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M A R I A S I M O N D S - G O O D I N G |
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B I O G R
A P H Y
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Maria Simonds-Gooding has been identified as one of Ireland's foremost painters and printmakers to have emerged since the Sixties. Her work, which has been exhibited internationally, is represented in many public and private collections, including those of the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Born of an English father and an Irish mother, Maria Simonds-Gooding spent her first six years in India, and the experiences of those early years set the foundation for her life-long fascination with remote places, where people have remained close to the land. After India, her family returned to Ireland to live in County Kerry. Maria made her home and studio on the Dingle Peninsula, overlooking the Blasket Islands, where she settled after completing her studies at Bath Academy Corsham in 1968. |
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Since the late Sixties, Maria Simonds-Gooding has lived a comparatively reclusive life, emerging
only for her exhibitions, or to travel to other equally remote parts of the world. These places
include Bhutan, Greece, Sinai, and India, where she has
taken journeys into the Toda and Shologa tribes people. While still attending Bath Academy Corsham (1966-1968), Maria Simonds-Gooding became more and more interested in working with plaster on large flat boards, and it was also at this time that drawing and the use of line became a central expression in her work. It was not until 1974 that Maria started to explore printmaking and, in particular, etching. She attended the Graphic Studio Dublin, then in a basement on Upper Mount Street. She would dedicate months at a time to etching, and later she worked intermittently in graphic studios in New York, Jerusalem, and Amsterdam. Representing Ireland, Maria Simonds-Gooding exhibited in Young Artists 75, New York, where she met Betty Parsons who later came to Ireland and visited her studio. This was a turning point in Maria's career, and in 1978 she had her first show with Betty Parson's in her 57th Street gallery in Manhattan, and continued showing with her until Betty Parsons death in 1982. After an extensive exhibition at the Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork works from 19651985 she returned to painting with oil directly onto paper, thinly spread with a limited vibrant palette. These paintings were concerned with bogs shaped by turf cutting. This work continued for two years, during which time it was exhibited at the Solomon Gallery London (1986) and the Taylor Galleries Dublin (1987). [See review: Philip Vann Arts Review, October, 1986] In 1993, Maria Simonds-Gooding's work was interrupted for two years by a knee operation. By 1995, when she was able to work again, Maria returned to her plaster work, and began adding new texture to it. This was done with grog, a substance made of broken down fire bricks. This work was first shown at the Taylor Galleries in 1998. Following this exhibition, James O'Nolan, the then director of the Graphic Studio Dublin, invited Maria Simonds-Gooding to make a series of carborundum prints. This proved a most successful undertaking, and in 2000, the work was shown at the Graphic Studio Dublin and the Lemon Street Gallery Dublin. In 2002, Maria Simonds-Gooding was commissioned to design a tapestry for the Four Seasons Hotel Dublin. She became totally absorbed and fascinated with weaving and its interpretation of her work. After her second tapestry was made in Ireland, she traveled to the legendary Aubusson France for the weaving of her third tapestry. These latter two tapestries will be in her forthcoming exhibit at Taylor Galleries Dublin, linking into her new works in plaster. |
| MARIA SIMONDS-GOODING |
| 1939 | Born in India |
| 1962-1963 | National College of Art, Dublin |
| 1963-1964 | Le Centre de Peinture, Bruxelles |
| 1966-1968 | Bath Academy of Art, Corsham |
| 1981 | Elected Member of Aosdána Lives in Kerry since 1947 |
| SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS |
| 2004 | Fields of Vision, Taylor Galleries, Dublin |
| 2000 | The Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin The Vangard Gallery, Cork The Lemonstreet Gallery, Dublin |
| 1998/87/85/80 | Taylor Galleries, Dublin |
| 1988 | Galerie Timao, The Haque
The Gallery, Lavitts Quay, Cork |
| 1986 | The Solomon
Gallery, London Córas Tráchtála, Brussels |
| 1985 | Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork, Works from 1965-1985 |
| 1983 | Hoshour Gallery, New Mexico |
| 1982/78 | Betty Parsons Gallery, New York |
| SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS |
