ARTIST STATEMENT 2018

MARY SHACKMAN

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MY FIRST MEMORIES OF MAKING ART WAS A PATTERN I HAD MADE WITH A COMPASS AND COLOURING IT IN WITH COLOURED PENCILS AGE 8 NOW 64 YEARS LATER STILL DOING PATTERNS WHICH UNDERLY MY PRACTICE.

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 WHEN ARTWORK IS FINISHED I FEEL A SENSE OF COMPLETION  AND  ITS ON IT  OWN.

MY INFLUENCE FROM ART SCHOOL WAS FAUVISM (INTENSE COLOUR A VEHICLE FOR DESCRIBING LIGHT/SPACE AND FORM).

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MY TEXTILE DESIGNING INFLUENCES

 ART NOUVEAU/PSYCHEDELIC/POP. ALL CONJURED UP MY  IDEAS EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NEW THE PAST COLOURED THEM.

 

MY WORK IS DRAWN ALSO FROM THE FABONACCI SPRIALS AND FRACTAL GEOMETRY. THE COMPOSITIONAL STRUCTURES ARE REPETITIVE PATTERNS DRAWN FROM NATURE SUCH AS GRIDS GEOMETRIC PATTERNS AND STRIPES.

 

I DO NOT WANT TO COMPLICATE MY WORK BY THEORISM TO MUCH I WANT THE ARTWORK TO SPEAK FOR ITSELF.

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THE OTHER SIDE OF MY PRACTICE ARE THE BEACH PAINTINGS USING PIXALATION TO SHOW POOLS AND BEACHES OF SYDNEY FROM MY USE AND LOVE OF THEM THROUGHOUT MY LIFE. THE PATTERNS ARE MUCH LOOSER BUT STILL EVIDENT.

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 I HAVE FOUND I CAN COMMUNICATE MY PARTICULAR STATE OF MIND REGARDING THE WORLD AND MY LIFE THROUGH COLOUR/GEOMETRY/AND GEOMETRICS.

 

I TRY TO APPLY COLOURS LIKE WORDS THAT SHAPE POEMS, LIKE NOTES THAT SHAPE MUSIC. JOAN MIRO.

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CV

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1960 NATION ART SCHOOL DARLINGHUST

1965 TAUGHT ART HIGH SCHOOL

1967 TEXTILE DESIGHING UNTIL 1990

1992 FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION

18 SOLO EXHIBITIONS UNTIL 2016