Mary Erickson, Painter
Mary
Erickson grew up sketching the beaches of Long Island Sound in Connecticut and has
always been able to find beauty in her surroundings, whether along a southern shore or
in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. She sold her first painting to Gulf+Western Industries
in Stamford, Connecticut at 13.
Raised in Connecticut, Mary Erickson studied at the University of Bridgeport and Sacred Heart University, and initially pursued a career in business. Her passion for painting, and a move to Florida in 1986, stirred the desire to pursue art as a career. Finally, she realized a long held dream, and in 1993, Mary began painting professionally.
Preferring to work on location, in the tradition of painters since the French Impressionists of the 1800's, Mary continues to seek new opportunities to capture moments in time and place on canvas.
Since 1998 Mary has divided her time between Marshville, N.C., and Venice, Fla. Plein air painting tours have taken her to Spain, Guatemala, Argentina, Ireland and throughout the United States. She travels extensively, either with her husband, John Edmondson, or with other artists.
Mary has studied with contemporary masters Don Demers, Tim Theis, Ken Backhaus, Louise DeMore and John Seerey-Lester. She is a founding member of SPAA (Southern Plein Air Artists,) and a member of The Group of Eight, a Florida-based alliance that paints and shows together, intent on recording the scenery of a rapidly vanishing natural Florida. Memberships also include the Oil Painters of America, the American Impressionist Society, and the American Society of Marine Painters.
Mary's work is collected throughout the United States and Europe. Her largest project to date is the creation of artwork for the WaterStreet Hotel in Apalachicola, Florida. This luxurious waterfront property features Mary's original oil paintings and reproductions in the hotel lobby and each of the suites.
Every Mary Erickson print edition includes a special edition of 100 prints used exclusively to raise funds for conservation, preservation, and educational organizations throughout the USA.
Note: The artist's 39-acre residence in N.C. is slated to be left for future generations as a bird sanctuary and artists' retreat.
Artist statement
I approach a scene with the intention of not only recording the visual elements of it, but responding to the environment, and capturing that moment in time by being fully present. I believe the emotion of the landscape is distilled through the artist's experience, so it is often not a literal translation, but a filtered rendition of all five senses. I want the viewer to enjoy the peacefulness of a setting, or hear the excitement of crashing waves, smell the mud at low tide, or feel the cold wind through my art. I am searching for the truth in a scene, and when I find it and paint it, those senses and emotions all come through the brush and onto the canvas.
The love of the outdoors has always been a part of my life. I remember as a child fishing with my Mom on opening day in the spring in Connecticut, the river gliding by and the sounds of red-winged blackbirds. As I get older, I appreciate more than ever the beauty that surrounds us.
I have painted many vistas, old buildings and boat shacks that are no longer there. Once wild, open spaces are now housing developments, and expansive marsh areas are now golf courses. I believe there will come a day when the only places we will be allowed a glimpse of true nature will be in the parks, preserves and conservancies that we set aside today.
I record what I see, and am passionate about the scenes I can immortalize on canvas. That is my work's importance.