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Workshops
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Saturday Studios with Laura McMorrow and Wayne O Connor

May to July 2022
3d studio Laura Mc Morrow Saturday Studios
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About the Artist(s)

Wayne O Connor is a Sligo based creative working as an illustrator, storyteller, writer, and arts educator. Having graduated in the mid 90’s, he embraced the digital medium to create his work becoming proficient in a variety of digital software. His work is influenced by Myth, Fantasy, and storytelling. These inspirations have led to his work on a variety of board games and books.

Laura McMorrow is a visual artist based in Leitrim, she holds a Masters in Fine Art from the University of Ulster. Her practice combines painting, sculpture, video, collage and installation. Last year, Laura worked on three Creative Ireland projects including a cycling film, sensory adventures and a stop motion animation project. This year Laura completed three residencies in National schools for the Teacher Artist Partnership project.

Saturday Studios is a series of workshops for young people that takes place over two weekends in The Dock. These workshops are delivered as a way for young people to work closely with an artist and get an insight into their practices, as well as take inspiration from our current exhibition. The series of workshops are for two age groups: age 7-9 years and age 10-13years

For the first series in May, artist Laura McMorrow looked at 2D and 3D artwork and the processes involved in creating an artwork.

First Session – 2D Saturday
This workshop with Laura McMorrow drew inspiration from Bennie Reilly’s exhibition The Louvre of the Pebble. Laura McMorrow showed the young people how to draw, collage and paint on unusual materials. Learning how to play with scale and create imaginary and dreamlike landscapes. A series of 2D works were created.

Second session -3D Saturday
Drawing more inspiration from Bennie Reilly’s exhibition. The young people created sculptures by assembling unusual materials. Learning how to make curious artefacts from trophies to trees by combining all sorts of treasures from broken pottery to sticks. Experiment and play with natural materials and ready-made materials. The 2D works created in the first session formed a backdrop for 3D sculptures.

For our second series
of Saturday Studios in July, artist and storyteller Wayne O Connor designed a series of workshops: GETTING TO IT (FINDING INSPIRATION FOR COMICS AND STORIES)

When it comes to creating characters, worlds, and stories sometimes the hardest part when you stare at a blank sheet or canvas, is coming up with an idea. What will I draw today? How will I draw it? What story do I have to tell?


Artist and Storyteller Wayne O Connor guided the young people through workshops that were all about getting past that initial wall and tapping into your creative flow. Over the course of the sessions, the participants tried out a variety of techniques that helps and how the underlying principles of storytelling can inform every choice they make in a drawing.

First Session:
WAKING THE BRAIN. Just like a footballer needs to warm up before he goes on the field, an artist needs to do likewise, so the session started with some fun drawing exercises that are designed to wake up the imagination, and plant some creative seeds. We might even grow a tree…

THE WHY. We look at a display of a variety of famous characters from films, comics, and games. Wayne will go behind the scenes in each of the character designs and help answer the important question: Why? Why this colour? Why this Pose? Why this outfit? Highlighting the importance of story and how it can affect every decision the artist makes.

Second Session:
THE HOW. Here, O Connor combined references, handouts provided on the day and even games that inspire stories, alongside practical drawing tips. By the end of the session, the student's brains were bursting with ideas and imagery for bringing their own comics and artworks.

THE ARTWORK: Taking all these ideas to create a unique character of their own and fleshing out the story and world that informs the design.

An exhibition of artwork created by young people from the Saturday Studios with Wayne O Connor and Laura McMorrow will be shown from the 3rd to 8th of August 2022



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