Alice Maher

Alice Maher born at Kilmoyler, a rural area between Bansha and Cahir, County Tipperary, 1956 is an Irish painter and sculptor.

Alice Maher received her early education at Ballydrehid National School and at Coláiste Chríost Rí, Cahir. She later graduated from the University of Limerick and the Crawford College of Art in Cork. She spent time in San Francisco Art Institute in 1986 as a Fulbright Scholar and represented Ireland at the São Paulo Bienal in 1994.

As a contemporary artist, Alice often paints textiles, ropes and hair and sometimes includes these materials in her work. She is interested in how identities, particularly gendered identities, are constructed from the peculiar texture history and culture give to artefacts that surround us.

Work in collections or on display

• The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
• The Arts Council of Ireland including
  • Nettle Coat (1996)
• The Crawford Gallery, Cork, including
  • Irish Dancers (1992)
• Fairytale Wall (2002), Special Investigation Unit, Level 2, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast

Further reading

• Allen Randolph, Jody. "Alice Maher, August 2009." Close to the Next Moment: Interviews from a Changing Ireland. Manchester: Carcanet, 2010.
• Barber, Fiona. Familiar [essay]. Dublin: Douglas Hyde Gallery; Derry: Orchard Gallery, 1995.
• Bourne, Cecile. Familiar [interview]. Dublin: Douglas Hyde Gallery; Derry: Orchard Gallery, 1995.
• Deepwell, Katy. "Alice Maher." Dialogues: Women Artists from Ireland. London: IB Tauris, 2005.

External links and references

• Aosdána short biography
• Isabel Nolan (2003) review of Mnemosyne in Circa 104.
• Chérie Driver (2003) review of Portraits in Circa 106.
• Dorothy Walker (2002) Maher, Alice in Brian Lalor (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Ireland. Dublin: Gill and Macmillian. ISBN 0-7171-3000-2