Lara Quinn
Cork County Council/Uillinn Artist in Residence Award 2026
DATES
29 July to 29 August 2026
TIMES
SHARE
Lara Quinn
Cork County Council/Uillinn Artist in Residence Award
29 July to 29 August 2026
Studio Open to the public on Tuesday and Wednesday
Live Painting Demonstration and Discussion
Thursday 30 July, 2.30pm to 4.30pm and Saturday 29 August, 12:30pm to 1:30pm
From her figurative oil paintings to embodied performances, Quinn’s practice is rooted in a loosely autobiographical narrative, harnessing symbolism from mythology, folklore and the artistic canon to create reimagined representations of her lived experiences.
As a part of the Uillinn / Cork County Council Artist in Residence Award, I intend to produce two new oil paintings inspired by my next performance-to-camera film. I will be developing and producing this performance-film in advance of the residency, under mentorship from two seminal, Irish performance artists; Aideen Barry and Áine Phillips.
Throughout the month, I intend to use the studio facilities at Uillinn as an arena for experimentation and innovation beyond the conformities and routines I have developed in my own studio. This grants me the opportunity to confront my practice through a more considered lens, challenging the methods and processes I naturally employ by producing work in a different context and within a condensed time-frame. I usually produce work slowly, working deliberately and with detail, so the short-term nature of this residency is a valuable opportunity to challenge these habits of comfort that often stifle instinctive innovation within my practice.
Furthermore, I realise the capacity of this residency as an opportunity to expand my audience and engage with the active community that the West Cork Arts Centre has cultivated, which is why I have chosen to premiere the first viewing of my performance-film as a part of this residency. This will not only invite the public to engage with my work directly, but also offer me valuable insight into the reception of the piece for further development. This will be followed by an artist’s talk, discussing insights into my research and practice at large. As the late visual artist Louise Bourgeois once said, ‘You pile up associations the way you pile up bricks. Memory itself is a form of architecture’, and in my opinion it is because of these evolving associations and connections created through discourse that the work never really ends.
Quinn is a Cork-based visual artist and studio-holder at Sample Studios. She holds a BA in Fine Art from MTU Crawford College of Art and Design (2024) with prior education studying the History of Art at University College Cork. Quinn’s practice spans painting and performance with recent developments in film and sculpture. Informed by art movements such as magic-realism, her work harnesses mythological themes and art-historic symbolism to address autobiographical narratives concerning identity and heritage. Quinn’s awards include the Agility Award (2025) and Cork Arts Society Student of the Year Award (2024) to name a few.
Quinn’s mentorship with Aideen Barry and Áine Phillips is supported by the Arts Council through an Agility Award (2025).
Instagram: @laraquinnart
Image: Lara Quinn, An Bó-Fhionn, Oil on Canvas, 190cm x 150cm, 2025.
Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre acknowledges the financial support of Cork County Council / Comhairle Contae Chorcaí and The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon in making these residencies possible.
