Courses

Katie O Hara

Katie O’Hara is a visual artist from Co. Dublin. She primarily makes works on paper, and gouache paint is her preferred medium. She also sees the written word as a powerful tool and she often combines both text and paintings to create visual stories that evoke a sense of fantasy and magic. She has also sometimes presented her paintings alongside found objects. Her work was exhibited at Pallas Projects, as part of the IADT student show In The Making: Butter, (February 2023).

*Ever Present*, (Detail), 2023, Gouache on HP watercolour paper, painted cardboard insert tubes, 1.13 x 500 cm. "Tatters of ethereal darkness thread alongside you."

*Ever Present*, (Detail), 2023, Gouache on HP watercolour paper, painted cardboard insert tubes, 1.13 x 500 cm. "Something lurks within these woods, tainting the trees with an unnatural aura."

*Ever Present*, (Detail), 2023, Gouache on HP watercolour paper, painted cardboard insert tubes, 1.13 x 500 cm. "Its getting closer...shadows flicker like flames, though they cast no light."

*Ever Present*, (Detail), 2023, Gouache on HP watercolour paper, painted cardboard insert tubes, 1.13 x 500cm. "Silent eyes are watching you from a writhing face of shroud..."

*Invoke: Embrace of The Shadow*, 2023, Gouache on HP watercolour paper, 46 x 61 cm., (1/2) "Lend me your strength..."

*Invoke: Embrace of The Shadow*, 2023, Gouache on HP watercolour paper, 46 x 61 cm., (2/2). "...And I shall be your wings".

*Invoke: Embrace of The Shadow*, 2023, Gouache on HP watercolour paper, 46 x 61 cm. A young fairy wandering through the woods encounters a strange, dark serpentine entity that appears to be made entirely of writhing shroud. The boy is bleeding, his wings injured from a scrap he was in not long before his trek. At first he is frightened of the creature, but when it begins to comfort him, he relaxes as he realises it's presence means no harm. The Shadow offers to heal his wings after the two spend some time together, and with it, an added boost to his magical power. "Why do you need my strength?", the entity was certainly ancient and powerful on its own... and yet, the serpent replies; "Mine has been eaten away, a feared existence becomes a lonesome one".

*Ever Present* and *Invoke*, (exhibition installation), 2023, HP Watercolour paper, various sizes.

Project Description

Through her process of making creatures, characters and the worlds for them to exist in, Katie knowingly indulges in escapism to ease her mind off the stresses of the modern world and her own sense of existential dread. By focusing on creating a world of her own, full of stories, her brain has something less stressful to think about when going to sleep at night. In addition, sharing these works with others is a way to offer solace. It gives viewers a moment to become lost in an imaginary world and forget about their own problems for even just a moment. Sometimes fantasy can help us all to cope with reality. Katie is driven by the sheer joy of bringing imagination to life through colourful, fun visuals and inventing a whole world through the combination of words and images.

Creative Escapism; Art For Mental Health

My thesis explores how art provides a healthy outlet to indulge in escapism, discussing the benefits of using art as a method of therapy. Where an addiction to substances such as alcohol or drugs may be physically harmful to an individual, taking the time to draw or paint gives the mind a constructive task to focus on and even allow the person to express what they are going through in the creation of the work.
Whilst distraction is most often viewed as a bad thing, my thesis argues that some degree of giving into it is sometimes necessary in order to cope with stressful situations and take the edge off where life events may become too much to bear all at once. Art gives use a hands-on method of processing what tangles our minds or allows for the mind to shut off whilst still performing a task to occupy ourselves.