Filmmaker: Sr Maureen MacMahon

Sr Maureen MacMahon c. 1969. Image courtesy of the Irish Film Archive.

Maureen MacMahon

Dates active:

1955-1978

Gender:

Female

Awards/Recognition:

National Film Institute of Ireland Gevaert Perpetual Challenge 1st Place Trophy for “Puppet Project,” 1967.
National Film Institute of Ireland Amateur Cine Competition for “Kay,” 1968.

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Profession:

Dominican Sister ; Artist ; Educator ; Filmmaker

Biographical Notes:

Sister Maureen MacMahon OP (aka Sr. Grignon, Sr. Maureen) is an artist, writer, educator, filmmaker and Dominican nun. She was born in Dublin in 1918 and entered the Dominican Order at Cabra in 1936. MacMahon attended the National College of Art, Dublin, and received an ATC Certificate and Diploma in Art Education in 1970. She taught art in various local primary schools from 1947 to 1971. From 1971-1974 she worked as the Head of the Audio-Visual Department at Radharc, after which she became a part-time lecturer in Education at Trinity College, Dublin, and worked for eight years as a part-time lecturer in Art at St. Patrick’s Training College. She was a member of The High Loft amateur painting group in Dublin and has written numerous articles on art and art history, as well as a book entitled, Sister Maureen’s Selection of Irish Art: With Reflections, published by Columba Press in 2012. MacMahon worked as part of the Black Raven Film Group, along with Owen Carton and Sean Brophy, which produced a number of films, including in particular documentaries and educational films. Their film, “Puppet Project,” written by MacMahon, won the National Film Institute of Ireland’s Gevaert Perpetual Challenge 1st Place Trophy in 1967, and “Kay,” written and produced by MacMahon, won the NFI’s Amateur Cine Competition in 1968. She was active with the Black Raven Group throughout the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s, working in numerous capacities as a filmmaker, producer, director, and scriptwriter. MacMahon’s background and interest in art and art education is often present in her filmmaking, as evidenced by the films “Kay,” “From Cliff to Kiln” and “No Straight Lines,” amongst others.

Bibliographic Resources:

-Irish Film Archive, ‘Sr Maureen MacMahon Deposit Agreement’, January 26, 2012, Donor Reference: 601. Irish Film Archive, Dublin, Ireland.
-MacMahon, Maureen. Sister Maureen's Selection of Irish Art with Reflections, “About the Author,” Columba Press, 2012.
-Sr Maureen MacMahon Collection, Detailed Filmographic Records, 2012. Irish Film Archive, Dublin, Ireland.
-Sr Maureen MacMahon Papers, "Sr Maureen MacMahon: "My Story," P/OP/MMacM, Archive of the Dominican Sisters Cabra, Dublin, Ireland (2005)

This research was funded by UKRI-AHRC and the Irish Research Council under the ‘UK-Ireland Collaboration in the Digital Humanities Networking Call’ grant numbers IRC/W001756/1 and AH/W001756/1