An exhibition of some 70 prints by the distinguished Irish-born printmaker Tim Mara (1948-1997) opens to the public at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on Friday 7 April. Mirror Man : Prints by Tim Mara marks a generous donation by Tim Mara’s family of eight of the artist’s prints to the Museum. The exhibition has been selected by Mara’s friend, the painter Albert Irvin.
Mirror Man : Prints by Tim Mara celebrates Mara as an exceptional printmaker and teacher, and includes a representative selection of works from 1971 to 1997. His output included traditional printmaking techniques such as screenprinting and etching, as well as more unusual methods such as heat-transfer xerox on canvas and hand-painted, construction collages and assemblages.
Tim Mara was born in Dublin in 1948. His family moved to England in 1953, where he was educated at St. Joseph’s College, London, Wolverhampton Art College (1970-73) and the Royal College of Art, London, where he attained his Masters Degree. He taught as part-time lecturer in printmaking at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and Brighton Polytechnic before taking up the full-time post of Principal Lecturer in Printmaking at Chelsea School of Art (1980-90). He was appointed Professor of Printmaking at the Royal College of Art in 1990, and was Head of the School of Fine Art between 1993 and 1995. The University of Wolverhampton awarded him a posthumous honorary doctorate in 1997. Mara exhibited widely taking part in over 80 group shows in the UK and more than 50 international exhibitions. His work is in several public and private collections worldwide.
In a guide to the exhibition his fellow printmaker, artist and friend Chris Plowman says: “It is fitting that Tim Mara’s family and the Irish Museum of Modern Art have worked together to pay tribute to him with this exhibition. The selection of works is a celebration of his life and art, and demonstrates his unwavering commitment to the medium of printmaking. This is rare in contemporary practice and Mara added a profoundly intellectual dimension to the process he used.”
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A number of prints in the exhibition are for sale with all proceeds going to the Tim Mara Trust Fund, set up in 1998 to support innovation and excellence in printmaking in the form of annual awards to students of the discipline.
A fully-illustrated colour catalogue Tim Mara: the Complete Prints, with an essay by Christopher Fraying, Rector of the Royal College of Art, London, published by the College in 1998, accompanies the exhibition (price £10.00); an exhibition guide is also available (price £1.00)
Mirror Man: Prints by Tim Mara continues until 21 June
Admission is free.
Opening hours: Tue – Sat 10.00am – 5.30pm
Sun & Bank Holidays 12 noon – 5.30pm
Closed Monday, Friday 21 April
For further information and colour and black and white images please contact Philomena Byrne or Onagh Carolan at Tel : +353 1 612 9900,
Fax : +353 1 612 9999
3 April 2000