ORLA STEVENS

Having spent most childhood holidays and weekends up hills or camping in tents along Scotland's northwest coast, Orla supposes it was inevitable that nature would play an incredibly influential role in her life. Spending time immersed in nature is what connects her to herself, to the world and others in it, and is where she believes a childhood sense of exploration, joy, care and wonder can be found, no matter a person's age. While studying at design school, she discovered abstract painting and instantly fell in love with how the process of painting made her feel. In it, she saw a potential to communicate the experience of play, wonder and joy with others, and tie all that she loves most together: being outside, painting, and sharing and encouraging others to find a space for exploration in their everydays too.   
 

Through painting, she explores human connections to natural places, and the effects and importance of these environments on our daily lives and wellbeing. She sees her paintings as a way to map memories and share experiences of adventures outdoors, both large and small. Within landscape, she is inspired by sounds, and often take field recordings as she walks or sketches, to draw inspiration from the audio of these environments. Each painting is a reaction to the sounds, visuals and emotions experienced in our natural spaces, and are represented through colours, marks, textures and shapes to capture a sense of place.  

Coming from a musical background playing traditional music, rhythm, improvisation, musicality and harmony are important considerations in her practice. She often collaborates with musicians and composers to explore this audio-visual conversation. Patterns from the landscape, walking, music or field recordings are heard, felt or seen and feature through work as textures, repeating marks, shapes and motifs.  Her work is influenced by her background in screen printed textiles and surface design, a love for folk art, and my connections to nature. A firm believer in the importance of accessibility across art and access to the outdoors, Orla hopes her work through painting, community arts, teaching and illustration encourages more ways of noticing, celebrating and protecting our natural spaces. She holds a BA with Honours from Edinburgh College of Art in Screen Printed Textiles and Surface Pattern Design.