ARTIST STATEMENT

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This series of landscapes incorporates a tension between the strength and beauty of nature and the presence of detrimental occurrences that threaten them because of a changing climate. In Dried Lake, a dry, hot, almost crystallized red foreground leads the viewer to a cracked dried lake with an empty boat, which symbolizes the uninhabitable environment; a lone figure in Earth Prayer seems to mourn on a large mound, which symbolizes burial or removal. The foreground is lush and flowered, while the background is gray and barren of life; the red sky in Red Fog hovers eerily above the lush, bucolic foreground and seems toxic in comparison; orange lilies in Summer Smoke invite the viewer in, but on further observation, the viewer is made aware of small fires and smoke hovering in the sky. My hope is that the viewer will enjoy these paintings and see the beauty and strength of Nature, but be made aware of the threats that confront us and nature in this changing climate.

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ARTIST BIO

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Mary Newton is a painter based in Louisville, KY. Recent group exhibitions include H20 at The Painting Center in New York City and 21C Museum Hotel in Louisville, KY. In 2024, she had a one-person exhibition at Kleinhelter Gallery in New Albany, IN, and in 2022 exhibited at the Sunny Art Center in London, UK as a finalist for the Sunny Art Prize. She is the recipient of grants from the Caroline Lowndes Foundation, Great Meadows Foundation, Kentucky Foundation for Women, and the Kentucky Arts Council. In 2023 she was awarded, through the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, a fellowship residency in Salzburg, Austria at the Kunterhaus as part of a cultural exchange with the U.S. Her work is in numerous private and public collections including Wright State University in Dayton, OH, Churchill Downs, Kentucky One Health, Brown Foremen, Kosair Children’s Hospital, and Norton Hospital in Louisville.