Mary Blue’s work raises awareness of human-induced issues and natural processes connected to ecosystems and the environment. Her paintings reflect upon the impermanence of life and the forces of nature. Aiming to cherish the natural world, ensuring its special qualities are both valued and looked after, she immerses herself by beginning paintings onsite, and then finishes them in her studio.
Moved by the British coastal tidelands, I encourage viewers to see and feel themselves part of the landscape.
Mary Blue engages with memory of our shared coastal topography, ancient geology, conquest, ownership and human intervention. Her reference points include sketches, tide tables, scientific research, and poetry, to engage an audience with an emotional resonance. Her work challenges traditional concepts of perspective, aiming to envelope the viewer completely.
In 2009, I attended a symposium on the Ethics of Water where the research, political drivers, and economic tendrils of the content changed how I create art. I like to embrace multiple perspectives by lengthening and bending perceptual space. My artistic study questions traditional techniques used to convey space. My work engages with a profound sense of responsibility for our planet we all share, high- lighting the significance sea-level rise. Going forward, I would like to enhance my painted images through digital projection, and adding in an element of interactive public engagement – something I am beginning to experiment with.
More about Mary Blue
Mary Blue received her Master of Fine Art in 1989 from University of Pennsylvania from the renowned landscape painter Neil Welliver (1929-2005) where she studied the colour theory of Joseph Albers. She believes in landscape painting as a pivot point in the British art canon. She is thinking of Constable and Turner mostly, but she is also bringing her knowledge of American painters into the mix: Fairfield Porter, Milton Avery, and Richard Diebenkorn. She is also influenced by the work of Norman Ackroyd, David Tress, and Mitchell Johnson. Mary Blue has exhibited widely in East Anglia, including at GroundWork Gallery’s Deep Water in 2022, and also around the UK.
