Contemporary Art in Context: Virginia Mahoney

The evolution of fiber arts into the realm of fine arts has been a long-since achieved goal, establishing a respect for the art form that it has received for centuries in numerous world cultures. Artist Virginia Mahoney has brought a deeply personal touch to the realm of fiber arts, creating sculptures that contain highly personal narratives in the form of written and stitched words, often adorning works that evoke the human form. Her vessel forms serve as a means of preserving, remembering, and processing her thoughts as her artistic journey has proceeded.

An Artistʼs Evolution
Sensitive to the everyday struggles and triumphs of humanity around her, Mahoney’s art is an empathetic response to them. Her openness with life experience is connected to her experimental approach to techniques and materials. Participating in the richness and variety of our communities has broadened the ideas and processes she puts forth in her artworks.

Mahoney’s artistic journey began with large-scale ceramic and mixed-media works. She began using cloth and metal with clay and made cloth and paper doilies for her vessels. From there, her fiber works evolved in stages. Much of her current work comes from old works, repurposed scraps, and reclaimed materials. Her work displays a strong emphasis on materiality as well as content. Using reclaimed materials instills in her work a history and has helped evolve a sustainable practice.

The Shield State works, such as Supremacy, process her exploration of humanityʼs tendency to “otherize” certain parts of a community by using words of exclusion or division. Supremacy, like many of Mahoney’s works, proves that there is power in words.

Her recent series, Holding Thoughts, exemplifies the complexity of including text that reflects on various times in her life, often sourced from old sketchbooks or writings. In works such as Am I There Yet, the artist weaves strips of old paintings on paper into recycled food net bags, creating three-dimensional forms. She stitches over the writing. These forms are vessel-like and reminiscent of her earlier work with ceramics.

Art History Brief: Text and Writing
One of the contemporary postmodern principles of design is called “interaction of text and image.” Calligraphy and decorated writing have long been considered an art form in many parts of the planet, and often the art form says a lot about the artists or artists’ cultures that produce them. In Mahoney’s art, the writing constitutes the significance of content in her work that is both narrative and poetic. As Mahoney asserts, “Art connects with life experience.” In her art, Mahoney’s life experience is laid bare to the viewer.

About the Artist
Virginia Mahoney was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Tampa, Florida. Her mother was an artist who worked in cloth, yarn, paint, and shells, and Mahoney followed her example at an early age. She drew, painted, and created dioramas.

The artist received a BA from the University of Florida, Gainesville, and an MFA in ceramics from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan. After grad school, she moved to the Boston area, where she taught K–12 art in the Avon Public Schools from 1982 to 2014. She continued her ceramics practice that whole time, which gradually evolved into mixed-media work.

Mahoney exhibits widely, and in 2023, her work received critical acclaim when it was reviewed in Artscope magazine.

ARTIST Q&A
What are some of the biggest influences on your work?
VM: Influential artists would include Eva Hesse (grad school), Arlene Shechet, Cecilia Vicuña, Phyllida Barlow, Sheila Pepe, Sonya Clark, Marisol, Louise Bourgeois, Judy Pfaff, Sarah Sze, Faith Ringgold, Doris Salcedo, Ana Mendieta, Janine Antoni, and many more. Many of these artists are influential not necessarily in what they make, but in what they have said about their work or about the creative process. The artist Richard DeVore, my teacher in grad school at Cranbrook Academy of Art, once said to me, “You have to keep your hands busy.” I didn’t really think about that until a few years ago, but it now makes perfect sense and shows that this teacher recognized a very important aspect of who I was (and still am).

Outside of the art world: My mom was an expert seamstress. She could make anything with cloth and thread: beautiful gowns and dresses, fancy drapes, slipcovers for furniture, you name it. She was also a knitter, needlepointer, and painted all the rooms in our house. She seemed to make stuff constantly (shell pictures, weird Christmas things, anything with gold spray paint), and I probably inherited the making gene from her. I think creating was comforting to her and gave her confidence, purpose, and agency. Her mother, my grandmother, was a quilter as well as a canner of jellies, jams, juices, and veggies… a different kind of maker.

