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MARGARET MOONEY (b. 1937) is an artist who primarily paints portraits of people she knows and self-portraits. Over the years, she also created fifty woodcuts and many stained glass panels. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held in Canada, in Germany (City Gallerie, Bad Kőnigsfeld) and in Switzerland (Gallerie Volta, Zȕrich) and her work has been included in many group shows. Her work is held in the Alberta Government collection and in private collections in North America and Europe.

Mooney credits the Expressionists, and particularly Oskar Kokoshchka, whom she visited twice at his villa in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a strong influence on her work. Describing her work, one critic said: "In the main, what one enjoys in Margaret Mooney's exhibition is colour and brushwork. The colour is superb. Her greyed blues and smouldering purples have rarely been equalled locally. Everywhere there are echoes of Nolde, Van Dongen, Matisse and Picasso." (J. E. Simpson, Edmonton Journal, Nov. 8, 1975).

Mooney is known equally well for her other career in theatre management. As a child, she was an actor who performed both on stage and radio. This interest in theatre led her to begin working in theatre administration. From 1965 to 1998, she was Artistic Coordinator for The Citadel Theatre. The Edmonton theatre community honoured her by naming their award for theatre administration after her: The Margaret Mooney Sterling Award for Excellence in Administration. In 2000, the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association awarded her a life membership.

In her retirement, she continues to paint, and as well volunteers several hours a day at the Bissell Thrift Shop, managing their book department. Her efforts have made this " one of the best second-hand book stores in Edmonton" said an article in the Avenue Weekly. Her work there was noted in an Edmonton Journal feature piece on her, April 27, 2008, p E5, entitled “The Queen of Arts; Margaret Mooney, painter and theatrical genius, is on to a third career.” Of her primary career as an artist, the writer noted, "Mooney herself regarded her work at the Citadel as her day job, with her real passion being her painting. She has had more than 15 solo shows over the years. Journal visual arts critic Elizabeth Beauchamp once noted that a Mooney show contained 'wonderfully expressive portraiture.'”

References: 1. The Queen of Arts: Margaret Mooney, etc. Edmonton Journal, Apr 27, 2008, E5 2. J.E. Simpson, Edmonton Journal, Nov. 8, 1975.

Permission granted by Ms. Mooney  to use three photographs of her work.

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