Trina O’Hara

I originally exhibited as an artist of contemporary work, both on a solo and joint basis, and had my work accepted into the National Gallery of Australia and for exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (in Washington, DC). In my early years I won prizes for outstanding achievement, drawing, and artistic distinction, and was runner-up for the Mandorla Art Award in 1996. A lot of my initial work was structured around found or used objects. I won a scholarship for a short residency with Arthur Boyd in Australia. And later I contributed to the ‘Party Animals’ public installation art project, again in DC. 

These days I mostly do portraits as well as old master copies and mash-ups. I have done paintings and photographic portraits of my family in both a classical and stylized fashion and copied a range of Caravaggio, baroque, and other realist, old master artwork from the period 1500-1900. However, I also paint nudes, still lifes, Italian landscapes, and marine or sea-themed genre work while maintaining my interest in more contemporary artistic compositions. You can see some of my work and ideas on Instagram: @trinaoharapainter.

I have pursued my artistic visions and related projects on site in America, Australia, China, Ireland, Italy, Japan and Scotland. I have undertaken art-related commissions for clients in America, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Chile, China, Egypt, England, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Scotland, and Singapore. These commissions, although mostly painting, have included trompe l’oeil, murals, and mosaics. 

I am proficient in a wide range of visual art techniques: extending from sketching and 'life drawing', through stage & set design and printmaking, to classical atelier-style painting and Chinese brush painting having studied this latter at the Nanjing Arts Institute in the 1990s. I have both a simple art studio and a basic photographic studio based in Perugia, Italy. I have taught art on a formal basis at educational institutions to people of all ages from primary school through university to continuing education. I have put together workshops both on a private basis and as art projects for public galleries and museums. 

Overall, I have been active with institutions both in Australia and overseas; most notably in Japan, Scotland, and Italy.  In Japan, I developed an art-school program which included work ultimately exhibited to members of Japan's imperial family. In Italy I have created art-related opportunities for enthusiastic, typically younger travelers through Workaway. 

My hobbies include ballroom and Latin dancing, found art / fashion, and traditional Japanese taiko drumming. I joined an intensive ballroom dance camp in America in 2010 and participated in the Tokara Wadaiko Bootcamp in Nagano, Japan, during 2005 under the guidance of Art Lee, all-Japan winner of the Solo Odaiko competition. When the occasion arises, I like to upholster and repurpose old furniture and to make children's apparel. I speak Italian (at the B2 level) and somewhere along the way I finished an MA in contemporary art at Sotheby’s.

You can find links to my work at https://www.instagram.com/trinaoharapainter/ and my other activities at https://www.workaway.info/en/host/714653755328.