Earth Shelters II, 2007
While visiting the IMMA Collection: A Decade exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin last Sunday, I was taken by a number of works by an artist new to me – Maria Simonds-Gooding. They were relatively simple, made from materials including metal, plaster and lacquer.
Vegetation and Dwelling Place, 2003 (Crushed clay, fresco pigment, plaster on board)
Water Source III (2010) and Water Source I (2010) – both made from aluminium with rusting lacquer finish
The artist’s website tells us that she was
Born in India in 1939, Maria Simonds-Gooding studied at the National College of Art, Dublin, Le Centre de Peinture, Bruxelles, Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, UK from 1962 – 1968 and has lived and worked in Kerry since 1947. She was elected a member of Aosdána in 1981 and was elected full membership of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 2012.
My work is about land, and man’s relationship to it, whether it be in Ireland or other parts of the world. In remote places you will find that the farmer and the shepherd have a particulate intimate relationship with their environment. The challenge the excesses of the elements, using the land in many different ways for the protection of their crops and animals.
Some articles about the artist and her work
Down by the Dougie 