Mary Carlson
Kevin Moore and Mary Carlson, a conversation, September 2020
A Twilight Talk on CUNY TV.
BIO
Mary Carlson has been making her art for close to 50 years. Using a wide range of mediums, materials and subject matter: making everything from hand-sewn American flags, a giant crocheted pink octopus, carved life-sized trees to 'altered' furniture.
Her current medium of choice is hand-built porcelain, with glazes formulated and fired in her Walton, New York studio. She has created a ‘saints and demons’ series based on depictions of heaven and hell found in Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and paintings. Described by The New York Times as ‘wonderfully soulful’ and ‘as spiritually infectious as they are appealing,’ she finds this imagery inspiring, meaningful, and still relevant in our times.
A Guggenheim, Tiffany, NEA, and NYFA award-recipient, Mary's work was first shown in New York at Leo Castelli Gallery in 1985. She has also shown in the 1995 Venice Biennale, Kunsthalle Wein; Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; the New Museum; the Aldrich Museum and numerous galleries in New York and around the country. Most recently she was awarded a fellowship at Civitella Ranieri, Italy for September 2021.