Driven by a love of
winter’s monochromatic beauty with trees laid bare as shadows on the ground, I
excavated my past and built a gray history in paint. A fossil-like bas-relief
patterns the surface of these paintings; a bare-bone layer on which my visions
of cities, stone walls, dovecotes, beehives and humans bend and fold.
Prehistoric cave
drawings traced in dark winding lines untainted by steel edge or digital
concept blend into stone mountains or fragments left by wind, water, fire. Many
thanks to Bernard Rudofsky’s The Prodigious Builders. All life is a building contest
that can astonish and remain.
Spencer
received her BS from Nazareth College of Rochester, New York and her MFA from
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She taught at Sheridan
College of Applied Arts and Technology in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. She was a
proofer and then journeyman dot-etcher working with wet etch and dry photo
masking techniques for Boston area printing companies.
Spencer has received an
ART Grant, a Natick Cultural Council Grant, and a Massachusetts Artists
Fellowship in Drawing, the Blanche E. Coleman Award and Fellowships to Yaddo,
The Millay Colony for the Arts and the Virginia Center for the Creative
Arts. Her work has been shown
throughout New England, New York, the Mid-West, Cuba and South Africa. Her work
is in the collections of the Boston Athenaeum, the Decordova Museum, and the
Boston Public Library, corporate and private collections. Her piece, “Two Queens”, is in the
current Boston Public Library Show “Rethink Ink: Mixit Print Studio @25.
Joel Moskowitz/Mary Spencer Competition/Fragmentation, Fountain Street Fine Art,
Framingham, MA 2012
The Righting Moment, Cornelius Ayer Wood Gallery, Middlesex School, Concord, MA, 2002.
Brian Bishop/Mary Spencer: Drawings, Two-person Exhibition, Creative Arts Workshop,
New Haven, CT, 2001.
Nature Next Door, Shaw Park, Natick, MA, Natick Cultural Council Grant, funded by
Massachusetts Cultural Council, 1996.
The Bridge of Bees, Amos Eno Gallery, New York, NY, 1991.
Current Drawings, Little Center Gallery, Clark University, Worcester, MA, 1981.
Drawings, Hargreaves Gallery, Eastern Washington State College, Cheney, WA, 1969.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Rethink Ink: Mixit Print, Studio @ 25, Boston Public Library, Boston, MA, 2012.
Juror: Karen Shafts
Northeast Prize Show 2011, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
Juror: Theodore Stebbins
unscripted: Fountain Street Fine Arts first show & Grand Opening Celebration!
Fountain Street Fine Art, Framingham, MA, 2011, Juror: Katherine French
The Blanche Ames National Juried Art Exhibition, Ames Mansion at Borderland,
Sharon, MA 2010 Curator Leigh Tarentino
Members’Annual Juried Exhibition, Community of Artists, Danforth Museum of Art
Framingham, MA, 2009, 2010
2008 Members’Annual Juried Exhibition, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA, 2008
Curator: Carole Anne Meehan, curator I.C.A. Boston, MA
The Blanche Ames National Juried Art Exhibition, Ames Mansion at Borderland,
Sharon, MA 2007. Curator Nan Hass Feldman
New Art ‘06, Kingston Gallery, Boston, MA, 2006. Curator: Susan Greenberg
Oz Gallery’s Small Works Kick-Off Exhibition, Oz Gallery, Provincetown, MA, 2006.
Remembrances of Things Past: The Last 50 Years, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA 2004.
Curator: Todd McKie
Icons&Alters, New Art Center, Newton, MA, 1993-present
Una Communidad de Tallres de Grabado, Galeria Espacio Abierto, Havana, Cuba, 2003.
Works By Women from Collection of the Boston Public Library, Wiggins Gallery, Boston
Public Library, Boston, MA, 2003.
Proof in Print, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA, 2002.
Proof in Print, Boston Public Library, Boston, MA, 2001.
New Art Y2K, Kingston Gallery, Boston, MA, 2000.
International Collaborations-Artist Proof Studio and Friends, Gencor Gallery, RAU,
Johannesburg, South Africa, 2000.
Vital Signs: Drawing as Inquiry, Creative Arts Workshop, NewHaven, CT, 2000,
Juror, Robert Reed
Vision Toward Wellness 2000, The Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 2000.
Manifest: A Biennial Survey of Contemporary Art, The Copley Society of Boston, MA, 1999.
Monotype and Beyond, Attleboro Museum, Attleboro, MA, 1999.
Sixteenth Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA, 1998.
Engendered Species: The Cultural Context of Gender, Harbor Gallery, University of
Massachusetts, Boston, MA, 1998.
New Art New England, Library Arts Center, Newport, NH, 1997.
The Professional Print Workshops of Boston, Fuller Building Gallery, Boston University,
Boston, MA, 1997. Curator: Robin Rosenfeld, MOMA, New York, NY
The Blackstone Print Studio Artists Show, Heywood Gallery, Worcester, MA, 1997.
The Eighth Triennial, Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, MA, 1996,
Adjunct Curator: Wendy Kaplan
Focus on 51.5%, Fletcher/Priest Gallery, Worcester, MA, 1996.
Thirteenth Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA, 1995.
The Symbolic Field, The New Art Center, Newtonville, MA, 1995.
Monomania, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA, 1995.
Twelfth Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA, 1994.
Deus Fecundus Part Two, Fletcher/Priest Gallery, Worcester, MA, 1994.
Eleventh Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA, 1993.
One Thousand & Under, Fletcher/Priest Gallery, Worcester, MA, 1993.
Group Show, Arden Gallery, Boston, MA, 1992.
