Orla initially studied German and French at UCD in the Faculty of Arts. In
1993 she met Dolf Patijn, a native of Groningen, the Netherlands, and between
1994 and 2000 lived in Groningen. After returning to Ireland, in 2001 she went
to Limerick School of Art and Design and studied Fine Art Painting, graduating
in 2004.
Orla grew up in a household full of songs and stories, her late father
Paddy Clancy (1922-1998) was a singer, storyteller and occasional actor, best
known as the eldest of the Clancy Brothers, the folk singers who brought Ireland
to a global audience through songs and stories. In private Paddy was a great man
for the books, he and his wife Mary were both avid readers and instilled a love
of literature and poetry in all their children.
Orla Clancy and Dolf Patijn live in County Limerick. Dolf Patijn works in health
care and is an accomplished photographer and musician.
Orla's art is about the intrinsive stories of our lives: figurative scenes of
day-to-day activities that seem deceptively ordinary, but have suggestive, even
provocative layers of meaning; and locations which have special meaning, even
historic significance.
Website: orlaclancycontemporaryart.com