Jean Rooney

Professional Artist & Visual Art Educator
jean@jeanrooney.art | www.jeanrooney.art

BIOGRAPHY: Jean Rooney is a professional artist and art educator with twenty years experience in the fields of art, design and collaboration. She is currently Studio Head of Advanced Studio Practice, the graduate studies program at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. Rooney holds; a Masters in Multimedia (MSC) from Trinity College, Dublin University, Ireland, additionally she is completing a Masters of Education in Critical Studies (MEd) at the University of New Brunswick and, holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) in Printmaking from The National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland.

She is a graduate of the Catapult Program - business training for artists with ARTSLINK. Her work is held in private collections in Ireland, England and Canada. Her Public commissions include the Delta Hotels, Fredericton and Opportunities New Brunswick, and GNB Public Art Project for Schools. Rooney has been awarded numerous grants from The Arts Board of New Brunswick, The Arts Council of Ireland and The Government of New Brunswick; Departments of Education, Tourism, Heritage and Culture, for a diverse range of highly successful collaborative projects across New Brunswick. Her work is included in the permanent public collection of the Province of New Brunswick.

ARTIST STATEMENT: New Brunswick-based artist Jean Rooney makes artworks that are informed by contemporary iconography, identity and place and demonstrate the complexity of our image rich environment. Through a praxis of play and a love of narrative, Rooney creates pieces that are known for their colour, graphic marks, and layering. The second element of her practice is collaborating with community groups, facilitating the designing and execution of collaborative works. She has led numerous artist-in-residency school partnership projects to produce engaging public artworks.