Noonie Minogue
Noonie Minogue decided to be an artist at the age of five but was later distracted by the joys of literature, Latin, Greek and Mediterranean languages. She still painted pictures on the walls, floors and cupboard doors of every house she lived in.
As a classics tutor, while bringing up three children, she devised a board game, designing a huge, detailed map of ancient Rome and a cast of Roman characters. She first learnt etching and stone lithography in Rome and took up printmaking again 22 years ago in London. Some of the designs from the Rome game appear in her etchings.
In 2003, she wrote ‘Nero the singing Emperor’ (Short books) and in 2015, a translation from modern Greek of the autobiography of a famous rebetiko composer. She translates song lyrics for performance in Greek music concerts. She’s reviewed for The Tablet, TLS, Literary Review and Slightly Foxed, and fritters time away practicing on various instruments. Words or lines drawn on paper feel to her like some kind of music.
“When I am drawing a line, it is a bit like a phrase of music. Sometimes I worry I am trying to be too harmonious. If I see an ugly line, it’s like a jarring note, but I like cacophony in music, in the right place, so I don’t want to be too smooth when I draw.”
