Terry Rooney - Biography

Terry Rooney was born in NYC early 50's in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty (which has been a significant image in Terry’s artwork for the last 20 years). Coming of age in the 60's, she enjoyed her artistic awaking in 70's while earning a degree in Fashion Illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her studies continued at the Arts Students League, Providencetown Workshop, Independent Study Program at a SUNY studio program at Westbeth. She apprenticed with Jack Tworkov, Elizabeth Murray and was an assistant to Marcia Tucker at the New Museum.

In the 1980s Terry moved to Western Massachusetts, where she and her husband renovated a "handyman special" in Berkshires. This experience led to Terry’s Housework series, three-dimensional house constructions originally built with leftover lumber from her renovations by Al Hood, the carpenter who rebuilt her home. While living though six years of renovations, Terry realized how connected she was to house and home. When her home was in upheaval, so was she. When the home projects came together, so did she. This led her to think about the woman before her, who took care of the home, raised her children there, cooked and cleaned. To honor them, Terry began to superimpose the shapes of women—their round breasts, stomach and buttocks—onto the house constructions, juxtaposing the angular male shapes of the house with the round, sensuous female curves. In doing so, she transformed what was a personal experience into a universal theme. Bodies became planets on her houses.

After having her own child, Terry and her family moved to Amherst in the 90's and up a studio in Holyoke where she was inspired to give birth to her Piece of Heaven series. Each piece is inspired by a different person’s description of their personal piece of heaven. For instance, Terry has created individual monoprints depicting “heaven is my husband’s arms,” “heaven is at my beach house,” and “heaven is horseback riding.” The debut of this show, at Hampshire College in YEAR, with a stream of smoke from dry ice, made viewers feel they were in heaven. She including a private corner with a large piece of sky-and-cloud print fabric where exhibit visitors could write descriptions of their own piece of heaven—fodder for future works to this ongoing, organic series.

As an artist, Terry has become a conduit for and a reflection of society. Her Statue of Liberty celebrates her role as ambassador for all that’s good about America. Liberty has been a shining beacon for millions of immigrants, including some of her ancestors. This series also mourns the way immigrants today are not as welcomed to this country as before, and how American citizens’ liberties are being eroded in the current post-September 11th political environment. Several pieces in this series, for instance, portray a vanishing Statue of Liberty, either by erasing portions of some of the charcoal images of Lady Liberty, depicting her sinking into the harbor, or having her confront a snake.

Terry’s Works on Paper start with the simplest thing: a line. Terry loves to take the viewer on a journey through space and time. “I love how a line can slice space, express depth and take you around and around an object,” she explains. “One of the games I do sometimes is to do a drawing without lifting my pencil off the paper, to challenge myself to make a pleasing image in one line without leaving the page. I also love the intimacy, the closeness of my hand to the image.”

Another medium that intimately engages Terry is monoprinting. These one-of-a-kind prints have a freshness that no other printmaking method holds for her. When she paints directly on a plate, those strokes and marks are passed onto a page directly from the plate. The closest thing to painting in printmaking, Terry notes, “I can’t wait to work on these prints with additional drawings, since I’m not a master printer and enjoy the art of destruction and resurrection that drawing and collaging on these prints bring.”


	Biography		Resume
	Terry Rooney was born in NYC early 50's in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty (which has been a significant image in Terry’s artwork for the last 20 years). Coming of age in the 60's, she enjoyed her artistic awaking in 70's while earning a degree in Fashion Illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her studies continued at the Arts Students League, Providencetown Workshop, Independent Study Program at a SUNY studio program at Westbeth. She apprenticed with Jack Tworkov, Elizabeth Murray and was an assistant to Marcia Tucker at the New Museum. In the 1980s Terry moved to Western Massachusetts, where she and her husband renovated a "handyman special" in Berkshires. This experience led to Terry’s Housework series, three-dimensional house constructions originally built with leftover lumber from her renovations by Al Hood, the carpenter who rebuilt her home. While living though six years of renovations, Terry realized how connected she was to house and home. When her home was in upheaval, so was she. When the home projects came together, so did she. This led her to think about the woman before her, who took care of the home, raised her children there, cooked and cleaned. To honor them, Terry began to superimpose the shapes of women—their round breasts, stomach and buttocks—onto the house constructions, juxtaposing the angular male shapes of the house with the round, sensuous female curves. In doing so, she transformed what was a personal experience into a universal theme. Bodies became planets on her houses. After having her own child, Terry and her family moved to Amherst in the 90's and up a studio in Holyoke where she was inspired to give birth to her Piece of Heaven series. Each piece is inspired by a different person’s description of their personal piece of heaven. For instance, Terry has created individual monoprints depicting “heaven is my husband’s arms,” “heaven is at my beach house,” and “heaven is horseback riding.” The debut of this show, at Hampshire College in YEAR, with a stream of smoke from dry ice, made viewers feel they were in heaven. She including a private corner with a large piece of sky-and-cloud print fabric where exhibit visitors could write descriptions of their own piece of heaven—fodder for future works to this ongoing, organic series. As an artist, Terry has become a conduit for and a reflection of society. Her Statue of Liberty celebrates her role as ambassador for all that’s good about America. Liberty has been a shining beacon for millions of immigrants, including some of her ancestors. This series also mourns the way immigrants today are not as welcomed to this country as before, and how American citizens’ liberties are being eroded in the current post-September 11th political environment. Several pieces in this series, for instance, portray a vanishing Statue of Liberty, either by erasing portions of some of the charcoal images of Lady Liberty, depicting her sinking into the harbor, or having her confront a snake. Terry’s Works on Paper start with the simplest thing: a line. Terry loves to take the viewer on a journey through space and time. “I love how a line can slice space, express depth and take you around and around an object,” she explains. “One of the games I do sometimes is to do a drawing without lifting my pencil off the paper, to challenge myself to make a pleasing image in one line without leaving the page. I also love the intimacy, the closeness of my hand to the image.” Another medium that intimately engages Terry is monoprinting. These one-of-a-kind prints have a freshness that no other printmaking method holds for her. When she paints directly on a plate, those strokes and marks are passed onto a page directly from the plate. The closest thing to painting in printmaking, Terry notes, “I can’t wait to work on these prints with additional drawings, since I’m not a master printer and enjoy the art of destruction and resurrection that drawing and collaging on these prints bring.”