Mother's Day 05/07/2012
My mother and I share a wonderful tradition each spring. We visit Wiethop Greenhouses together and choose flowers to plant. And this year was no exception...except this time, I brought my camera!      Card by Paper + Pip Abraham Lincoln said it perfectly. Happy Mother's Day to my angel mom! Mary^ 9 Comments Iceland Travels & Techtonics 01/23/2012
I was fortunate enough to recently visit Iceland – a dream come true for me with its 130 volcanoes! Below I am sharing photos I took in Iceland along with Ted Kooser's poem entitled Tectonics – a friend passed this poem on to me after seeing my exhibition at Renaud Spirit Center and reading from my artist statement: I am captivated by the idea that geological shifts and transformations seem to parallel both individuals and their relationships: continually changing, varying, shifting and developing, too.  Valley between tectonic plates that grows 2 centimeters wider each year. Tectonics by Ted Kooser, current Poet Laureate of the US from Delights and Shadows In only a few months there begin to be fissures in what we remember, and within a year or two, the facts break apart one from another and slowly begin to shift and turn, grinding, pushing up over each other until their shapes have been changed and the past has become a new world. And after many years, even a love affair, one lush green island all to itself, perfectly detailed with even a candle softly lighting a smile, may slide under the waves like Atlantis, scarcely rippling the heart.  E-15 tongue/glacier.  Blesi (the blazer) is a hot spring pool at the Geysir Area in Iceland.  Volcanic basalt rock gives the sand its black color.  Geologic folds in Iceland.  Have a great beginning to your week! Mary^ 2011 Greatest Hits 12/26/2011
Celebrating My Creative Journey of 2011… (Click on the photos below to read highlights of art and inspiration!)  Before being autioned off in May, my 5-foot by 4-foot fiberglass butterfly sculpture entitled Journey was on display at Plaza Mercedes Benz. The Wings in the City public art project raised $1.3 million dollars for BJC's pediatric hospice program Wings!  In March, I found nature and inspiration while visiting Chicago!  In October, I celebrated my 1-year-Blogoversary and the benefits I’ve experienced since beginning my blog!  In July, I experienced pure joy in Tallinn, Estonia! This is one of my favorite travel memories of 2011!  In January, Heather Haymart invited me to become a Resident Artist at Wood Icing Studio & Gallery! I've had my art on display there ever since, and have enjoyed the opportunities to meet and paint with artists like Mary Beth Shaw and Kristen Powers! Enjoy! Mary^ New Work Wednesday & National Parks 12/07/2011
My new painting this week is entitled Long Mountain, named after Mauna Loa Volcano on the Big Island. The Hawaiian name Mauna Loa means Long Mountain. And the name is fitting since Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on our planet! This massive volcano covers half of the Big Island of Hawaii! My painting layers Hawaiian maps, encaustic (wax), ink, Wood Icing and acrylic on a small stretched canvas.  Long Mountain by Mary C. Nasser Below are 2 details of the work:  Detail of Long Mountain  Detail of Long Mountain This week, too, I want to thank Jeffrey Strain for featuring me on his National Parks Blog again! This post highlights paintings inspired by my artist residency near Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. You can read the post in its entirety by clicking here. And as I mentioned a month ago, Jeffrey asked me to let other artists know that he is always interested in doing posts like this! So please don’t hesitate to contact him if you have National Park inspired artwork! Happy Mid-Week! Mary^  Little Grand Canyon 11/28/2011
 Recently, Dan and I visited Little Grand Canyon – a little-known hideaway that’s well worth the 2-hour drive from St. Louis.  We hiked down steep stone steps cut into erosion-polished rock. The trail itself was spectacular! And we got to hike right down the middle of it!  Bright green moss accented our descent into the canyon.  The 4 evenly spaced pothole waterfalls were a delightful surprise within the eroded rock layers we had hiked down!  We followed the LCG trail west along a stream, crossing it more than a few times on a packed-earth-and-gravel path.  The diverse natural environments of forest, canyon, moist bottomland, riverside bluff, and open floodplain create a wide variety of color and textures.  At the base of Little Grand Canyon, Chalk Bluff rises vertically 300 feet to the left.  The layered sandstone cliffs are peppered with wonderful arches, caverns and crevices.  The reward for our climb back out of the canyon was a magnificent overlook of the Mississippi Valley. Anyone else been hiking this autumn? Have a great beginning to your week! Mary^ New Work Wednesday & National Parks! 11/09/2011
