Faculty
Mary K. Connelly, ASSOCIATE professor of Painting and drawing
Artist Statement
My interior paintings are a distillation of perception
and memory, where color and light convey a world psychologically and
spiritually charged. Architectural space serves as a formal and conceptual
device to establish tension and duality between the interior and exterior
worlds. As “home”,
interior space signifies the conditions of both entrapment and private
repose. The interior also serves as a metaphor for consciousness—as
container for my ruminating mind. Painting direct from observation is
central to my studio practice; formal relationships--color, and space,
function like a mantra or a meditation on things mutable and transcendent. Max
Beckman’s words speak powerfully to this process:
“If you wish to get hold of the invisible, you must penetrate as deeply as possible into the visible. My aim is to get hold of the magic reality and to transfer this reality into painting—to make the invisible visible through reality. It may seem paradoxical, but it is, in fact, reality which forms the mystery of our existence”.
My intention as a representational painter is to re-present a space imbued with both longing and emptiness—as a chamber for mediation or contemplation. As an artist, I am driven by continual self-reflection, but the practice of perceptual painting transcends “self” through a responsive and empathetic relationship to the visual world. My work is also influenced by contemplative and philosophical literature, especially the writings of Thomas Merton, Paul Tillich and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. The power of illusionist painting is not that it tries to create a “now” reality, but because it can mirror consciousness and embody the paradoxical truths of impermanence and (in the words of Tillich) The Eternal Now.
For more information on Mary Connelly and her work, please visit www.maryconnelly.com or cam.cudenver.edu/braggingrights/maryconnelly.htm.
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Current Exhibition
Particular Places, University of Saint Mary, September 11 - October 12, 2009.
Please view a slide show of her work for this exhibition:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/camphotogallery/sets/72157614158579914/show/
Particular Places
Mary K. Connelly
Recent Paintings at the Goppert Gallery
September 11 – October 12, 2009
Leavenworth, KS - The Goppert Gallery on the campus of the University of Saint Mary is pleased to present Particular Places, an exhibition of oil paintings by Mary K. Connelly. The show opens to the public on Friday, September 11, 2009 with an artist’s reception scheduled from 3-6 p.m. Connelly will also give a lecture on her work at 3:30pm. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 10am-4pm.
Particular Places represent an ongoing exploration of interior space, intimate scale paintings on wood panel. Through the process of observational painting, Connelly examines how our perceptions of “home” and other spaces, shape our thoughts, memories and dreams. These small-scale paintings, in part inspired by the artist’s encounter with The Poetics of Space by GastonBachelard, present the viewer with a chamber for mediation, evoking memories or daydreams of a beloved solitary place. Taking Bachelard’s notion of topophila as a departure point,the work embodies the author’s stance that “the house is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word”. The concept of place stirs powerful emotions; place can be sacred, personal, universal, and culturally significant. Connelly explains, “My paintings are a distillation of perception and memory, where color and light convey a world psychologically and spiritually charged--the shelter of architecture serves as formal and conceptual devise, containing silent narratives and an underlying tension between the interior and the exterior world.”
Past Exhibitions
In/Sight = On/Site
Mary K. Connelly and Ella Yang
Recent Paintings at the Salmagundi Club
May 30 – June 11, 2009
In/Sight = On/Site references the complementary perspectives of Connelly and Yang. Both Connelly’s small-scale interiors and Yang’s cityscapes and landscapes convey an intimate sense of Love of Place. For Connelly, love of place recalls Bachelard’s notion that “the house is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word.” Yang’s love of place emerges from the possibility of beauty in mundane corners of her neighborhoods. The concept of place stirs powerful emotions; place can be sacred, personal, universal, and culturally significant. Connelly explains, “My paintings are a distillation of perception and memory, where color and light convey a world psychologically and spiritually charged; interior space is presented as a chamber for meditation, evoking memories or daydreams of a beloved solitary place.” Yang, who primarily paints en plein air, states, “My goal is to capture the spirit of a scene at a particular instance, especially the effects of light. When it's all working well, painting can be a form of highly active meditation, a way to pay visual homage to the bounty in my life.”
Topophila, Morris Grave Museum of Art, January 14 - March 8, 2009.
Mary K. Connelly's work, Sense of Place, was exhibited at the Charleston Heights Art Center, located at 800 S. Brush Street, Las Vegas, NV October 17- December 27, 2008
Connelly’s work for this exhibition was inspired by the book, The Poetics of Space. This current body of work is a series of small paintings of room interiors that convey an intimate sense of “love of place.” This work has come about through the belief or appreciation of Bachelard’s notion that “the house is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word.” In the work, interior space is presented as a chamber for mediation, evoking memories or daydreams of a beloved solitary place. As home, the interior is fraught with conflicting feelings of entrapment and private repose.
The exhibit was presented by the city of Las Vegas Office of Cultural Affairs.
Interiors and Still Places at the San Francisco MUSEUM OF MODERN ART ARTISTS GALLERY
January 9-February 1
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Mary.Connelly@ucdenver.edu
303.556.6866
Associate Professor of Fine Arts
Area Head of Painting and Drawing
MFA, Painting, Indiana University, Bloomington
BFA, Painting, Washington University in St. Louis
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© 2009
University of Colorado Denver College of Arts & Media