Mary Farrell
born 1950
“My earliest memories involve a wide-eyed excitement for what are essentially visually aesthetic experiences. From these rudimentary gut responses evolved a deeper exploration into what it means to be an artist.”
“The Terrain of the Mark” by Ben Mitchell
Basalt, volume 4 number 1, 2009
College of Arts & Sciences, Eastern Oregon University
The picture plane is Mary Farrell's territory for exploring the “balance of opposites” fundamental to her art. Drawing is her essential tool, but it is the technically refined physical labor of printmaking that, for her, synthesizes ideas about nuance and scale. She considers printmaking “a unique way of thinking.”*
Farrell also observes that “printmakers and ceramists build images through process.”* Perhaps its not surprising then that, like the ceramist Rudy Autio who influentially reached out to the ceramics world from Montana a generation before her, Farrell plays a prominent and active role in the printmaking community by participating in national and international exchanges such as her ongoing visiting artist relationship with Hubei Institute of Art in Wuhan, China.
Because her medium creates multiple copies of the same image, Farrell enjoys widespread dissemination of her work through regional, national and international exhibitions and portfolio projects: “I like to think that the work is out there having these relationships.”*
*MAC interview with Mary Farrell, May 2012
- M.F.A. in printmaking from the University of Cincinnati, 1995
- Joined the art faculty at Gonzaga University, 1995
- Artist Trust Fellowship, 2000
- 11th Lessedra World Art Print Annual, Lessedra Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2012
- East/West Portfolio (tour), 2011-2012
- States of the State Portfolio, exhibited at Epicenter/Epicentro: Re Tracing the Plains, Venice, Italy (on the occasion of the Venice Biennale 54th International Arts Exhibitions), 2011
- Hubei Institute of Art 90th Anniversary Art Exhibitions, Hubei Museum of Fine Arts, Wuhan, China, 2010
Formaquatro
“I began using the nest, sometimes including a human figure, in reference to the natural separation of my daughter and myself…the meaning has expanded and continues to expand. They suggest both connection and separation from place or spirit.”
“The Terrain of the Mark” by Ben Mitchell
Basalt, volume 4 number 1, 2009
College of Arts & Sciences, Eastern Oregon University
1986
etching
Gift of Safeco Insurance, a member of the Liberty Mutual Group, and Washington Art Consortium, 2010
Accession Number - 4234.10
Skin and Bones 1
“My artwork is primarily about locating larger meaning within fragments of the world around me, inspired by the human body and plant forms. I think in terms of geography, topography, and terrain as the place where the drawn mark traces the tension and connection between man and nature. I think in terms of landscape and contained gesture within the bounded space of the picture plane. And mostly, it's about drawing.”
—Artist statement
Mary worked from a live model, drawing with ink directly onto a sheet of acetate. This was printed onto a block of wood which she carved to print the image. “… For this series I was working with bones and skin, playing with the flat and the dimensional space of the print surface.”
—MAC interview with Mary Farrell, May 2012.
2002
woodcut
Museum Purchase, Works from the Heart Acquisition Fund, 2004
Accession Number - 4086.1
Skin and Bones 4
Farrell exploits the printmaking process and mixes varied printing methods to define scale and space
Each color you see in a printed image is applied as a single layer. For the Skin & Bones series, she first printed a flat of color from a block of wood. Next she overprinted this with the carved block of the bones and figure. The bones were carved to appear forward on the flat surface while the figure was carved to achieve the effect of the human form moving back in space.
2002
woodcut
Gift of the Artist, 2004
Accession Number - 4086.2