Mary Giles Art

ABOUT “There’s no color in my work,” says Shlafer, “I either burn it, bleach it, or leave it alone.” Shlafer’s sculptures are designed with rudimentary material such as pine, oak, and spruce salvaged as driftwood on the Eastern end of Long Island. The artist started this body of work during the pandemic after he stumbled upon the charming discoveries while traveling on foot by the coastline. Always a wayfarer at heart, he drew inspiration from his youth of traveling on a motorcycle through Southern Africa and seeing indigenous art made from ordinary earth objects within local villages. “Wishbone 1” a 5 Foot sculpture, charred white oak with a tinted aqua resin base that reflects an omen of resilience and hardiness in light of the hardships of the past pandemic year, In another “Tune” a bleached spruce fence post narrowed into a tuning fork shape with a slate base. It welcomes a ceremonial vibe. “At the end of the day, that’s the energy we all crave,” says Shlafer, “who doesn’t respond to that?” “Mushroom #3” a charred white oak sculpture that is versatile in design so it can act as an end table or a stool. It is masterfully crafted and brings to mind the redwood stools...

ABOUT “There’s no color in my work,” says Shlafer, “I either burn it, bleach it, or leave it alone.” Shlafer’s sculptures are designed with rudimentary material such as pine, oak, and spruce salvaged as driftwood on the Eastern end of Long Island. The artist started this body of work during the pandemic after he stumbled upon the charming discoveries while traveling on foot by the coastline. Always a wayfarer at heart, he drew inspiration from his youth of traveling on a motorcycle through Southern Africa and seeing indigenous art made from ordinary earth objects within local villages. “Wishbone 1” a 5 Foot sculpture, charred white oak with a tinted aqua resin base that reflects an omen of resilience and hardiness in light of the hardships of the past pandemic year, In another “Tune” a bleached spruce fence post narrowed into a tuning fork shape with a slate base. It welcomes a ceremonial vibe. “At the end of the day, that’s the energy we all crave,” says Shlafer, “who doesn’t respond to that?” “Mushroom #3” a charred white oak sculpture that is versatile in design so it can act as an end table or a stool. It is masterfully crafted and brings to mind the redwood stools...

"El abrazo" Carolina Yrarrázaval, jute, linen, 40" x 14" x 7", 2017. This woven Contemporary textile sculpture was done by Chilean fiber artist, ...