The 12th Annual Boston Drawing Show, Boston, MA, 1991,
Curator: Clifford Ackley.
The Symbolic Field, Wallace L. Anderson Gallery, Bridgewater State College,
Bridgewater, MA, 1991.
5th Annual Women in the Visual Arts, Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, CT, 1991,
Juror: Howardena Pindell.
T.R.A.S.H., Amos Eno Gallery, New York, NY, 1991.
Amos Eno Nexus Exchange Show, Philadelphia, PA, 1989.
Mythic Spaces, Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge, MA, 1989.
1987 Massachusetts Artists Fellowship Show, Artists Foundation Gallery, Boston, MA, 1988.
The Subject is Water, Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI, 1987,
Curator: Allison Cywin.
Fifth Brockton Triennial, Brockton Art Museum, Brockton, MA, 1987,
Curator: Peter J. Baldaia.
New England Regional Open Juried Exhibition, Bentley College, Waltham, MA, 1985.
Invitational, Boston Visual Artists Union Gallery, Boston, MA, 1984.
Ball State Thirtieth Annual Drawing and Small Sculpture Show, Ball State University Art Gallery,
Muncie, IN, 1984, Juror: Evan M. Maurer.
First Annual Prize Competition, Provincetown Art Association and Museum
Provincetown, MA, 1983, Juror of Awards: Alice Neel.
New Talent, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA 1982, Curator: Bonnie Crane.
Painting Invitational, Brockton Art Museum, Brockton, MA, 1975.
Fifteen Somerville Artists, Gallery Eleven, Cohen Arts Center, Tufts University
Medford, MA, 1981.
Current Paintings, Helen Shlien Gallery, Boston, MA, 1981.
Aspects of the Landscape, Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, Keene State College
Keene, NH, 1981, Curator: Thomas R. Barret.
Ball State Twenty-Sixth Annual Drawing and Small Sculpture Show, Ball State
University Art Gallery, Muncie, IN, 1980, Juror: Gerald Nordland.
Current Drawings, Boston Visual Artists Union Gallery, Boston, MA, 1979,
Juror: Marilyn J.S. Goodman.
The Marietta National, Grover M. Hermann Fine Arts Center, Marietta, OH, 1978.
Boston Visual Artists Union: A Selection, Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA, 1976.
AWARDS AND HONORS:
The Artist’s Valentine Grant, Groton, MA 2006
Artists’ Resource Trust Grant, a fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, 2001
Natick Cultural Council Grant, funded by Massachusetts Cultural Council, Natick, MA, 1996.
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, VA, Painting Fellow, 1989.
Massachusetts Artists Fellowship in Drawing, 1987.
Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY, Painting Fellow, 1986.
The Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY, Painting Fellow, 1986.
Blanche E. Coleman Award, 1982.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Bob Oppenheim, Jennifer Dowley, Joseph Thompson, Artist’s Resource Trust The First Ten
Years Grant Making to New England Artists and Institutions. 1996-2006, April, 2006
Beth Surdut, Mary Spencer, The Middlesex Beat, February, 2002.
Sinclair Hitchings, Dorothy Thompson, Proof in Print: A Community of Printmaking Studios.
Boston Public Library, 2001.
Cate McQuaid, Putting narrative within the frame, Boston Globe, July 27, 2000.
Alicia Faxon, Attleboro Museum/Attleboro, Monotype and Beyond,
Art New England, February/March 2000.
Temin, Christin, Engendered Species: Image of the dress, Boston Globe, February 4, 1998.
Craig, William, “Newart: New England”, Valley News, VT. September 18, 1997.
Temin, Christine, From Figurative to Fantastic, Woman’s Art That Keeps Symbols
Alive, Boston Globe, September 20, 1995.
Jennings, Kate F., Women in Arts Explore Drawing,
New Haven Register, Sunday, March 24, 1991.
Temin, Christine, Perspectives, Boston Globe, Thursday, June 23, 1988.
Donker, Peter P., Current Drawings, Worcester Telegram, Thursday, May 28, 1981.
GALLERIES:
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA, 1993 - 1999.
Cragin Fife Gallery, 1995 - 1998.
Fletcher/Priest Gallery, Worcester, MA, 1993 - 1998.
Art Works, Munich, Germany, 1990 - 1992.
Arden Gallery, 1992.
Amos Eno Gallery, NYC, 1989 - 1991.
Kathryn Markel Gallery, NYC, 1981 - 1982.
Helen Shlien Gallery, Boston, MA, 1979 - 1982.
COLLECTIONS:
Thurman J. Naylor, Private Collection, Brookline, MA
Boston Athenaeum
DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Sullivan & Cogliano, Waltham, MA
Meditech, Westwood, MA
Bank of Boston, Private Collection
Boston Public Library
Cathy England, Private Collection, Lexington, MA
Malcolm Gefter, Private Collection, Lincoln, MA
Stephen Paine, Wellington Management Co. Collection, Boston, MA
John and Helen Shlien
EDUCATION:
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, 1969, MFA, Painting.
Nazareth College of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 1966, BS, Art.
Penland School of Crafts, Penland, North Carolina, 1965, Summer Session:
Ceramics Scholarship.
Art Students League, NYC, 1964, Summer Session: Painting.
RELATED EXPERIENCE:
Funded by Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Guest Curator, The Symbolic Field, Wallace L. Anderson Gallery, Bridgewater
State College, Bridgewater, MA, 1991.
Designer, Dominic Argento’s Opera, Postcard from Morocco, Handel & Haydn
Society, Boston, MA, 1974
Teaching Master, Sheridan College of Applied Arts & Technology, Oakville,
Ontario, Canada, 1970-72.
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