 Map by Mary C. Nasser My new painting this week is entitled Map. This painting layers a Hawaiian map, ink, mica, text, stamped metal, acrylic media and acrylic on a small stretched canvas. Below is a detail of the work.  This week, too, I want to thank Jeffrey Strain for featuring me on his National Parks Blog. The post highlights paintings created during my artist residency at Petrified Forest National Park. You can read the post in its entirety by clicking here. Jeffrey also asked me to let other artists know that he is always interested in doing posts like this! So please don’t hesitate to contact him if you have National Park inspired artwork! Happy Mid-Week! Mary  Brenda's Birds 11/07/2011
 It is with great pleasure that I introduce my dear friend, Brenda Sipe! Brenda, originally from Berne, Indiana, is an artist whose works with both traditional and explorative materials are heavily influenced by nature. Her interests and background in fiber and 3-dimensional design have merged in recent sculptures literally “woven” from nature. She works equally fluently with paint, on fiber, canvas, and paper. Her work evolves experimentally with pieces being reworked multiple times to achieve the final result. Her focus is on the metaphors inherent in the work, which lead her to goals of clarity of vision and purpose. Brenda has a B.F.A. in Painting from Grand Valley State University, and a M.F.A. in Painting from Michigan State University. She teaches art whenever possible to all ages, and is currently director of continuing studies at Kendall College of Art and Design. I was delighted when Brenda accepted my invitation to write a guest post for my blog! I hope you find insight and inspiration from her as I do! Here’s how a public art event inspired me to begin creating again, and to create the largest works I have ever made, far larger than I thought I could make. On a morning in April 2009 the gallery director at Kendall College of Art and Design where I work asked me to attend “an important secret announcement” in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. I was assembled with a curious group of about 30 people and members of the media when Rick DeVos unveiled his plan for ArtPrize, the world’s largest art competition, where the top awards are determined by a public vote. My “art school” mind wondered if a public vote was such a good idea. But more importantly, would I have the nerve to create a piece, or find a venue to display it? With a son only 2 ½ years old and a full-time job, I did not possess a recent “cohesive body of work” like I knew I needed to succeed as an artist. That first year I collaborated on an installation with a group of women, “The Abracada-Bra Project” with reinvented bras as the theme. This taught me that 1) I could still make art and 2) I could make art that made people laugh. I also learned that I really enjoyed working three-dimensionally. (Check out The ABRAcada-BRA Project Facebook page here!) Near the end of ArtPrize 2009 I awoke one morning from a dream in which I pictured a large bird cage filled with a variety of colorful birds, and I envisioned it placed near the Grand River. I also realized that I could incorporate the work of children into the piece. So “Birds of a Feather”began. Finding a venue in ArtPrize is like joining a dating service. I had several offers for placement of “Birds of a Feather” within the first 3 days of matching. I accepted the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel because they were curated by Oxbow School of Art and offered me a spot near the river. During the summer of 2010 I learned what willow saplings looked like, where to find them, and how to harvest them. I also made clay birds with 171 children.  Here Brenda helps Sylvia Luciani, 8, mold a bird for her project. Photo courtesy of Karen Waite.    The piece ended up weighing about 600 pounds, was 11 feet tall and about 6 feet in diameter! It required a very strong and clever group of people to move it when ArtPrize was over. During 2011, I have continued working with the theme that began with “Birds of a Feather” and images and ideas from the poem by Maya Angelou, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. I have been a visiting artist for the YWCA’s “Stand Against Racism” and have shown a slightly smaller cage at Lansing City Streets. During ArtPrize this fall, “Sing”, made from steel, branches, clay and wire, was suspended from the portico at Fountain Street Church for their exhibit with the American Civil Liberties Union. I am happy to say that “Sing” received many popular votes to place in the Top 25 of the district where it was shown. Though approximately the same size as “Birds of a Feather”, “Sing” weighs only around 100 pounds, making it a joy to move! Brenda Sipe's "Sing" at Fountain Street Church: There are many ideas percolating now, partly deriving from my own work, but also from the excellent pieces of art I viewed around town during ArtPrize. I am excited to see what will be next. Connect with Brenda at: Her website: http://www.brendasipe.com/ Facebook: Twitter: http://twitter.com/brendasipe Gotcha Day! 10/31/2011
