Fiona Hoop is a pseudonym for an ever-evolving duet exploring abstract, collage, encaustic, figurative, and still life. Mary Kennedy and Michele Woodey began working together in 2000. This successful partnering led to a deep exploration of collaborative painting; a concept which has its roots in the early Surrealist artists’ technique of passing a piece of work back and forth. Each artist contributes elements in turn, until the chemistry is complete.
Michele Woodey graduated with honours in Fine Art from Brighton School of Arts in England in 1979. While working as an antique and art restorer in London, She continued her education with university courses in English, teaching English as a second language, printmaking, and photography. She has had multi-disciplined experience as Joint Head of Montessori School art programs, guest lecturer, and artist in residence at the Atlin School of Arts, and as Arts Council Artist in various other post secondary and graduate school programs. In 1986, she spent some time in New York, then eventually settled in Canada.
Mary Kennedy graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1989 and received OCAD’s Experimental Arts Award in Painting. Since then, she has been the recipient of several Visual Arts Grants from the Ontario Arts Council, as well as from the Sheila Dick Mackay Arts Foundation. She has juried the University of Toronto Students Exhibits & Grant Awards, been featured on WTN Network’s “Bella” Productions, and has appeared in campaigns for Nokia Cellular’s “Connecting People” series.
All of these Fiona Hoop originals are available at Art Source and can be seen in our showroom.
