Maria’s Cellular Expressions exhibition of 160 drawings opened on February 7th. A very interested crowd of people attended the reception including local artist and legend Tom Forestall and his son and artist Frank Forestall. Snapd Dartmouth photographer Amelia Cruddas whose photographs will be published in the next Snapd Issue attended as well.
With the help of my volunteers Kristina, Hannah, Angele, Christine and my husband Scott we managed to install this exhibition of 160 drawings in only a day and a half at the Craig Gallery in Dartmouth, NS.
Thank you to the Craig Gallery staff, Lee Cripps and the Exhibition selection committee for giving me this opportunity. It’s been a long time in the works and I am so happy that the show turned out far beyond my own expectations. Thank you to all my helpers and supporters. The exhibition will be up until March 3rd, 2019.
Please join Maria at the Craig Gallery in Dartmouth, NS, Canada for her solo exhibition “Cellular Expressions” which opens on Thursday, February 7th, 5pm – 7pm. Followed by an artist talk on Saturday, February 9th, 2pm. In case of snow the artist talk will be moved to February 16th at 2pm. The exhibition will be up until March 3rd. Around 150 drawings will be exhibited.
Maria’s print works under the project title “Cells, Souls and Personalities” will be on exhibition at the Lee Matasi Gallery at the Ottawa School of Art from March 8th – March 22nd. If you live in the area please stop in and visit! Works will be for sale in the Gallery as well as at the OSA Art Boutique. This body of work includes relief prints ranging from 3×3 inches to 3×3 feet.
10 pieces from Maria’s “Internal Dialogues” body of work are on display at the Visual Arts Nova Scotia Corridor Gallery November 2 – December 15, 2016.
About the Exhibition:
What is a person?
Are our bodies filled with a soul?
Is there a separation between body and soul or is it one and the same?
These are questions that have influenced my art-making in the last 4 years. I visualize what fills our body as a vessel, and interpret its many layers, physical and metaphysical, in my artwork. The printmaking process requires a lot of physicality from me. Having allergies and asthma creates another set of obstacles for me as an artist, but I love the physical challenge that printmaking brings. The more arduous, intricate, and repetitive a process is, the more I become engaged with it. Painting on my prints provides the perfect counterbalance to this method, as it takes hours of calm and peaceful work rather than physical exertion.
This quest for visualizing the lacery of people around me started with first trying to understand inner workings of my body. I imagine hundreds of layers of patterns and textures that are intricate, dense and beautiful. Each portrait of a woman is someone I have connected with over the years. I am always drawn to strong, determined, independent women, each with their own story and personality. Their portraits are what I see as an outside observer, and how these women present themselves to the world. The layers of lacery are a representation of what is below the surface and what the viewer cannot readily see. This combination is what makes each woman who she is and is the essence of her being.
About the Gallery:
Located inside the Visual Arts Nova Scotia office at the Halifax Seaport since 2000, the Corridor Gallery is complimented by a historical legacy of Nova Scotia culture, simple yet modern architectural elements and an array of current cultural activity in the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia office. The Corridor Gallery is located at 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia and is open Monday through Friday, 9:30am – 5pm.
