MARY SILVERWOOD- b. 1932

Artist’s Statement

After decades of painting the golden hills, redwoods, fir and pine of Sonoma County, California, I was ready to find some new motifs. A visit to New Mexico in the late 1980s offered everything I was looking for, and I returned every year, finally moving here with the new millennium. I find the high-desert landscape endlessly fascinating. The great configurations of mountains, arroyos, mesas, ravines and compacted vegetation against the azure sky are powerful, and I have drawn strength from them.
            Composition and color are the most important aspects of my paintings. I have hundreds of pastel sticks in my studio, and just the colors alone are enough to get me started on a painting.  I draw upon the shades and tones of nature, but I like to exaggerate them, dramatizing the emotional exuberance that the landscape conveys to me. Pastels are especially responsive—they allow me to work quickly on black paper, moving from darks to lights as I go.
            Although representational, my paintings are grounded in the abstract elements of art.  Values, textures, scale, line, positive and negative shapes, unity and variety are critical to the success of my paintings.  I particularly enjoy using shadows and highlights to create interesting patterns on both the two-dimensional surface of the painting, as well as in the illusion of spatial recession.
            I don’t consider myself a sentimental person, and yet to convey the landscape to others, I must inject into the colors and designs my feelings and my response to what I see. That takes the image beyond decoration or a mere “reproduction” of an object or landscape and turns it into an idea that flows from the brain and the heart.

EXHIBITIONS

COLLECTIONS
            State of New Mexico - Art in Public Places 2004 Acclaimed Artists’ Series
            Humana Hospital Suburban, Louisville, Kentucky
            Kaiser Hospitals, Santa Rosa
            Kaiser hospitals, San Rafael California
            FHP Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah
            F + W Publications, Inc., Cincinnati, OH
            Many Private Collections

PUBLICATIONS
           New Mexico Magazine, Paintings of the Land of            
           Enchantment, Featured Artist,August 2010
           New Mexico Business Weekly, Book of Business Lists 2010,Featured Artist,
           pg. 76
           The Pastel Journal, The Thrill of Color, Hevener, Anne, June 2008 pgs. 44-49
           The Pastel Journal 2009 Calendar cover
           Western Art Collector, Colors in Contrast, editor, June 2008, pgs 132-135
           SouthwestART, Best of the West, Southwest, July 2008 pg 8 and 22
           THE Magazine, Reviews: Contrast in Color, Smith, Erin, August 2008, pag 81
           Santa Fean, Artists and Exhibitions June/July 2008, pg. 81
           Landscapes of the American West, ART in Embassies Exhibition Catalog, U.S.
           Embassy, Belmopan, Belize, August 2007
           SouthwestArt, Best of the West: New Mexico,  July 2007, pg. 72
           The Santa Fean, Artists and Exhibitions, July 2007, pg. 59
           Santa Fe/North, Opening Exhibits, July 20, 2007, pg. S5
           Fresco Fine Art Publications, Landscapes of New Mexico, Campbell, Suzan &
           Deats, Suzanne,  2006, p. 250-253
           American Art Collector, Destination Santa Fe, NM,  June 2006, p.174
           The Santa Fean, Artists & Exhibitions, September 2005, p. 74
           The Santa Fean, Artists & Exhibitions October 2004
           Albuquerque Journal, Openings, October 2004
           New Mexico Magazine, Enchanting New Mexico Calendar,Featured Artist 2005
           New Mexico Magazine, Mary Silverwood’s Colorful Vision, Fauntleroy, Gussie
           September 2004, p 65-67
           SouthwestART, On the Waterfront, Mahler, Richard, October 2003  p. 114
           The New Mexican Pasatiempo Mixed Media, Weideman, Paul, August 2003
           The Sunday Albuquerque Journal, Editors, Possibilities, August 2003 p.1
           The Santa Fean, Editors, Openings & Exhibitions, August 2003
           Albuquerque Journal North  Veteran Artist Still as Vibrant as Her NM
           Landscapes, Indyke, Dottie, September 20, 2002
           Crosswinds Weekly, Septuagenarian Celebration, Kayne, Sharon, September
           19-26, 2002
           The Santa Fe New Mexican, Pasatiempo, Colors of the Southwest, Nott, Robert,
           September 20, 2002
           The Santa Fean, Editors, Openings & Exhibitions, September 2002
           The Santa Fean, Editors, Gallery Previews, August 2001
           The Pastel Journal, Mary Silverwood,Summer, Ruth, September/October
           2001(cover story)
           The Santa Fe New Mexican, Pasatiempo, A Bold Palette, Nott, Robert,
           August 10, 2001
           Albuquerque Journal North, Pastel Artist Can’t Picture Life without Road Trips,
           Sullivan, Craig, Oct. 20, 2000
           Valencia County News Bulletin, California Artist Trades Sea Waves for
           Desertscapes, Saltzstein, Kathrine, October 18- 19 2000
           Southwest Art, A Bold Palette, Gangelhoff, Bonnie, May 1999
           The Santa Fe New Mexican, Pasatiempo, Mary Silverwood Pastels were a
           Turning Point, Smith, Craig, Oct. 16, 1998
           The Santa Fe New Mexican, Pasatiempo, Taking Delight in the Most Vivid,
           Vibrant Colors, Fauntleroy, Gussie, Oct. 17,1997

EDUCATION
            University of Texas, Austin, TX - Bachelor of Fine Arts,
            Sonoma State University, California and University of Texas, Austin, TX - Post             Graduate