Kerry-Anne Blanket 
Reannon Navaratnam
Sarah Montgomery
ART EDIT’S PANEL OF LEADING ART EXPERTS SHARE THEIR KNOWLEDGE ON BUYING AND HANGING WORK.
Alison Mooney, Sun Shower, 2018. Mixed media, 150 x 150cm.
Reannon Navaratnam
IndiCo Galleries, Sydney
The interpretive nature of abstraction means that each and every viewer is taken on a unique journey with the piece, and Alison Mooney accomplishes exactly this. The artist captures light in its truest sense: bold with a sheer transparency. Further, the colours illustrated here allude to a divine energy that fits perfectly with the subject matter of this piece.
Kerry-Anne Blanket
KAB Gallery, Terrigal
An impressive artwork which is sure to sit centre stage within any interior. The alluring, warm palette conveys an irresistible sense of joy and happiness. For me, abstract art brings endless enjoyment; I cannot help but imagine various narratives and contemplate the range of moods evoked by the composition. This piece, bursting with warm aesthetic beauty and appropriately titled Sun Showers, is reminiscent of the blue skies and sunny warmth of a beautiful spring day. Considering its size, it would look best as the single feature on a wall with high ceilings, or centrally positioned in an entrance or hallway. This arrangement would allow the piece to be displayed with the adequate distance and height for the viewer to truly take in all of its charms.
Sarah Montgomery
Sydney Road Gallery, Seaforth
This cleverly constructed abstract painting presents a contemporary swirl of a sun shower rainbow. There is a calmness and room for self-reflection elicited through light refraction and broad sweeps of colour. It’s nice to see such confident and uninterrupted curves. This painting would be wonderful in a minimalist white space –perhaps a space for meditation.
Alison Mooney: Suspense & Unknowing
Posted on May 18, 2016 in Art, Culture, the ambience store project
Somewhere between the worlds of graffiti, Japanese sugar pop and activist street art exists the work of Sunshine Coast artist Alison Mooney.
Expansive, bright and energetic, Mooney’s gestural abstractions are experimentations in suspense and unknowing. Using a combination of media including aerosol and oils, she allows the colour blends and movements that appear on the canvas to dictate themselves, combining and repelling as they interact. The resulting works have a motion akin to that of a dancer, arcing up and sweeping gracefully across a stage.REPORT THIS AD
Entirely self-taught, Mooney left a career in journalism to focus on her art in 2009. Since then, she has steadily made a name for herself as both an artist and a passionate advocate for fellow emerging artists (she founded and co-founded MARS Gallery and TheGRID hybrid arts collective in Toowoomba respectively).
With wide, sweeping curves and colour combinations that breathe instant life into their surrounds, it’s no wonder Mooney’s compositions have been increasingly commissioned for murals and collaborative projects throughout South East Queensland. In May 2016, she will be a feature artist of The Junction Laneways as part of the Noosa Creative Precinct Inc.
To see more of Alison Mooney’s work, check out Alison Mooney on Facebook, or see it in the flesh as part of The Ambience Store Project #3, on view until 30 May 2016.
LOCAL ARTIST SERIES // ALISON MOONEY
2019
https://www.horizonfestival.com.au/news/local-artist-series-alison-mooney
Who are you and what do you create?
My name is Alison, and I’m a visual artist, among a couple of other things.
What materials and techniques do you use?
I’ve been going through a pretty steady phase of painting what I call translucent rainbow tubes these past few years – with the occassional dabble in sculpture and placemaking during my Toowoomba years. These days I paint mostly canvases and murals. I’ve also painted (living) bodies and cars, a scooter, an abandoned house (with permission, mind – that’s a good story for another time).
What kind of inspirations go into your work?
My work is inspired by action and energy. I paint to influence firstly, my own energy, and secondly, I’ve noticed how paintings also influence the energy and action of the space they’re in. I love experimenting with and exploring this – particularly with large scale paintings and murals. Scale can really influence the experience of being in a space, and I find when you add the suggestion of movement, it can shift a work from being a 2D layer of paint into a perceived object that really encourages a fresh experience of the space.
In what space do you like to create most?
Outdoors! There is nothing like painting a mural outside on a gorgeous day, knowing you’ve got a few days to take your time with a piece and make it all you can. I also love painting publicly – the conversations that crop up are always enlightening or on a smaller scale, humbling! The very first mural I did was a collaborative wall of about 10 metres x 5 metres with contemporary dancer, Kirsty Lee. Super experimental – neither of us had done anything like that before and feedback from passers by included ‘oh! So anyone can have a go on this one?’ It balanced out though in the end, getting featured in a fantastic book documenting Street Art in Australia though so we were pretty chuffed.
What has been your favourite or most important work to date?
Ah, so many ways to answer this. I’ve enjoyed 10 years of public art making and am lucky to have had some amazing experiences. Live art, with no plan and three other artists sharing the canvas to an audience of 500 people was a learning curve. But more recently, a private commission for a pool wall in Northern NSW is a definite highlight. It was the first mural where I recreated the works to the same level of detail and resolution that I aim for in the studio. A super challenging three days and 100% enjoyable. At one point I swam to my trestle with a 4L bucket of paint – first and last time for that manoeuvre – nothing spilt though and my beautiful client was really happy with his wall. A win-win.
To see more of Alison’s work, head to her website or Instagram.
