The MAKE/curate programme is a partnership initiative between Wexford Arts Centre, the Arts Department of Wexford County Council and Blackbird Cultur-Lab. Through the programme, an artist is paired with a curator and mentor to work with over the course of a one or two-year timeframe toward a solo exhibition in Wexford Arts Centre. Its aim is to provide artists working regionally with an opportunity to work with a national curator to critique their practice, introduce other areas of interest or specialists, and in turn assist in the development of their careers.
In 2023, Órla Bates was invited to take part in the MAKE/curate programme, a partnership initiative between Wexford Arts Centre, the Arts Department of Wexford County Council, and Blackbird Cultur-Lab. The aim of the programme is to provide artists working regionally with an opportunity to work with a national curator. Over the course of two years, Orla worked with Curator Ann Mulrooney towards her solo exhibition at Wexford Arts Centre. Distinct from the curatorial support, mentorship was also facilitated by artist Joanna Leah.
Wexford Arts Centre is pleased to present Sync Shift, an exhibition of new drawings by artist Órla Bates. The exhibition will run in the lower and upper galleries from Saturday, 14th June, to Saturday, 26th July, 2025.
Órla Bates is a visual artist from County Wexford. She holds a BA in Fine Art (Printmaking) from Limerick School of Art and Design and a Higher Diploma in Art Education from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin.
Órla’s work has been selected for national and international exhibitions. Recently, her work has featured in Drawing Articulations: A Radical Drawing Symposium, Leeds School of Arts; Drawing in Relation curated by Arno Kramer, Drawing Research Network, Loughborough University, UK; and Cotyledon, Cotyledon Projects, Los Angeles, CA.
Her practice has been supported by numerous awards, including the Artlink Bursary Award (2025, 2023, 2015, 2012), the Arts Council Professional Development Award (2021) and the Tyrone Guthrie Bursary Award from Wexford County Council. She has participated in several artist residencies, including Lodestar Contemporary in France, Belgium and Limerick (2021–2024), Tyrone Guthrie Centre, and Ballinglen Arts Foundation.
In 2021, Serena Caulfield was selected to take part in the MAKE/curate programme and over the course of two years, worked with Curators Marysia Wieckiewicz-Carroll and Cliodhna Shaffrey. Distinct from the curatorial support, mentorship was also facilitated by artist Sinead Ni Mhaonaigh. Not somewhere else but here, an exhibition of new paintings by the artist will run in the lower and upper galleries of Wexford Arts Centre from Tuesday 14 February to Thursday 23 March, 2023.
Serena is a painter living and working in Wexford, Ireland. She is a recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland Visual Arts Bursary, an Artlinks Visual Arts Bursary, Platform 31, and an Arts Council Agility Award. She has exhibited regionally and nationally. Recent group shows include the Zurich Painting Prize, 2021 at the National Gallery of Ireland and Crawford Art Gallery, Cork (2021); Generation 2022 – New Irish Painting, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny (2022); 140th Annual Royal Ulster Academy Exhibition, Belfast (2021), Crossings, King House, Boyle Arts Festival (2021), and MEET, Periphery Space, Gorey School of Art, (2021).
STAND ALONE MENTORSHIP
Through the MAKE/curate programme we also offer stand-alone mentorship sessions to artists who demonstrate a need for guidance on professional practice and/or work development. This strand of the MAKE/curate programme is run in association with Blackbird Cultur-Lab. To date, we have worked with the following artists Ciaran Bowen, Fran Greene, Oonagh Latchford, Jonny Murphy and Mirona Mara, and mentors Els Dietvorst, Janice Li, Richard Malone, Catherine Marshall, and Dawn Wiliiams.
For further information on the programme please contact Curator Catherine Bowe – catherine@wexfordartscentre.ie. The MAKE/curate programme is run in assication with the Arts Department of Wexford County Council, Blackbird Cultur-Lab, and the Arts Council.
