Lora Whelan — Artist’s Biography
Studio: Downeast, ME
Born: NYC, NY | 1963
Lora Whelan lives way Downeast on the shores of Passamaquoddy and Cobscook bays on the border of Maine and Canada. She is an abstract painter, with landscape and place always at the crux. An essential part of her process is using the tension that arises between the mix of materials — canvas that is has gesso or does not, that is tightly or loosely woven, that is stiff or flexible; paint that is only partially absorbed into extra water, or is thinned way down to allow for elongated evaporation times; techniques that involve scrunching up unstretched canvas and painting on the exposed surfaces, or lifting and tilting it while the paint runs, or imprinting one side to the other… The process can feel like walking into a strong wind, uncertain of what will happen, but always joyous and with anticipation for what will be revealed.
She has lived in New York City, Vermont, New Mexico and now lives in Maine, where she currently maintains her studio practice.
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
2024
Summer youth program. Working with students to make marks from found textures and discussing the Echoes of Place show. Washington Street Gallery, Eastport, ME
Echoes of Place, Washington Street Gallery, Eastport, ME
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
2026
Summer Season Show, Full Fathom Five, ME
Ocean Rising III group show, Gallery Sitka, RI
We are the Watershed group show, Washington Street Gallery, ME
Group Show Invitational, MOTHERS Gallery, ME,
One-person show, Cyr Gallery, Bangor Public Library, ME
2025
Affordable Art Fair/Gallery Sitka, New York, NY
One-person show, MOTHERS Gallery, ME
One-person show, Lubec Memorial Library, ME
Show invitation, with Richard Van Buren, Leslie Bowman, Cheryl Denbow, Atelier Laforest, ME
Spring Greens group show, Gallery Sitka, RI
Summer Season Show, Full Fathom Five Gallery, ME
2024
Ocean Land Lines, one-person show, Gallery Sitka, MA
Echoes of Place, one-person show, Washington Street Gallery, ME
Gallery Sitka Group Show, New Dawn Arts Center, MA
Summer season show, Full Fathom Five Gallery, ME
2023
Illuminaries, group show, Washington Street Gallery, ME
2022
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
