Virginia Mahoney holds an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, and a BA from the University of Florida. A Bromfield Gallery (Boston) Solo 2022 Winner, her 2023 show with Nathalie Miebach, “Undercurrents”(Fountain Street Gallery, Boston) was reviewed in Artscope’s September/October ‘23 issue. Mahoney’s solo exhibition, “Holding Thoughts,” will be on view from April 3 - May 4, 2025 in the Launchpad Gallery at Boston Sculptors Gallery. She is a member of Kingston Gallery in Boston’s SoWa Arts District. Publications include Juniper Rag (v.3), Hyperallergic, Canvas Rebel, Boston Voyager and WBURArtery.
Her work is in private collections and the Lancaster Art Museum (PA). She works in her 360 square foot basement home studio in Southeastern Massachusetts.
"Virginia Mahoney creates art that echoes the body. Evocative or grotesque, ambiguous yet assertive, the forms are built using elaborate, tedious, and meditative processes -- extended hand work which can spark thematic openings or generate mental notes. In the work’s wide range of media, strong materiality provides a visceral invitation to content. Mahoney’s use of written or embroidered text is plainly narrative or even dubiously poetic. Some of her recent series have been in the form of garments, shield-figures reminiscent of PPE, and specters that expose the undercurrents of social and political behaviors. Using reclaimed supplies and re-used earlier work, the artist makes a concerted effort to maintain a sustainable practice. Her most recent work confronts uncertainty with open-faced admissions of timidity. Mahoney exposes fears and doubts with handwritten recordings of past sketchbook notes in woven container-like forms as holding tanks and evidence. The act of writing or stitching words feels affirming and almost permanent. This is a contemplative act of remembering, honoring, and preserving, processing uncertainty, change, and ruminations on advancing age and the inevitable. Mahoney tries to hold on to where she has been with these vessel forms that reach out into space in an effort to assert and affirm power, self, mark, and agency."
Tell us a little about yourself (where you are from) and your background in the arts.
I was born in Tennesee and grew up in Florida. As a child, I drew, painted, and created dioramas and set-ups. I learned to sew from my mom at a very early age. I attended Queens University (NC) majoring in art, and finished my bachelor’s degree at the University of Florida. In between the two, I spent a year in France and Spain.
After undergrad I went to Penland School of Craft as a Core Fellow and then got my MFA in ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. After grad school I moved to the Boston area and started teaching public high school art as I continued my practice in ceramics, which evolved into mixed media work.
I began using cloth and metal with clay. I made intricately stitched cloth and paper doilies for my vessels, and painted, glazed, and transferred photos onto the surfaces. I used shards of old ceramic vessels with copper wire to make sculpture. Most of what I now make comes from old work, repurposed scraps, and reclaimed materials.
What kind of work are you currently making?
I’m continuing to work on my “Holding Thoughts” sculpture series, making work by weaving strips of old paintings on paper into reclaimed food net (the bags that melons, potatoes, onions, etc. come in), then creating three-dimensional forms.
Before weaving in the strips, I write on them-- passages and notes from old sketchbooks and words that come from lists that I make about what’s on my mind at the time. Revisiting my thinking and ideas from the past has been a way to remember, rekindle, and better understand myself and my practice.
I’ve begun stitching over the writing, which has the effect of showing up as obscure language on the reverse (usually facing the outside of the finished sculpture) of the strips . Although it adds a lot of time, I’m quite enthralled by this and I’m looking forward to seeing what I make with these new elements.
What is a day like in the studio for you?
My studio is in my basement. Usually I start in the morning by 8 or 9 am, often some stitching or close work, then I’ll take a break from that and work on construction of a full piece or do some writing for applications or proposals. I grab lunch in the kitchen with my husband (also an artist), then head back into the studio for more close work, unless I have other obligations.
Having a studio at home is very conducive to getting work done and keeps my art and life intertwined. It was essential to my practice when my kids were young.
What are you looking at right now and/or reading?
Reading "Poet Warrior: A Memoir" by Joy Harjo, and "Vitamin Txt: Words In Contemporary Art" (Phaidon). Re-reading "The Subversive Stitch" by Rozsika Parker.
Recently Looking at: Tau Lewis (ICA Boston), Hugh Hayden (Rose Gallery, Brandeis U. in Waltham, MA), Yasue Maetaki, Doreen Garner, Sonya Clark, Sheila Pepe, Arlene Schechet. Always looking at regional contemporary artists.
Where can we find more of your work? (ex. website/insta/gallery/upcoming shows)
Website: www.virginiamahoneyart.com
Instagram & Threads: https://www.instagram.com/artisteach/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mahoneyvirginia
Solo show in April at Boston Sculptors LaunchPad Gallery: “Holding Thoughts” Kingston Gallery, Boston
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