Mary Anne Davis

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Biography:

 
EDUCATION
Ph.D   2016 Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, Portland, ME
MFA   1987 sculpture, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
            School of Visual Arts, Urbino, Italy
BFA    1981 ceramics, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
 

Résumé:

SELECTED ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2018 Women in Power, Chatham Bookstore, Chatham, NY
2015 Still Lives, Spencertown Academy Art Center, Spencertown, NY
2009 Dots, Tinku Gallery, Toronto
2009 Catalogue with essay by Elizabeth Hess
2005 Mark McDonald Gallery, Hudson, NY   
2005 Catalogue with essay by Linda Weintraub
2003 The Muse’s Window, Boston, MA 
2001 The Chelsea Collection, New York City
2001 Sacred Water, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, window
 
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 En Masse 2018, Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
2018 Group Show, A’Muse Gallery, Chatham, NY
2018 Light and Shadow, Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY
2018 What’s Next?, Unison Art Gallery, New Paltz, NY
2017 En Masse 2017,Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
2016 En Masse III, Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
2016 Beckett Arts Center, Becket, MA
2014 En Masse, Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
2013 Wish You Were There?, Montserrat College of Art Gallery, curated by Leonie Bradbury, catalogue
2013 Unbound Volume III, Artistree Gallery, Woodstock, VT
2013 Manifold, Gallery 301, Beverly, MA
2013 Fluxus : Then, Now, Whenever, Kokomo University, Kokomo, Indiana
2012 Friend of a Friend, Thompson-Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY  
2012 The Mysteries of Love and Life, Thompson-Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY  
2012 Community Installation, Hudson Independent Artists, Henry Hudson
2012 Studios, in association with NADA, Hudson, NY
2011 The Birding Life, Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
2011 On and Off the Wall, Columbia County Council of the Arts, Hudson, NY, Stoked, Art Omi, Ghent, NY
2010 Creative Fidelity, Stagira Studio, Austin, TX, What Matters Most, Eco-Artspace, Exit Art, New York City
2007 Artswalk, Hudson, NY
2006 Conversation at the Table, Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia
2005 Group Show, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY, Form and Function, the Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY
 
SELECT PROJECTS 
2016-2017 Beggars Chicken, Ultra-Pro Barbeque, Art Omi Arts Center, Ghent, NY
2002 - 2012 Mala Meal Project (a ritual performative artwork) (selected performances)
                        Dear Mother Nature, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY, New Paltz, NY
                        Digital Earth Conference, Berkeley, CA
                        Earth and Religion Conference, Bard College, Rhinebeck, NY
                        Art Omi, Ghent, NY 
2003 Copia Bowls project; in conjunction with the Food and Power Symposium 
            Copia Institute in Napa, California, with Molly O’Neil and Lonnie Graham
1998-present Seed Vase Project 
 
 

Statement:

This suite of drawings was developed when I lived and worked in Manhattan 1990—1994. My studio, at the corner of 9th Avenue and 14th Street, was a thriving community of artists—including Glenn Goldberg, Judy Glantzman, Peter Schuyff and Stephen Mueller -- that worked on the same floor of a building in the Meat-Packing district. The environment and friends impacted me by virtue of daily conversations about work and a mutually engaged work ethic.

Interested in gesture and the conjoined forces of form and line, these pieces examine ideas involved in automatic mark-making and the free and unencumbered study of the lyric gesture. I have been interested for thirty years by an exploration of opposing elements, a dialectic if you will. I find that tension inspired and ignited further study in me. Oppositions allowed me an opportunity to resolve or surprise, depending on the outcome. These small sketches gave me great freedom by the character of their ephemeral scale. These sketches are the prequels to larger works.

The lyric nature of the meandering line lives within the square as an unresolved yet compelling figure that allows a free play of simple elements. The juxtaposition of a more solid bit of paint with the purely linear element of the line and the layering of elements led to picture that reflects an emotion, a quality, or even a virtue.

These pieces also were developed at a time when I had taken a long break from working in clay. They reflect a time of strict two-dimensional exploration that afforded me an opportunity to resolve and develop certain methods of mark-making and a develop a vocabulary that evolved into the work I currently do. These pieces contain an abstract narrative that continues into the present. Made in the early 90's, one sees early evidence of the dots that will play such a large role in my later work.

Mary Anne Davis

- 5/30/12