Mum's the word: Tipperary artist exhibits pioneering work on the subject of motherhood

Former Our Lady’s Secondary School, Templemore, student Rosemary Noonan, a graduate of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin (NCA), recently exhibited a series of pioneering two-and three- dimensional art works at the McKenna Gallery, Newbridge, county Kildare.

As a portrait and figurative artist, she has, over the years developed an interest in the depiction of the mother in art which has coincided with her own journey into motherhood in 2017.

The artist recently launched her professional portrait and contemporary art business in 2022 called A Rosie View.  A Rosie View image/persona is intended to capture the fundamental essence of her work - that is, a unique memory in a piece of artwork that, as she says, “can be passed on from one generation to another”.

Prof Michael Casey commented: “Rosemary’s exploration of themes related to the notion of conceptual memory - in her case, feminism, gender identity and family relationships - have provided an ongoing focus for her art practice which has been executed through the mediums of drawing and mixed media.

“Many of the pieces, she says, ”relate to the experience of losing a baby, the guilt, fear and insecurity of such an ordeal.

“In Ireland, up to the 1980s, stillborn babies were discarded and placed in unmarked grounds with little or no regard for the loss and trauma experienced by the unfortunate mother.”

Like so many other artists/visual practitioners Rosemary has become a great advocate of the healing power (psychological) of nature.

On challenging concepts related to the above, she has diligently exhibited her work in NCAD, the Irish Georgian Society Building and the Helix with AIB’s Art’s Society, and also in the Whitebox Gallery, Naas, county Kildare.

Dr Casey and her NCAD mentors and lecturers wish Rosemary every success in her future artistic endeavours.