Artwork by Lorraine Whelan . . .

Printmaking by Lorraine Whelan

While I had some training in printmaking while in art school, I was never much interested in the various processes until the last decade. It was while giving woodblock demonstrations at IMMA as part of an MA group group project that my interest in printmaking took flight. For several years I had access to a portable press and explored the process of linoprinting. By attending Trinity Art Workshops, I reacquainted myself with etching processes and also found out about carborundum.

During the pandemic I took several online monoprinting courses, from both the Graphic Studio Dublin and Dún Laoghaire arts office. In both cases the materials were sent out to me and I used the kitchen as my workspace. I had also taken an online silk fibre "paper" making course after which I knew I wanted to make more of this material to print on.

I have also converted pasta machine and adjusted it to be a horizontal, portable, press that I can easily install in my studio space. Images created for intaglio and blind-embossed prints for this press are limited in size and have worked for specific book art pieces. I also enjoy creating prints in more direct media, such as lino and woodblock, which do not require a press and are less limited in size. When it arises, I take the opportunity to work larger and explore other print media through various printmaking facilities workshops (such as those offered at The Print Museum and Blackchurch Print Studios, both in Dublin).

In 2022, through a workshop held in Clones Art Studios, I was introduced to the mokuhanga technique, that is, Japanese woodblock printmaking, which is a more eco-friendly technique as inks are a mix of rice paste (nori) and watercolour paint.

Image Details

  • The gate in front of the house led to a huge field, 2023, monoprint, ink on Japanese mulberry paper, 2.5 cm x 18.5 cm
  • Distance, 2020, lino print, edition & unique silk fibre sheet prints drying
  • Liminal, 2017, lithograph, edition of 4, image size: 29 cm x 44.5 cm
  • untitled, 2017, intaglio & chine collé, monoprint, image size: 15 cm x 15 cm
  • Mint, 2016, woodblock, uneditioned, image size: 7.5 cm x 6 cm
  • Skipping, 2016, lino print, uneditioned, image size: 12.5 cm x 7.5 cm


I was born in Toronto, Canada into a large Irish immigrant family. Shortly after obtaining my primary degree in 1986, I moved to Ireland to where my parents and half my siblings had already returned.

My writing (poetry, art criticism & commentary, fiction, non-fiction) has been published in Ireland, Canada, USA, Luxembourg & online.

I have exhibited my artwork throughout Ireland in both solo and group exhibitions and have exhibited in group exhibitions in France, China and Canada. I have participated in artist residencies and symposia and my work is included in private (US, Canada, Australia, UK & Belgium) and in public/corporate collections (Microsoft WPGI, OPW, HSE, Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Europol & IBM).

For over 30 years I have created bodies of work that are inspired and challenged by my environment and circumstances, which are regularly in flux. The study and analysis of dreams plays a large part in much of my work and the development of dream imagery informs the iconography used in both visual and verbal work.

I have worked on projects in response to a specific brief, site, concept, or combination of these. I am fascinated with the immediacy of temporary work yet equally interested in archives and permanence. While I consider myself primarily a painter, I love to experience and experiment with any manner of media. I freely use any media to suit an idea, which is the paramount consideration.

I believe that it is through the expression of individual responses to life circumstances that wider truths can be discovered and understood.

I am an artist. I am here. I remember. I draw. I write. I tell stories.