Last month we celebrated Daphne’s Gotcha Day. September marked 6 years since I had adopted Daphne from the Humane Society of Missouri. Daphne quickly became an integral part of my life. She is a home security system, champion leg warmer/couch dominator, bedside companion/alarm clock, car-mate, therapist, art coach, and matchmaker (it was because of Daphne that I met my husband!) Because of Daphne, I wrote my first proposal for a public sculpture – for the Humane Society of Missouri’s Art for Animals Auction – and was accepted! My positive experience decorating that fiberglass sculpture led me to create a proposal to decorate another large-scale sculpture: this time for Wings in the City! We spoiled her for Gotcha Day by getting her a Birthday Bone and bringing her and Sam on a car ride through Lone Elk Park.    We got to see bison up close and personal...from our car, of course!    It’s hard to believe that when I first brought Daphne back to her forever home, she could not even go down stairs because of her lack of depth perception. Daphne is 10 now. She still gets a mohawk from the nape of her neck to her tail when she’s angry, but I love her unconditionally – flaws and all – the way she loves me.  True to the park's name, a lone elk rests quietly.  A young bison balances to scratch an itch. What have you celebrated recently? Any special animal companions in your life? Have a great beginning to your week! Mary Rocky Mountain: Nature & Art 08/29/2011
During our end-of-the-summer road trip, we spent our second day in Colorado roaming the Rockies. Dan, Daphne, Sam, and I drove to Rocky Mountain National Park’s west entrance, then continued on Trail Ridge Road, enjoying the many scenic overlooks and pull-offs. Below are that day's photos of nature and art…two of my favorite things!  Dan and I saw a moose in Kawuneeche Valley during our short walk on the Coyote Valley Trail.  Sammy enjoys the snow near Lake Irene!  From the Alpine Visitor Center, we watched pikas interacting! Pikas amaze me because they survive living in the alpine tundra (above 11,400 feet of elevation) – above treeline where for nearly 8 months average temperatures do not rise above freezing. Round with tiny ears and tails to reduce heat loss, pikas gather dry plants in summer and store them as haystacks under areas of rocky rubble for winter. Pikas like yellow-blossomed alpine avens (yellow-flowering mountain plants) –which contain chemicals that naturally preserve the hay piles against winter mold and rot!  Moose Hair Pottery by Bonnie Antich Colorado potter, Bonnie Antich, lives in a remote canyon northeast of Rocky Mountain National Park. Moose roam freely on her property leaving behind hair to collect in fences and beds. Bonnie lives off the power grid (6 miles from the nearest telephone pole or power line). Her mountain home and pottery studio are powered from the sun and wind. Her unfired pots are fired to 1850 degrees. Then the kiln is cooled to 1200 degrees, which is when strands of moose hair are applied to the surface. The moose hair placed on the pots carbonizes into the surface creating these intricate and graceful designs.  Lava Cliffs: formed as a result of a violent explosion 28 million years ago. Volcanic vents in the Never Summit Mountains 12 miles west became clogged with lava. When they erupted, not all of the molten lava flowed as liquid. Some exploded out as a fast-moving avalanche of molten rock and gas. This dark rock is where the flow stopped – fusing itself into a solid mass.  Bulk elk congregate at Iceberg Pass. Have a great beginning to your week! Mary Finding Nature...Again! 08/08/2011
One of my blog posts with the most comments was entitled Finding Nature…about my visit to Chicago, where I found nature with my 5-year-old niece and 7-year old nephew. This summer, I found nature with my niece and nephew again – this time in the St. Louis area! For my nephew’s 7th birthday, I gave him (and my niece) 3 one-hour horse-back riding lessons. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to continue fostering my niece and nephew’s love of nature! Their reverence, respect, and admiration for nature is apparent in these photos, too.  Sprinkles meets my niece.  My nephew shares a quiet moment with his horse, Chico.  I love the confidence with which my niece leads Sprinkles.  Joey and Chico continue to bond after their ride.  My niece gazes at Sprinkles after her ride.  After a lesson, another horse studies my nephew!  Lastly, I had to include this photo of a Silkie guarding the horse stables. I had never seen one before! After further research, I learned that the Silkie is a breed of chicken with dark blue flesh and bones, blue earlobes, and five toes on each foot (most chickens only have four). Because of their calm, friendly temperament, Silkies even make ideal pets! Have a great beginning to what I hope will be an inspiring week for you! Mary | About Me
I am a painter and art educator living in the Greater St. Louis Area. I love creating mixed-media paintings layered with maps and geologic drawings. This blog is a place for me to share my work and what inspires me. Read more here.  Follow me? Interested in buying my art?
You will always see my most recent paintings here on my blog, so you are in the right place. If you are ever interested in a piece, feel free to contact me. You can also find my work at Wood Icing, The Little Gallery at Art Saint Louis, Artlandish Gallery, and Etsy!     Grab my button  
CategoriesAll ArchivesMay 2012 
 
|
RSS Feed
