico, and now lives in Eastport, a small island city near the Canadian border.
Artist’s Statement:
The intersection of past, present and future on place fascinates Whelan, along with the ghosts of human endeavor left behind, whether a 19th century barn collapsing, the tailing heaps of an early 20th century mining site or NASA aerial photos of crop circles and road patterns. Using primarily acrylic paint, she explores these marks left by mankind on the earth. “I find the patterns left behind fascinating, and exploring how to translate what I see into what I feel about it becomes a meditative act, drawing me deep into the paint and canvas.”
Increasingly Whelan works in series.“This allows me to explore ideas over a length of time, and to go back to those ideas after working on another series or on a stand-alone painting. It is deeply satisfying to create works that are connected, as if each one were a chapter in a story that builds an understanding of a greater whole through its parts.”
Lora’s website: www.lorawhelanart.com
Most recent press: The Working Waterfront
Artist Interviews/Talks
2023
From smudge to line: Nine years of process into art. Artist talk, Eastport Arts Center, Eastport, ME
2021
Writer Catherine Lee, virtual interview, Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
2020
Writer Katherine Stanley Obando, virtual interview, Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
Poet Jason Gundrom-Whitney, virtual interview, Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
Art Talk, Life in Washington County project: Life in the Virtual Age, Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
2019
Angels and Furies show, WSHD Radio, Eastport, ME
Art Talk, interview with sculptor Richard Van Buren and dancer Batya Zamir, Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
2018
Endangered/Extinct show, Washington Street Gallery, Eastport, ME
Selected Shows
2024
(Scheduled) Echoes of Place, two-person show, Washington Street Gallery, Eastport, ME
2023
Gallery show, Full Fathom Five Gallery, Eastport, ME
Hearts for the Arts, Artwalks, Eastport, ME
2022
Hearts for the Arts, Artwalks, Eastport, ME
Gallery show, Full Fathom Five Gallery, Eastport, ME
2021
Hearts for the Arts, Artwalks, Eastport, ME
Membership shows, Eastport Gallery, ME
2020
Group show, “Four Elements.” Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
Group show, “Rebellion.” Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
2019-2020
Group show, “Winter Comes I and II.” Washington Street Gallery, Eastport, ME
2019
One-person show, “Angels and Furies.” Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
Group show, “Abstract Only.” Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
Group show, “Dancing.” Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
Group show, “Self-portraits.” Washington Street Gallery, Eastport, ME
One-person show, “Small works,” Dastardly Dicks,” Eastport, ME
2018
Two-person show, “Harmony/Disharmony.” Washington Street Gallery, Eastport, ME
Group show, “Flowers.” Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
Group show, “Pirates.” Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
Group show, “Nothing but Nudes.” Washington Street Gallery, Eastport, ME
2017
One-person show, “Islands.” Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
Group show, “Nest.” Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
Group show, “Shadows.” Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
Group show, “Fogged in.” Eastport Gallery, Eastport, ME