Abstract minimalist three-dimensional wall sculpture in black and white "Snakish II", made by Hudson Valley artist, Donise English, in 2022 hand-stitched paper, beeswax (encaustic) and thread 36 x 10 x 3 inches hangs with a small thread notch on back extremely lightweight, weighs no more than 1.5 lbs. Excellent condition and ready to hang This abstract minimalist three-dimensional wall sculpture was made by Hudson Valley artist, Donise English, in 2022. The playful motif of hand-stitched paper, layered with black and white acrylic paint and coated with encaustic, is inspired by the artist's interest in architecture and blueprint drawings. The winding segments of white and black encaustic layered paper are assembled in a curving, snake-like formation, which are then hand-sewn by the artist. The lightweight wall sculpture hangs with a small thread notch, installed by the artist on the back of the piece. About the artist: Donise English is a Poughkeepsie-based artist who received her MFA from Bard College and is currently a Professor of Studio Art at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY.Donise English has received numerous awards including a 2018 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Painting; the Invitational Award for Outstanding Contemporary Talent from the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut; Purchase Prize from the “11th National Juried Exhibition” at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland; 1st Prize, “Women in the Visual Arts,” Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut; the Joseph A. Cain Memorial Purchase Award for Sculpture, Del Mar College, Texas, Honorable Mention; and others. Artist Statement: I am interested in drawing and collaging multiple layers of information that refer abstractly to maps, architectural drawings and blueprints or patterns and structures found in such things as roller coasters, power lines and fences. I use gouache and collaged paper in a series of layers that are a visual and ideological response to the previous layer to define my pictorial space. For each piece I create a set of rules to follow about the use of a limited palette, a grid format, opacity of paper and whether a piece may include curving lines or maintain a rectilinear structure. Resume: EDUCATION Master of Fine Arts in Painting Bard College 1986 Bachelor of Science in Art History State University College at New Paltz 1977 Additional Study: New York Studio School (Drawing Marathons) Columbia University, School of Architecture Women’s Studio Workshop TEACHING Professor of Studio Art, Department of Art and Art History, Marist College, Poughkeepsie,NY Coordinator, Interior Design Program, Florence, Italy campus 1992-present AWARDS Finalist, “Saatchi Showdown” 2010 Invitational Award for Outstanding Contemporary Talent, University of Bridgeport, CT 2000 Purchase Prize, “11th National Juried Exhibition” College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Baltimore 1999 First Prize, “Women in the Visual Arts ‘95” Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, CT 1995 Joseph A. Cain Memorial Purchase Award for Sculpture Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, TX 1994 Honorable Mention, “National Juried Exhibition” University of Bridgeport, CT 1993 Individual Artists Fellowship in Sculpture Dutchess Arts Fund 1992/93 Tallix, Morris, Singer Internship in Sculpture Tallix Foundry, Beacon, NY 1990/91 SELECTED JURIED/INVITATIONAL EXHIBITIONS 2016 “Let’s Stay in Touch”, Howard County Center for the Arts, Ellicott City, MD 2015 “Off the Grid”, Arts & Culture Program, Albany International Airport, Albany, NY “Gridspace”, KMOCA, Kingston, NY “Abstraction”, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY “Assuming Identity”, NY Institute of Technology, New York, NY 2013 “Modern Artists”, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY “Artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region”, The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY Stone Canoe/Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse, NY 2012 New York Institute of Technology, New York, NY “Contemporary Painters (Who Just Happen To Be Women)”, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY “Strange Glue: Collage at 100”, Cambridge School, Weston, MA “Dear Mother Nature”, Dorsky Museum, SUNY New Paltz, NY “Fresher Paint”, Rockland Center for the Arts, Nyack, NY Courthouse Gallery, Lake George Arts Project, Lake George, NY 2011 “Process+Content: Donise English”, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY “Donise English-Paintings”, Orange County Community College, Newburgh, NY “Gender Matters/Matters of Gender”, Freedman Gallery, Albright College, Reading, PA 2010 Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY “Encaustics: Wax and Image”, Westchester Community College White Plains, NY “Dots, Lines and Figures”, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY “Spring Awakening”, NY Institute of Technology, New York, NY “Clay City Dreams”, NY Institute of Technology, New York, NY “Texture, Pattern, Fragment”, Krause Gallery, Moses Brown School Providence, RI 2009 “Collage”, NY Institute of Technology, New York, NY “Working in Wax”, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA “Encaustic 2009”, College of New Rochelle, NY “Three Artists”, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY “Convergence: The Human Experience”, Howard County Center for the Arts, MD 2008 “Suckers and Biters: Love, Lollipops, and Exquisite Corpse” Chashama Gallery, New York, NY Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY 2007 “Patterns and Light”, Blue Hill Gallery, Blue Hill, ME “Suckers and Biters”, AG Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2006 “100 Artists, 100 Watercolors”, Jeannie Freilich Fine Art, New York, NY “On/Of Paper”, Kirkland Art Center, Clinton, NY “The Love Show”, Manchester Community College, Manchester, CT 2005 The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN “Small Tales”, Valdosta State University, Georgia National Juried Exhibition, Art Institute and Gallery Salisbury, MD, Juror: Stephen Haller “Greed, Envy, Jealousy, Fear”, TSL Warehouse, Hudson, NY 2004 “Women in the Middle: Borders, Barriers, Intersections” University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee “Girl Art Now”, Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI 3 Person Exhibition, Monterey Peninsula College, Monterey, CA “The Feminine Eye”, Bradley University, Peoria, IL “Women Painting Women”, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA “Thought Patterns”, Kent Place Gallery, Summit, NJ “Surface, Matter and Artifice”, Dutchess Community College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY 2003 “Beefcake/Cheesecake”,Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA,Juror: Jamie Wilson, Curator Halpert Bienniel, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC Juror: Jeff Fleming, Senior Curator, Des Moines Art Center “The Great White Oak”, Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY 2002 “Cat Calls”, Red Clay Arts, Brooklyn “Hudson Valley Regional”, SUNY New Paltz Juror: Sydney Jenkins, Director, Ramapo College Art Galleries 2001 One-Person Exhibition, Davis and Hall Gallery, Hudson, NY “Beyond the Surface”, Womanmade Gallery, Chicago One-Person Exhibition, Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY 2000 “Vision 2000...

