Home Maker

Yes, I'm a Home Maker, in more ways than one. The theme of my works for years has been the image of a house,(usually 3-D constructions) that are an extension of a woman's body. I'm not sure if the motivation for my creating and building these houses is because I'm a child of a broken home and I'm trying to hold our home and family together. Or reflecting my present life, with a caring husband whose shared many joys and challenges in our life together. It seems of late, as become a superior woman, I've thrown caution to the winds and have become more explicit in my new work.

Working Title, Woman's Village with Wounded Warrior, Multi media House construction.

Lately my work combines multiple houses together, capturing a sense of community or alienation. It feels in these unsettled times, it's important to come together and support each other.

Open House

Open Houses, my new series is the result of a collaboration with Tim Holcomb, a theatre and visual artist. Tim recycled former stage sets and designed these two intersecting houses for this new body of work. He left the residue from it's previous incarnation on the houses for me to play off of with paint, collage and remnants from renovating my home studio in the Berkshires. These Open Houses are the results....

Angel House, Acrylic, Collage on Wood 

Home on the Range, Collage, Paint on Wood

Vanishing Liberty         (c)Terry Rooney   

HomeBody Queen

HomeBody Queen in all her glory, at APE Gallery, Main. St., Northampton, MA
for the month of November. 

HomeBody Queen (aka Terry Rooney) at opneing reception, APE Gallery, Northampton,

Pathways....to Liberty

Monoprint & Drawing

I'm honored to be selected by curator, Doris Weiner Madsen to exhibit my monoprints in the Pathways exhibit at Elusie Gallery in Easthampton, MA during the BookFest opening on April 8th, 5-8 PM at the Old Town Hall. The gallery will be presenting my Liberty and the Immigrants monoprint, a detail of this piece is presented here. Also my first monoprint House Book which I've collaborated with artist/carpenter Tim Holcomb who is constructing a wooden house construction featuring the Statue of Liberty and the search for a home in our country is these perilous times. 

 Here are some of my thoughts on this subject:

House Book, folded

Is “Liberty” and all that the statue in New York Harbor stands for being diminished? My artwork explores this question in light of ways our government has been limiting our “liberty” at home in the name of national security.

My ancestors were welcomed by “The Statue of Liberty” and she was born in its very shadow. Perhaps that is why this figure became a central theme in this artists’ work for more than 30 years. Since Lady Liberty witnessed the devastation of 9/11, Rooney and what the statue stands for have been in harm’s way. The work in this exhibit asks political and philosophical questions to provoke gallery visitors to reevaluate our government’s response to terrorism.

Woman's Body & The House

The House/Home is an extension of the woman's body. Woman are usually the caregivers of the home, we cook, clean, decorate and raise our children there. Usually spending many more hours in the house then our partners/husbands do. So as I grow older, I've thrown caution to the wind and what was a suggestion of the woman's figure before (pregnant bellies, breasts and curves) have become more obvious and playful. Sometimes bosoms appear in the front of my 3D house contructions, other times they are hidden else where on these wooden house constructions. I encourage viewers to move around the houses, becoming active participants in looking at these Luscious Houses. This is like the game of "Hide & Seek."

Altered Books - Houses Popping Up

Working on my artist book for the upcoming exhibit at MAP in  Eastworks, Easthampton. I'm having fun combining a box book with a small house construction. They speak to each other, the title is "Trashy Novel" Altered Books, curated by John Landino opened this weekend, April 9 with a performance and warm reception. 

Trashy Novel, Mixed Media on wood construction