| Artist Statement Color transforms the plan asserted by drawing. While geometry determines the field in these paintings, it does not control color, and it is not at war with color. Color takes on what Derrida called the "second navigation" of the work (The Truth in Painting, 1987). In each of these paintings, the geometric drawing initiates the painting, and color completes it by transforming it. I am a landscape painter, and I work out, in these paintings, the identity of landscapes, plants, and certain spaces. I grew up in the Pecos valley, in Southern New Mexico. The land outside the valleys is desert land, of subtle and nuanced color, its variation great, its values pale, its shadows intense and chromatic. The painted, wooden Santos bore saturated, matte-finished coats of paint, and the Immaculate Conception statue in the local church had a blue neon halo. The rocks my father used to build our house held grays worthy of Whistler. In the valleys, the wind more often than not tossed the leaves of the willows, apple trees, pecans, and lilacs about in the air so that all the complex greens were dulled and robbed of their glossy surfaces. The weather announced itself days ahead of time by minute changes in the sky. Gardens of hollyhocks, daisies, and old asparagus grew quickly and made dense patterns. That landscape taught me what to look for. Selected Recent Exhibitions Mary Vernon: Pientures, Maison des Amis de Chateauneuf, Chateauneuf-en- Auxois, France, 1998 New Painting and Sculpture, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, 1998 Dallas Area Art -- Small Works Exhibition, Lowell Collins Gallery, Houston, 1998 Mary Vernon, Brookhaven College, Dallas, 1997 Texas: Natural Wonders, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, 1997 Mary Vernon, Longview Art Museum, Longview, Texas, 1996 Contemporary American Art, Part I, Budapest and SzÈkesfehÈrv·r, Hungary, 1994-5 Flatbed Press Group Exhibition, Rachel Harris Gallery, Fort Worth, 1995 Binary Ground: Contemporary Landscape and Environment, curated by Kevin Curry, Hickory Street Annex, Dallas, 1994 City Room Garden, University of Houston, 1993, Texas A&M College of Architecture, 1993, University of Texas at Arlington, 1993-94, California College of Arts and Crafts, 1994, 20x20x20, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 1994 (Jurorsí Award) The Eleventh Annual National Juried Art Exhibition, Warehouse Living Arts Center, Corsicana, 1994 (Jurorís Award) The First, Paul Rogers Harris and Ray Hetzel, Dallas, 1993 Art in the Metroplex, Fort Worth, 1993 (Mr. & Mrs. John L. Clardy Sr. Award) Images of Nature, Martin-Rathburn Gallery, San Antonio, 1992 Works on Paper, Gerald Peters Gallery, Dallas, 1989 Book illustrations include: James Hillman's Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion Compact Disc Covers include: Crispell, Guy, and Hemingway, Cascades, du Maurier International Jazz Festival, Vancouver (View at Nice) Canvas Trio, 16 Moments, Music and Arts CD-999 (Quadrants) Guy, Dick, Raine-Reusch, Gudire, Nuscope Recordings CD 1003 (46 and 44, Mesa) Collections: Belo Foundation, Dallas U. S. Trust, Dallas Wadley Regional Medical Center, Texarkana, Texas United States Embassies in Bucharest, Rumania, and Riga, Latvia, through the Art in Embassies Program of the Department of State, Numerous private collections Employment: Associate Professor of Art, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas Education: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, M. A., 1967. Fellow, The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture Contributing Faculty, Pacifica Graduate Institute, Capenteria, California |
 Return to w3art Home Page |