In 2019, Mary had to create an artist website for herself for a school assignment. In a way it’s not really her genuine self; I doubt she would have been thrilled about this being preserved, but I’ve recreated it here to showcase the artwork she selected for it. I also included the “bio”, “artist statement”, and “CV”, but put them at the end. – Chris Grayson, Sep. 30, 2023

Gallery

Artist Bio

I’m currently a senior in the drawing and painting program at the University of North Texas in Denton and I am from Austin. My preferred media to work with is acrylic paint on wood, digital illustration, and ceramics. I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember, but I took an interest in acrylic painting and digital art around the same time, almost a decade ago. I’ve switched to working on wood rather than canvas within the past year. I’ve always enjoyed ceramics but have only become more serious about it in the past few years. The majority of my work explores form, color and shape and how those elements can be portrayed across varying media.

Artist Statement

The biggest source of inspiration in my painting work is my interest in expressing contradictions and experimenting with how colors interact. I enjoy using uncommon color palettes in my work and exploring phrase that might have conflicting tones depending on how the viewer relates to or interprets it.

My paintings usually begin as digital sketches and I like trying to mimic how the colors and crisp lines on the screen and seeing how they translate when painted by hand. Painting on wood gives me more freedom as opposed to painting on a four-sided canvas and the natural grain of the wood as well as how the wood splinters when cut provides an element to my work that I can’t control. I imagine my work to ideally be displayed outside on a wall where it would be exposed to different natural lighting and weather.

Within my ceramic work I enjoy experimenting with forms that are imaginative reinterpretations of common vessels. I’m interested in creating objects that are functional rather than decorative, but have an element to them that makes the viewer wonder if they are actually functional or not. I prefer working with darker or muted colored glazes in my ceramic work rather than bright colors because of how they look when finished and displayed with food, drink, or plants.

Contact and CV

Education: University of North Texas: Studio Art Drawing and Painting 2020

• 2014-2017 – Independently ran an Etsy store in which I sold my original illustrations as stickers
• 2019 – Independently ran a successful Kickstarter in which I sold a tarot card deck of my own illustrations
• 2019 – Shown artwork in UNT’s “Full Circle” Exhibition
• 2019 – Commissioned to create a custom illustration to be used for an individual’s tattoo
• 2019 – Participated in two fan zines, one of which I illustrated the cover for
• 2019 – Opened a new independently run Etsy store in which I began selling my own ceramics