| Exhibits Regularly at the Royal Hibernia Academy, Dublin |
| 2003 | Trasnú, Collaborative Exhibition with Cathal O'Searcaigh, An Gailerai, Co. Dhún na nGall |
| 2002 | Irish Art and the Old Testament, The Chester
Beatty Library, Dublin Line/Exploration, curated by the artist, The Lavitt Gallery, Cork |
| 2001 | Estampe 2001 Ireland - France 2001 Print Exchange |
| 2000/1995 |
The London Original Print Fair at the Royal Academy of Arts, London The Lemonstreet Gallery, Dublin |
| 1999 |
The Lavitt Gallery Cork, curated by Tony O'Malley Primal Means, the Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick, curated by Sam Walsh. George Moore Art Exhibition Mayo/Anthony Cronin Tribute |
| 1995 |
Poetic Land - Political Territory. An NCCA Touring Exhibition (England) |
| 1993/91/89 |
Norwegian International Print Triennale, Fredriktad. RHA Academy Without Walls, Dublin |
| 1991 | Represented in the Great Book of Ireland |
| 1990 |
Irish Art - The European Dimension RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin |
| 1989/86 | Damon Brandt Gallery, New York |
| 1987 | S.A.D.E. Crawford/Municipal Gallery, Cork |
| 1983 | Jack Tilton Gallery, Inter Art, New York |
| 1982/80/79/78 | Betty Parsons Gallery, New York |
| 1980 | Festival of Arts, Birmingham, Alabama |
| 1980 |
The Delighted Eye, Irish Painting and Sculpture of the Seventies, (Touring) |
| 1979/70 | Irish Exhibition of Living Art, Dublin |
| 1978 |
The Member's Gallery, Allbright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York |
| 1976 |
Graphic Studio, retrospective, at Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin |
| 1975 | Young Artist 75", New York (representing Ireland) |
| COMMISSIONS |
| 2002 | Commissioned by Four Seasons Hotel, Dublin for The Ice Bar - tapestry |
| 2000 |
Commissioned by Behaviour & Attitudes, Marketing Research - two etchings limited edition |
| 1981 |
Commissioned by the Leinster Leader book cover for Ar Seachráin by Tomas Ó Cinnéide |
| 1981 |
Commissioned by the stamp advisory board. 18p and 19p denomination stamps on Irish folklore (The Europa Series) |
| 1973 |
Commissioned by the Leinster Leader book cover for Céad Bliain by Micheál Ó Ciosáin |
| 1972 |
Commissioned by the Talbot Press to illustrate the unexpurgated edition of Tomás Ó Criomhthain's An tOileánach |
| AWARDS |
| 1995 |
Special commendation award, Galway Arts Centre, Fifth National Print Exhibition |
| 1986 | An tOireachtas Landscape Award |
| 1985 | Listowel Fourth International Print Biennial 1985 |
| 1970 |
Irish Exhibition of Living Art (Carroll Award ofr under 40's) adjudicated by Sir Roland Penrose |
| BIBLIOGRAPHY |
| 2004 |
Catherine Marshall, Catalogue Introduction, Fields of Vision Taylor Galleries, Dublin |
| 2003 |
Aidan Dunn, Catalogue Introduction, Trasnú An Gailearai, Co Dun na nGall Cathal Ó Searcaigh, Catalogue Essay, Trasnú An Gailearai, Co Dun na nGall |
| 2000 |
Aidan Dunne Irish Times 8/3/00 William Crozier, Catalogue Introduction Graphic Studio, Dublin |
| 2002 |
Julia Neuberger, Catalogue Introduction, Irish Art and the Old Testament The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin |
| 1998 | Catalogue of the Collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art |
| 1998 | Brian Fallon, Irish Times 27/1/98 |
| 1995 | Poetic Land - Political Territory, NCCA |
| 1990 | Irish Art - The European Dimension |
| 1986 |
Hillary Pyle, Arts & Artists October 1986 Philip Vann, Arts Review October 1986 |
| 1985 |
Aidan Dunne - Magill - May 1985 Hillary Pyle, Irish Arts Review, Autumn 1985 Anthony Cronin, Catalogue Introduction, Taylor Galleries, Dublin Peter Murray, Catalogue Introduction, Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork |
| 1982 |
Donald B. Kuspit, Artforum, 1982 Grace Glueck, New York Times, May 1982 |
| 1981 | Dr. Francis Ruane Modern Irish Landscape Painting |
| 1978 | Noel Frackman, Arts Magazine, June 1978 |
| PUBLIC COLLECTIONS |
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An Chomhairle Ealaion, The Arts Council, Dublin The Albuquerque Museum, New Mexico Allied Irish Banks, Dublin P.J. Carroll & Company Limited, Drogheda Commission of the European Communities, Brussels Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork Department of Foreign Affairs, Dublin Guinness Peat Aviation Collection, Limerick The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC. Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin Israel Museum, Jerusalem The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi National Self Portrait Collection, Limerick The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Office of Public Works, Dublin Pratt Graphics Centre Collection, New York The Phillips Collection, Washington DC. The Saatchi Collection, London |
| © 2004 - 2005 maria simonds-gooding |