My friend can paint – FEATURE ARTIST #4 Alison Mooney
30/7/2015
How exciting! I have another incredibly wonderful painting buddy to share with you all! This lady is one to watch, and for a number of reasons. Alison Mooney and I first crossed physical paths back in 2011 when I was visiting some friends in Toowoomba and checking out a local art exhibition. I had heard through mutual friends and social media, of the great things Alison had been doing for the promotion of new artists and cultural events in the garden town of Toowoomba – so naturally it was exciting to put a face to the name.
Sometimes you hear about or come across these ‘doers’ in life. By that I mean, the people that don’t just talk about what they want to do, but rather the people that get an idea and just go and do it! The ones that make stuff happen. Better yet, the types that do stuff for themselves and for others. ‘Kind Doers!’ These are the people that truly inspire me and these are the people who deserve attention. I also want to thank this kind creative for her time, which she selflessly gave to me a few weeks ago. Without even a hint of hesitation.
You see I like to do stuff too! And sometimes I take on more than I physically am capable of doing…ok I won’t sugar coat it – more often than not. I blame it on my excitement and inability to stop chasing opportunities. So back to the story. I needed some help to set up and set out my current exhibition of works in Noosaville. I had no extra hands, other than my Husband Matt – who really only had one because I needed him to not only help me, but also be on active toddler duty. Can I just add here that I strongly advise against setting up an exhibition when you have a toddler on the loose with very few ‘extra-hands’!
So I knew that Alison had recently relocated from Toowoomba to the Sunshine Coast and I thought, on a whim, that I might ask if she could by any chance spare me some of her time and come lend a hand on install day. And as I’ve learnt in the past if you don’t ask – the answer is always no. So I asked. And she said YES. And she stayed true to her word and showed up at the gallery AND she stayed – and she did far more than just help for 3 hours of her Friday! What an awesome HUMAN!
I was and still am so so grateful.
Seriously, there’s always a lot to be said about the person behind every creation of art. Knowing what makes them tick, what motivates and inspires them is vital to the process of appreciating their art and knowing it’s true value.
Read on. I think you will enjoy this Artist’s thoughts!
Over to you Alison x
Hello, my name is Alison Mooney. I’ve recently moved to the Sunshine Coast with my six-year-old son from Toowoomba. I’m a mixed media visual artist.
I love sunshine, water, finding hidden places of awesome, painting big walls, travel, humble adventure, stirring the pot, meeting new people and learning their stories … heaps of things.
I have always considered myself an artist of sorts but until I had my son, kept myself busy with a ‘plan b’. When it was time to become a mum I decided, as a journalist, I wanted to shift from writing about people doing ‘stuff’ and wanted to be one of the someone’s ‘doing’. So that’s when I really took a chance and showed some of my work publicly for the first time. It was a defining decision because from that point, I met amazing people and was offered amazing opportunities that snowballed into running the MARS gallery and theGRID with dancer Kirsty Lee: we got to present a lot of projects and things in Toowoomba, with the support of some fantastic folk.
Photo taken by Jessie Webb.
I’m at the point now where I feel I’ve come full circle, in that a lot my time in Toowoomba was as facilitator, connector, communicator etcetera for fellow creatives, projects and organisations. I felt I’d slipped back into that role of writing about people doing things! ha! I’m on the Sunshine Coast now studying and recently received a five-month studio residency under Margaret Ellen Turner at the Old Ambulance Station in Nambour, so I’m super stoked to be returning to my practice after the past few years.
Until relatively recently, my work has been a subconscious response to marks I’ve made on a page, canvas or wall. I enjoyed the journey of carving it out; experimenting with palette, line and composition.
Recurring topics emerged as I thought them out while resolving the work I guess, but the creation and resolution of the work were paramount for me. It was a very kind of insular and experimental practice.
A change came during a studio residency late last year/ early this year where I almost got bored, for want of a better word, of being inside my own head. I created about 12 works in three months and that process can be exhausting when some pieces took the whole time to make.
My practice has really shifted this year. Its fun for me where before it was cathartic. I’m often chuckling at the cheeky shit I put out and am really enjoying allowing that inner shit stirrer a go at the canvas or wall or whatever it is. There tends to be lots of super flat shapes and block colours, I call it ‘sugar pop’ and am loving feeling it out. I’m keen to ride this train for a bit.
The first time my work went out into the world, I was shit scared but had promised myself I was going to do it. It was a cafe in Toowoomba, I’d done up about ten little zines of my work and handed them to various spots and galleries around town: Jake and Dan Stewart at Metro Cafe were the only ones to respond. And thankfully too – their support of me and others like me kickstarted massive changes and connections for the cultural shift in Toowoomba that continues to ripple out to a much larger audience.
Tips? Do it. Show it. Once you’ve done with a piece, it’s done. It’s not your’s. You’ve got more in you. The more you do, the better you get. the more you do, the more you do! The more people you let in, the bigger your audience and circles of influence grow. In all my work with artists over the past few years, the biggest message I thought was to not be too precious with your work nor take it too seriously. Make it, enjoy making it, put into it whatever you want and then once it’s done .. let it go!
Anyone wanting to connect online can find me at @alison__mooney on instagram and https://www.facebook.com/alisonrmooney
I’ve got a brief catalogue of works at www.alisonmooney.co as well.
THANK YOU Alison! You are a dead-set Legend and I wish you so much goodness in return for all that you do and have given to others. All the very best with your current residency and sea-change.
Tamara x
https://www.tamaraarmstrong.com/blog/my-friend-can-paint-feature-artist-4-alison-mooney