What is a typical workday like for you?
VM: My studio has been in my home since the early 1980s, which allowed me to save travel time and have flexible access, back when our two kids were young and studio time was at a premium. Nowadays, I’m usually in the studio working or doing studio chores (paperwork, applications, research, photographing my work) by 8:30 until noon, when I break for lunch. After lunch, I return to work or take some time to reflect, depending upon what’s needed. I sometimes will go back in for a short time in the evening. When I was teaching full-time, studio time was more sporadic and the “routine” revolved around the teaching schedule… mostly nights, weekends, and school vacation time.

Do you have specific strategies or routines that help you work and/or generate ideas?
VM: My working methods create time to think and to generate ideas. In fact, I find that working on a labor-intensive, time-consuming project is one of my favorite ways to get my brain going and to generate ideas. Honestly, I have a backlog of projects I want to do. That said, starting something new takes courage, and sometimes I need to work myself into that by organizing, cleaning, or randomly playing around with materials. Ideas come at the times that I may least expect, so I always make sure that I have a way to record snippets of things wherever I am, whether it’s using the Notes app on my phone or a small sketchbook that fits in a pocket or purse.

Just as calligraphy is an art form that says something, what is your emphasis in your works containing words: form, or content?
VM: Both. I have used words in my work since the 1980s. They have been essential aspects of content and their meanings or sounds have contributed to my approach to form. Most of the words in my most recent series, Holding Thoughts, come from my old sketchbooks in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, when my children were growing up; I was teaching public high and middle-school art full-time, running a household, and maintaining my art practice in any way I could manage. I’ve always written a lot in my sketchbooks along with drawing, combining all aspects of life there—drawings, glaze recipes, descriptions of sculpture, food recipes, to-do lists, curriculum ideas, and whatever else was going on. This current work revisits that time in the past and rediscovers ideas that were never realized. I’m also finding that there are similarities between my current themes and those from earlier times. I like the idea of revisiting history and building upon it.

Do you ever perceive of your works as three-dimensional painting with your brilliant use of balanced color and shape?
VM: I can see how one might consider it that way. I’ve always worked three-dimensionally, and I don’t think much about what art discipline my work falls into. I’ll leave that up to the viewers. I love hearing varied responses to my work and things I haven’t even thought about! I try to follow my work wherever it takes me.

Have you ever conceived of forms that could be worn by models?
VM: This question comes up often, especially with the strongly garment-referenced work. That thought is certainly intriguing and I can’t say I haven’t thought of doing that, but I have yet to act on it. Stay tuned, though. You never know when these things might actually materialize!

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself as an emerging artist? Or, what advice do you have for young aspiring artists?
VM: Authenticity is key. YOU are what makes your work distinctive and memorable. Don’t try to be someone else. Make YOUR work. Use YOUR voice. The creative process isn’t easy: it can be scary. But trust the process, the struggle. Those ideas that might seem “out of your league” might be intimidating, but may be the most interesting. As David Bowie says, “Turn and Face the Strange.” And Rick Rubin’s book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being (Penguin Press, 2023) is a good book about the creative process.

To young aspiring artists: Art is work, so work hard. Experiment and make lots of art! Look at plenty of great art and hear what artists have to say about their work, their journey. When you are learning, it is good to try many different things and to emulate artists you love. When you get discouraged, keep trying. Ask people to look at your work and to give you honest feedback. That can be hard, but working through those tough times is very important because you learn a lot. But in the end, remember to remain true to your authentic self. You are finding your own voice, and you will know when it feels right.

What are you working on currently? Can you share any upcoming projects with our readers?
VM: I’m still focused on my Holding Thoughts series, but I’ve been stitching the words rather than writing, which is very time-consuming. I’m really drawn to the way the “wrong” side of the paper strips look when the words are stitched, and the strong tactile sense it gives to the work. I’m currently planning for a small solo exhibition at Kingston Gallery’s Project Space in Boston’s SoWa arts district, as well as a larger solo show of my Holding Thoughts series in the East gallery of ArtsWorcester (Worcester, Massachusetts).

Thank you so much to SchoolArts for this opportunity to share my art!