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For more information, contact Kathy Signorino, artist programs director, at kathy.signorino@oac.ohio.gov or 614-728-6140.
2024 Ohio Artist Registry Juried Exhibition
Mary Anne Donovan
Cincinnati OH 45224 United States Home Phone: (513) 502-2215 Birthday: July 14, 1954 Website: Mary Anne Donovan
Bio
Born : San Rafael, CA
Education: U. of Cincinnati.- DAAP, B.F.A. – 1976: Art Education & Painting
U. of Montana – College of Fine Arts, M.F.A. – 1979: Painting & Sculpture
AWARDS
2016: recipient of the Elementary Division Award= (Elementary Art Teacher of the year), State of Ohio by Ohio Art Education Association. 2007 Outstanding Art Teacher, Southwest Region, Ohio Art Education Association
Selected: 2015, Connecting Collections Seminar, The Met, MOMA and Guggenheim Museums, NYC
Learning Links Grant, 1999, Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Individua1Artist Grant, 1994-1995, & 1992-93 City of Cincinnati
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2021, CONCORD and DISCORD: Examining Ancient Stories, The Annex Gallery, Two concurrent Exhibits, Dec. 3, 2021. ThinkSquare 4, Invitational, COLAB. CazaSikes Gallery, Juried.
2020, ThinkSquare 3, Invitational. SOSART, Online, Art In The Time Of Corona, VACANT MUSEUM, Online: Heat & Relief, WREADING DIGITS,
2018 *Art Teachers As Artists, Ohio Arts Council, Juried, Riffe Gallery, Columbus
Invitational-PERTH AMBOY CENTER for the ARTS, N.J.
2014 & 2015 Awakenings, Solo Shows, Cincinnati
2009 McDowell Society, Invitational, Cincinnati Art Galleries
2005 “Journeys To Freedom”, Invitational, YWCA Women’s Art Gallery
1995 Solo Show, YWCA Women’s Art Galleries, Cincinnati
1994 Solo Show, McDonough Museum of Art, Youngstown State University.
Invitational, UPS International Headquarters, Louisville.
1993 Juried Regional, Ft. Wayne Museum of Art; Invitational, Ornament, White House Christmas Tree; Invitational, Missoula Museum of the Arts.; Solo Show -Rosewood Arts Centre, Kettering, Ohio; Invitational,
1992 Solo Show -Paintings, Koster Gallery -Kroger Co., Cincinnati
Juried National- “Inspirations: Contemporary Art and Religion”, Transylvania U., Lex.
1991 Ohio Invitational- “The Painterly Eye”, Ft. Hayes Metro Ed. Gallery, Columbus
“Showcase ’91” -Juried Regional, Louisville Visual Art Association (catalog)
- 1989 Invitational, University of Cincinnati Law Library
Governor’s Residence Exhibition, Columbus, curated by Ohio Arts Council (catalog) 1988 Group Show, Contemporary Arts Center, Adelaide, Australia (catalog)
1987 Solo Show, University of Cincinnati. Solo Show, Carnegie Arts Center
“Artists Architecture,” Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center, Portsmouth, OH
1986 “Her Nature,” Arts Consortium of Cincinnati, funded by the NEA (catalog)
“8 State Graphics,” Juried Show, J.B. Speed Museum, Louisville, KY (catalog)
“Showcase ’84,” Juried Regional Louisville Visual Art Association, Louisville, KY
1983 “Object ’83,” Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati (catalog)
Artist Statement
I am fascinated with art from every era and style, but always drawn back to ancient art and artifacts. At about seven, I made my first school trip to the Cincinnati Art Museum and was impressed and bewildered by a stone Cycladic figure in the entryway. It was so abstract and modern, yet it came from an artists’ hand over four thousand years ago. I was hooked and have visited that sculpture for many decades. I have had the opportunity only once to visit Greece, some time ago. Greece and Mediterranean cultures are still with me. These works speak about the way people understood and questioned their world. Although vastly different from our time, we are still influenced by the objects, the values, and the stories. We still seek beauty, ideals and order while we wrestle with devastating environmental events, plague, civil unrest and the need to feel connected.
Current work is comprised of several series of acrylic paintings on fired terracotta tablets and others on paper and experimental cast surfaces. Many are directly inspired by Ancient Greek art and mythology. A few selections are informed, in addition, by our recent worldwide civil/cultural and pandemic upheavals. Each tablet begins by preparing the clay: rolling, drawing, imprinting the surface or adding layers, building the relief texture and thickness. Some tablets are fragmented, cracked, affected by firing. The effect is a metaphor for aging and some partial destruction of ancient sculpture, mosaics, murals shards that have been saved. They are meditations on the mythology, the stories.
The paintings are layers of acrylic washes, overlapping shapes and images on the surfaces. The sizes of clay range from approximately 10″ x 10″ to 18″ x 18″. Each piece is a wall-mounted work with wooden structures fastened to the back. The work stands out a few inches from the display wall. Works on paper and stretched canvases range from 8″ x 10″ to 4′ x 6′.