Langholm: Textile Town-Notes from Sheepland (15)

Notes from Sheepland bursts with candid observations of lipstick wearing, always swearing, no nonsense, artist and shepherd, Orla Barry. Through her fields, her digital diaries, and the pedigree sheep she cares for, we discover how the art is in the doing.

Orla Barry is a self-confessed ovine addict. She is a decade in sheep, she’s still wondering what possessed her to start but yet she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Orla lived in Brussels for 16 years and now lives and works in South East Ireland where she runs a flock of pedigree Lleyn sheep. Her work deals with the tensions of being an artist and an eco-farmer in rural Ireland. The Sheep have slowed her art career but at the same, caring for them has hugely inspired it. She escapes the studio by going to the sheep, escapes the sheep by hiding in her studio. Notes From Sheepland follows Orla, an outlier, as she floats between these worlds. It reflects upon the primal, poetic and unpredictable bond she has with the natural world.

This tour is funded by the Dumfries and Galloway Regional Cultural fund - any donations will be put towards core costs.