Early life and education Lorinda Roland was born on April 21, 1938, in Manhattan. After studying at a Swiss boarding school, Roland graduated from
Holton-Arms School. as well as the
Art Students League of New York. She once exhibited at the
Audubon Artists Annual Exhibition. It featured Roland's bronze and copper sculptures collectively titled
Earth Children, drawing inspiration from the poem
The Wanderings of Oisin. She also created the sculptures in Ken Harrison’s studio for the film
Whose Life Is It Anyway?, also released that year. Roland's work focused on animals, and she appeared on Norma Lee Browning's 1968
Chicago Tribune Magazine feature on the non-showbiz children of Hollywood celebrities, being described as a "very good" sculptor. In 1984, a life partner died in a motorcycle accident. In 1992, she and painter Billy Davis designed the set for the annual Whale of a Show stage production at Orcas Center; The Islands' Sounder called her and Davis "two of the island’s finest artists". She also had another show,
Forms of the Body, the Earth and the Mind, held at Clarion Gallery in
Eastsound in November 1993. She also taught children as part of the
Washington State Arts Commission-funded Leaning to See program. In March 1992, Roland's bronze statue
The Warrior, depicting a nude sexually-aroused man with upraised arms, became a subject of controversy due to its sexually explicit nature. Roland defended the statue as "meant to express inward joy and positive, healthy sexuality" and denied that it was meant to be sexual in nature, and the broad of trustees of Orcas Center (who hosted the statue at their lobby) decided to keep the statue. A long-time lover of animals, Roland also worked in wildlife rehabilitation. She was Orcas Island's representative for the Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. She attempted to place an initiative for the restoration of car tab fees on the ballot, but it failed to get enough signatures for the
2005 Washington elections. In 2006, she was elected to the
San Juan Citizens County Salary Commission. Living with two caregivers during her later years, Roland died in her sleep on August 31, 2022. ==References==