Mary Farnum Burnley

I was raised in a town so small that it was called a village. It was the 1950’s. As long as I wasn’t doing anything illegal or too dangerous I was left to my own devices. The kids I grew up with weren’t ferrel but we were free range. I created my own art materials. Trash had a lot of potential, I just had to add screws, nails, tape, and some paint.

I’m still attracted to things that have potential. I’m not wedded to one media.

Art supplies are like chocolates, too many choice, not enough time.

In under grad school my area of concentration was fiber. My weavings became mixed media. They were 3 dimensional.

In Grad school my canvases became shaped, they were 3 Dimensional.

I still work in more than I media. I paint, collage, make jewelry and assemblages. But…

When Covid arrived and (scared the beejeebers out of all of us) just like the other 8 million people on the planet I hunted up something to do that didn’t require leaving the house. I went back to the basics. Paint.

I had painted from travel photos before and I had a huge stockpile of

prime candidate photos to choose from. It was so comfortable to slide back into painting, like going home during a scary time. Painting from these photos is not only rewarding in the way that all painting is, getting into the color, the light and dark, the shapes and the squishiness of paint but also in the memories that they awaken. Memories of seeing what we had been taught in art history classes. Memories of a wonderful time with friends. Memories of standing in the same proximity to a Van Gogh painting that he had stood. Memories that you created while traveling.

This show is made up of those memories.

I keep travel journals and some of what I include are things that can’t be photographed.The Train station in Zurich smells like the waffle cones that the ice cream stand makes. The wild flowers that I picked on the walk up to the birth home of Leonardo Da Vince. There are a few of those journals in the show, please free to peruse.

I already have an itch to start some experimental pieces with the paper towels I use to clean brushes.

Look for an opening coming to a gallery near you.

Inspiration is for amateurs, the rest of us just show up and get to work. Chuck Close