ABOUT This Charred white oak mushroom acts as a stool or end table. “There’s no color in my work,” says Shlafer, “I either burn it, bleach it, or leave it alone.” Shlafer’s sculptures are designed with rudimentary material such as pine, oak, and spruce salvaged as driftwood on the Eastern end of Long Island. The artist started this body of work during the pandemic after he stumbled upon the charming discoveries while traveling on foot by the coastline. Always a wayfarer at heart, he drew inspiration from his youth of traveling on a motorcycle through Southern Africa and seeing indigenous art made from ordinary earth objects within local villages. “Wishbone 1” a 5 Foot sculpture, charred white oak with a tinted aqua resin base that reflects an omen of resilience and hardiness in light of the hardships of the past pandemic year, In another “Tune” a bleached spruce fence post narrowed into a tuning fork shape with a slate base. It welcomes a ceremonial vibe. “At the end of the day, that’s the energy we all crave,” says Shlafer, “who doesn’t respond to that?” “Mushroom #3” a charred white oak sculpture that is versatile in design so it can act as an end table or a stool. It is masterfully crafted and brings to mind the redwood...

This abstract geometric wall sculpture was done by fiber artist, Jin-Sook So (b. 1950, Korea). So’s work is informed by her time spent in Korea, Sweden and Japan. She uses transpar...

Agneta Hobin of Finland is best known for impressive works in which yellow mica has been woven into metal warp; the technique and materials are the artist...

Artist Commentary: The challenge in making this piece was building two woven forms, one inside of each other. It required all of my dexterity. The title, "Switchback," as in a swit...

An imposing fourteen-foot tower of curved abstract shapes is fabricated from stainless steel in this new sculpture from Viktor Mitic. He is known for his colourful abstract paintings and sculptures that were inspired by paint drippings on his studio floor. This intriguing patinated piece in rich dark tones signals a departure for Mitic. “My goal with these is to showcase the universal human connection we are all a part of, and if I can make a statement while doing so, even better.” Viktor Mitic Serbian-born Viktor Mitic earned a BFA from the University of Toronto in 1995 with studies in art history at Sheridan College. He has exhibited his post-Pop inspired...

Artist Commentary: Some of my reed sculptures include found objects. In "Tucking Under," I found part of a damaged hat form at a flea market. I salvaged what I could and used to cr...

Russet, Mary Merkel-Hess, paper, paper chord, 16" x 14" x 10", 2017. This colorful contemporary fiber-based sculpture was done by American textile artist, Mary Merkel-Hess (b. 1949). Her work is often reflective of the natural landscapes from her childhood in the Midwest. Merkel-Hess was born and raised in Iowa where the landscape is dominated by fields of grass and corn. Her sculptural vessels and wall pieces, which she refers to as “landscape reports” are inspired by these natural surroundings. Using paper, reeds and other materials, Merkel-Hess’ work conjures images of slender grasses and cultivated fields, shaped and tamed like Iowa’s landscape...

As an artist, I am a storyteller wielding visual art as my medium. My creative journey is fueled by a relentless thirst for knowledge acquired through both hands-on experience and ke...