Mary McCleary
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Mary McCleary (born 1951) is a contemporary American artist currently living and working in
Nacogdoches Nacogdoches ( ) is a small city in East Texas and the county seat of Nacogdoches County, Texas, United States. The 2020 U.S. census recorded the city's population at 32,147. Nacogdoches is a sister city of the smaller, similarly named Natchitoch ...
Texas, where she is Stephen F. Austin State University Regent's Professor of Art Emeritus. She is primarily known for her "multi-layered, extremely complex, and detailed" figurative 3-D
collages Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an Assemblage (art), assemblage of different forms, thus creat ...


Background

Born in Houston, she received her B.F.A. in printmaking and drawing from
Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...
and her M.F.A. in graphics from the
University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...
. From 1975 to 2005, she taught art at Stephen F. Austin State University.


Style and influences

McCleary began making collages in the 1970s. In a 2009 interview in ''
The Houston Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' she states: "I was a print maker all through school, and when I got out of college and started teaching, my work shifted, because for the first time I wasn't accountable to a teacher. Somehow the work evolved over a number of years, and I started gluing three-dimensional items onto my collages — cut-paper things that almost look like advent calendars." Over the years, as her work became more figurative, the collages became "more complex and more detailed — the idea being to draw the viewer in, to give the viewer something to look at." McCleary has used a variety of materials, including paint, glitter, foil, wire, mirrors, nails, glass, and other objects on heavy paper, to create her collages. The artist has noted the influence of her Christian faith in her work, and she has expressed a particular interest in exploring the struggle between good and evil. She has stated that "much in the way a painter builds layer upon layer of paint on canvas," the resulting images "convey an intensity which the viewer finds compelling... Drawing my subject matter from history and literature, I like the irony of using materials that are often trivial, foolish, and temporal to express ideas of what is significant, timeless, and transcendent." While McCleary's work often makes explicit references to overarching historical or philosophical concepts, it is more often composed of a variety of elements and references—a sort of mosaic of interrelated inquiries and epiphanies McCleary draws from her reading. In this way, the subtext of the work ties deeply in with the form it takes; for while the collages are formed from trivial objects, they nevertheless are, like the subjects they often evoke, a synthesis (in this case, of various forms, shapes, and textures).


Collections and exhibitions

McCleary's artworks are included in numerous public collections, including those of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the
El Paso Museum of Art Founded in 1959, The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) is located in downtown El Paso, Texas. First accredited in 1972, it is the only accredited art museum within a 250-mile radius and serves approximately 100,000 visitors per year. A new building ...
, and the
San Antonio Museum of Art The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) is an art museum in Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA. The museum spans 5,000 years of global culture. The museum is housed in the historic former Lone Star Brewery (1886) on the Museum Reach of the San Antonio ...
. In an effort to strengthen its holdings of contemporary art, the
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...
in Bentonville, Arkansas, acquired McCleary's ''The Falcon Cannot Hear the Falconer'' (2008) for an undisclosed sum. A haunting work depicting domestic disaster, its "complex assemblage...represents a home engulfed in flames. A young man in the foreground, his face patterned with color, stares outward, confronting the viewer as a witness to the tragedy." McCleary has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries in two dozen states, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is a not-for-profit institution in the Museum District, Houston, Texas, founded in 1948, dedicated to presenting contemporary art to the public. As a non-collecting museum, it strives to provide a forum for visual ...
, and the
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art. In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...
in Kansas City, and internationally in Russia and Mexico.


Awards

She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Mid-American Arts Alliance/
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
Fellowship, recognition from the Texas Commission on the Arts "for her contribution and dedication to the arts in Texas," and Art League Houston's 'Texas Artist of the Year' for 2011.Texas Artist of the Year
''www.artleaguehouston.org'' September 09, 2011


References


External links


Mary McCleary biography, awards & selected exhibitionsMary McCleary official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCleary, Mary 1951 births American contemporary artists Stephen F. Austin State University faculty American art historians Artists from Texas Living people National Endowment for the Arts Fellows American women artists Women art historians American women historians