Creating moods and communicating contemporary messages with color, texture and shape are the central elements of M. Dickens' paintings. Her work deals with translating images of time and nature enlisting an emotional response. In developing her own personal style, Mary selects a subject for her paintings primarily
to express a personal viewpoint between the balance of organic and geometric images in life and to present that images with a relationship highlighting realism, abstraction and impressionism. She paints varied subjects, from landscapes to still life, in a strong color harmony with a close attention to detail, texture, mood and light contrasts.
Born in Dallas, Texas, and starting with undergraduate and graduate degrees grounded in advertising, marketing, public relations and education, Mary continues to further her art studies with an advanced critique group established at the Glassell School of Art, affiliated with The Museum of Fine Arts - Houston, and under the professional direction of noted Houston artist Arthur Turner. She has also studied with several well known local, state, national and international artists such as Frank Webb, Carl Dalio, Gerald Brommer, Judi Betts, Linda Doll, Virginia Cobb, Polly Hammet, Milford Zornes and Stephen Quiller, and frequently attends available workshops and seminars to update and explore new art techniques, styles and theories.
Mary is a member of numerous state and national art societies and organizations, including The Watercolor Art Society (WAS-H), The Art League of Houston, Southwestern Watercolor Society, Texas Watercolor Society, American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, Society of Experimental Artists, and others. She has exhibited her paintings in several solo and group exhibitions throughout Texas and nationally since 1970. Her works can be found in many private and corporate collections.
"Art is a mirror to life and to the feelings revealed within every soul." ---- M. Dickens
ARTIST STATEMENT INFORMATION
I want my paintings to provide an insight to what we see personally inside and within ourselves. Many elements of my work now shift from a background of graphic advertising design into a focus on a "close-up" and personal approach to a theme or subject, and to build an emotional response to the painting. The cycle of life in nature, creation, and the inside spirit, are all concepts that I have found interesting and inspirational.
I work to create a journey into the possibilities of the human soul and spirit. That painting process could be as simplified as the peaceful blooming of a flower or as complex as the imagery of what is conceived as death. I want to lead others to see what is beyond the logic and to see what can be felt emotionally within.
My creative process often begins with nature and a response to the natural steps of life. Within each painting as I find a close connection with our own life cycle and in dealing with texture, repetition, pattern, color and shape, I seek to establish a message within the painting to bring a specific mood to surface. With each individual viewing my paintings, I want each to interpret and to feel their own cognitive and emotional message and to have a definite meaning known and revealed only to themselves.
With the layering of what may be intuitive thoughts from the subconscious, I look for an interpretation of the subject matter that I paint to provide further contemplation of all life around us and to accept the cycle of life in all phases, especially human.
Using sometimes the impact of a color or possibly detailed texture, I like to paint images juxtaposed with what is believed and with what is theory, what is reality and what is imagined, and especially with what is "felt" within all of us.
