Mary F. Coats

Joined Artfinder: Dec. 2016

Artworks for sale: 9

United States

About Mary F. Coats

 
 
  • Biography

    The dreamlike quality of Italo Calvino’s novel, Invisible Cities, has been haunting my most recent work. Repetition has become an undeniable focus, as I continuously pull from a catalogue of forms I have assembled. Each work can be considered as a portrayal of a unique, but simultaneously familiar, space. These are places I have been or imagined or dreamed of, spaces I have inhabited or imagined or dreamed of. Like the cities described in Calvino’s novel, it becomes difficult to tell if these are spaces one can truly enter or inhabit. Perhaps they are imagined, perhaps they are real but one is unable or unwilling to enter. Calvino writes that “Signs form a language, but not the one you think you know.”[1] 

    Although each painting can be considered individually, I am interested in the constant repetition, echoing and color play that is occurring in the work.  I feel that through these repeated forms a larger, more complex environment is coming to exist, only reachable through recollection.  In an attempt to recreate the true essence of a time or place, I am continuously questioning the way I remember things, in hopes to more clearly discern what is true.

    [1] Calvino, Italo. Invisible Cities. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1974, 48.

  • Links
  • Education

    2010 - 2013

    University of Iowa

    2004 - 2008

    University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • Awards

    2014

    Vermont Studio Center Artist Grant

    Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

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    2012

    Mildred Pelzer Lynch Fellowship in Painting 2012-2013

    University of Iowa

    2010

    Quarter-time Teaching Assistantship 2010-2013

    University of Iowa

    2010

    Graduate Teaching Scholarship 2010-2013

    University of Iowa

    2008

    Wisconsin Union Directorate Art Committee Choice Award

    University of Wisconsin-Madison

    2007

    Santos Zingale Wisconsin Art Department Scholarship

    University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Upcoming Events

    There are no upcoming events

    Show previous events Hide previous events

    Previous events

    Event: Funkytown

    Dates: 17 Nov 2016 - 8 Jan 2017

    Venue: Urbano Cellars Art Space, Berkeley, California

    Group exhibition

    Event: Retrieval of the Beautiful

    Dates: 21 Jun 2016 - 16 Jul 2016

    Venue: The Painting Center, 547 West 27th Street, Suite 500, New York, NY 10001, USA

    Group exhibition

    Event: Light Play

    Dates: 6 Jun 2016 - 9 Jul 2016

    Venue: Blue Line Arts Gallery, Roseville, Ca.

    Group exhibition

    Event: Grinnell Studio Faculty Exhibition

    Dates: 8 Apr 2016 - 19 Jun 2016

    Venue: Grinnell College, Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell, Iowa

    Group exhibition

    Event: Rock Steady

    Dates: 21 Aug 2015 - 4 Sep 2015

    Venue: Grinnell College, Edith Smith Gallery, Grinnell, Iowa

    Solo exhibition

Links


Education

2010 - 2013

University of Iowa

2004 - 2008

University of Wisconsin-Madison


Awards

2014

Vermont Studio Center Artist Grant

Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

Show more awards Hide

2012

Mildred Pelzer Lynch Fellowship in Painting 2012-2013

University of Iowa

2010

Quarter-time Teaching Assistantship 2010-2013

University of Iowa

2010

Graduate Teaching Scholarship 2010-2013

University of Iowa

2008

Wisconsin Union Directorate Art Committee Choice Award

University of Wisconsin-Madison

2007

Santos Zingale Wisconsin Art Department Scholarship

University of Wisconsin-Madison

There are no upcoming events

Show previous events Hide previous events

Previous events

Event: Funkytown

Dates: 17 Nov 2016 - 8 Jan 2017

Venue: Urbano Cellars Art Space, Berkeley, California

Group exhibition

Event: Retrieval of the Beautiful

Dates: 21 Jun 2016 - 16 Jul 2016

Venue: The Painting Center, 547 West 27th Street, Suite 500, New York, NY 10001, USA

Group exhibition

Event: Light Play

Dates: 6 Jun 2016 - 9 Jul 2016

Venue: Blue Line Arts Gallery, Roseville, Ca.

Group exhibition

Event: Grinnell Studio Faculty Exhibition

Dates: 8 Apr 2016 - 19 Jun 2016

Venue: Grinnell College, Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell, Iowa

Group exhibition

Event: Rock Steady

Dates: 21 Aug 2015 - 4 Sep 2015

Venue: Grinnell College, Edith Smith Gallery, Grinnell, Iowa

Solo exhibition


 

Biography

The dreamlike quality of Italo Calvino’s novel, Invisible Cities, has been haunting my most recent work. Repetition has become an undeniable focus, as I continuously pull from a catalogue of forms I have assembled. Each work can be considered as a portrayal of a unique, but simultaneously familiar, space. These are places I have been or imagined or dreamed of, spaces I have inhabited or imagined or dreamed of. Like the cities described in Calvino’s novel, it becomes difficult to tell if these are spaces one can truly enter or inhabit. Perhaps they are imagined, perhaps they are real but one is unable or unwilling to enter. Calvino writes that “Signs form a language, but not the one you think you know.”[1] 

Although each painting can be considered individually, I am interested in the constant repetition, echoing and color play that is occurring in the work.  I feel that through these repeated forms a larger, more complex environment is coming to exist, only reachable through recollection.  In an attempt to recreate the true essence of a time or place, I am continuously questioning the way I remember things, in hopes to more clearly discern what is true.

[1] Calvino, Italo. Invisible Cities. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1974, 48.