MaryAnn Cleary
a little about the artist |
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Philosophy~
To me, art is a way of expressing something in two dimensions that normally would be taken for granted by others in life. I love capturing the emotional essence of that moment in time. As I pursue my passion, I hope to capture those precious moments with the magic of a paintbrush or a stick of charcoal by utilizing light, contrast, value and color onto the paper or canvas. My ultimate goal is to take something ordinary and make it something magical and emotional to the viewer.
The ability to accomplish this task is never ending as I continue to seek improvement along my artistic journey. I strive to be the best that I can be with continued learning and experimenting with technique.
As I develop my passion as an artist, part of that journey includes sharing what knowledge that I have attained with others.
History~
MaryAnn was born and raised in Butte, Montana. There she grew to love the outdoors and the big skies of Montana. She attended college at Montana Tech and graduated with a degree in Chemistry, even though her passion was art. After graduation, Maryann married and raised two children, James and Julie. She continued to develop her art passion by painting whenever she could and attending workshops and classes. During this time, she also moved to many areas across the Rocky Mountain region - Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Arizona.
While living in Arizona, MaryAnn took several art classes at the Mesa Community College where she refined her drawing and painting skills from the excellent teachers on staff there, who believed that an artist must have basic drawing skills above all else. There she took many life drawing and portrait painting classes as well as other art classes.
In November of 2007, she returned to her home in Minnesota after spending two years on a work assignment in China. In Minnesota, she now has a small studio on the lower level of her log home that faces the Rum River or also known as the Spirit River, thus the name Spirit River Studio.
MaryAnn has won many awards during her career as an artist with the most recent one being 2008 for the Rush City Arts Festival with a First Place for one of her drawings. After returning from China, she decided to fulfill her life long dream of being an "artist". She continues to enjoy the outdoors with canoeing along the river in front of her home and hiking and camping whenever possible. She enjoys painting on site as a plein air painter or painting a still life set up in her studio from objects she has collected as well as working occasionally from photographs that she has personally taken.
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