CARMEL MOONEY – A Sense of Place

essays by Margarita Cappock, Maureen Concannon, Julian Campbell and Cyril Barrett 

with additional texts by Raffaele Avella, Adriano Berengo, Boris Brollo, and Patrick J Murphy

ISBN 978 0948037 672    132 pages (hardback)    27x22.5cm    164  illus

While still actively painting landscape, Carmel Mooney has also explored the intricacies of glass-making. With the help of the famous glass-blowers of Murano near Venice, she has created a series of pieces based on familiar themes, such as volcanic eruptions, fire birds, heat, light and intensity. The work is gloriously featured in this book, from concept, through the making process to completion, accompanied by numerous insightful essays and an interview with the artist. Also featured is a section on her much-loved Irish landscape paintings.

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EXTRACT

"Over the past thirty-odd years, Carmel Mooney has steadfastly committed her energies to what she sees as her vocation as an artist, producing some powerful, innovative paintings and sculptures. On looking at Mooney’s oeuvre, one can discern several common themes. However, landscape has played a central role throughout her career. She draws her inspiration from the visual environment of rural Ireland, for which she has a deep-rooted affinity. The Kerry landscape and the west of Ireland, in general, have exerted a strong influence on Mooney. However, since 1990 she has looked further afield and explored the remote, difficult terrain of the volcanic landscapes of Lanzarote and Sicily. More recently, she has used the medium of glass to produce a substantial body of striking glass sculptures, made on the island of Murano in Venice. There is a clear evolution in her treatment of particular themes that preoccupy her, and a sense of fluidity in terms of moving from one motif or subject to another. It was somewhat inevitable that the firebird series of glass sculptures would lead Mooney to look at possible Irish subject matter for her glass pieces, and in recent years she has produced a number of pieces inspired by Sheela na Gigs. With Carmel Mooney’s glass work, the labour-intensive process involved in the making of the forms is impressive. The very process itself in the heat of the foundry is the real work of art. In contrast to her paintings, which can be carefully worked up and meditated upon, the glass-work brings out the more spontaneous side of the artist. These are two sides of the artist’s personality: one is deliberate, analytical and methodical, the other is compulsive, instinctive and expressive. Mooney encapsulates these seemingly opposing strands in her work. The artist who is constantly struggling to make real the visions in his or her head is the true artist. Mooney has created objects of unique beauty, but her real achievement is not only encapsulated in the final object, but in the constant striving for something better."

— from the essay by Margarita Cappock