Painter, printmaker, performance artist and teacher, born in Walton, Liverpool, who studied at Southport and Edinburgh Colleges of Art. He lectured part-time at Edinburgh, 1990–3; held a fellowship at Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education, 1991–2; lectured at Staffordshire University from 1993; and in 1995 was artist-in-residence, British School at Rome and Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Later residencies included St Chad’s College, University of Durham and Northern Arts, 2001; and a fellowship, University of Dundee VRC and Dundee Contemporary Arts, 2001–2. Rooney won a string of awards, including an Andrew Grant Humanities Travel Scholarship, 1988; Andrew Grant Award at Edinburgh College of Art, 1989–91; John Kinross Scholarship to Florence, RSA, 1991; Alexander Graham Munro Travel Award, RSW, 1993; Hope Scott Trust Award, 1994–5; and an Abbey Award for Painting, the British School, Rome, 1995.