Mary Porter lives in domestic chaos with her husband, daughter, an optimistic red dachshund and a disgruntled yellow cat in Athens, Georgia. Mary earned her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Art from the University of Georgia, where she later taught painting and color theory classes. She has received a National Foundation for the Arts regional fellowship and two Georgia Council for the Arts grants. Her nationally exhibited watercolor, oil and acrylic paintings are represented in numerous public and private collections, including King and Spalding, Atlanta, GA; Department of Labor, Washington, DC; and in Athens: Clarke County Courthouse, the Classic Center, the University of Georgia, and Morris Communications Building. Porter’s work has appeared in media publications such as the Georgia Review, The New Art Examiner, Art Papers, Athens Magazine, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Of her current work, Mary says:

Every place and time has its own special magic. You just have to look just slightly beyond what is materially there. I’m attracted to places and situations that have a mood, a feeling, a sense of life at the present moment. Right now that means the streets, houses, and yards of the Boulevard area, where I’ve had the pleasure of living for almost 30 years….places that are familiar and mysterious at the same time, hinting at a story but never revealing the details.

I'm not trying to realistically reproduce a specific environment...or illustrate a particular individuals experience: it’s more about a collective emotional experience. I'd like the paintings to be places where people feel they have been ---if not physically, then emotionally----or places that they would like to be. And hopefully capture a bit of the magic that is our time here right now.

website:   maryporterpaintings.com

©2011 The Studio Group