The role of women in Irish society has been for a long time dictated by men and by organisations such as the churches, financial institutions and political parties, which are generally run by men. even the arts in Ireland have, for many years, been dominated by men, although admittedly there have been far greater oppertunities for women to get ahead within the art world than in almost any other field. The Royal Hibernian Academy has traditionally been slow to admit women, but on the other hand, there has been a preponderance of female talent in organisations setup in opposition to the Academy, such as the Society of Dublin Painters and the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. Artists such as Mary Swanzy, Manie Jellet and Evie Hone resolutely carved out niches in Irish art history, and although this was largely because of their privileged backgound, their pioneering achievements have enriched Irish society immeasurably.

Alice Maher belongs to a new generation of Irish artists who are equally determined to establish themselves, and in so doing, to effect some changes to what they see as a male-dominated establishment. Her art is gently subversive and highly personal. It is successful, largely because it derives from the artist's own doubts. dreams and memories of childhood, rather than from a dogmatic and over political agenda. These are paintings which tell a story, but it is a story which can only be truely be read on a subsonscious level. The story in its simplest form is of how a young girl is told that she must such and such a costume, that she must play this role or that role, that her life is not her own. However Maher does not ridicule or disparage these voices of convention; quite the opposite. She shows the girl at sea, sinking, or the girl tiny, inadequate and unable to cope with teh world. Irish Dancers, shows the girl, arms akimbo, trying on an Irish dancing dress which as become as unweildly as a suit of armour. The emotional power of teses works derives from this vein of gentle self mockery.

These small sketches formed the inspiration for a series of paintings which were exhibited at the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin in January 1995. A number of them had been shown previously at the Sáo Paluo Biennale. Maher studied art at the Crawford College, in Cork after taking a BA in European Studies at Limrick. She completed her MA is Fine Art at the University of Ulster in Belfast in 1986 and was awarded a post-graduate fellowship at the San Francisco Art Institute that same year. After spending many years in the United States, she returned to Ireland to take up lectureship at the National College of Art and Design, a position she resigned in 1993 in order to concentrate full-time on making art.