The Long Islander Newspaper Article- February 15, 2007

Life & Style Section – Art
Mary’s Garden
By Ellen Thompson

So this is my garden, these are my flowers,” Mary Ahern said motioning towards a frame-covered wall in the gallery at the Harborfields Public library. “I grow these, I paint them, I draw them, I design with them.”

Whether Ahern is designing the color, texture and focal points of a garden or the navigational structure of a website, she still goes back to her roots as a classically trained fine artist.

Color, composition, rhythm and attention to detail are the bedrock of all her art.

In Ahern’s latest exhibit at the Harborfields Public Library, “Welcome to My Garden” running until February 27, (2007), the bedrock show through. Within each (digital) painting a colorful rhythm leads the viewer towards texture that is at most unreal.

“And then I produce them and market them, so other people can have them in their home,” Ahern added.

As a fine artist, Mary loves to awaken in others the awe of the world around us. “I seek to bring into sharp focus natural objects often overlooked or taken for granted in our everyday existence,” she explained.

With Ahern’s (digital) paintings that which is overlooked is certainly brought into focus, from a tiny grape Muscari to the petals of vibrant roses. The artist using digital graphic design, virtual painting and botanical accuracy creates digital paintings. The artist honed these techniques during her 25 years as a professional in the computer graphics industry and over 30 years as a passionate artist and gardener.

“I want to slow someone down for a moment in their life to take a close look at nature before they resume again their own activities,” she said. “Now more than ever our lives are moving at too fast a pace. We are too often losing focus and missing the details.”

Plucking the flower from her garden Ahern washes the mud from its petal and leaves to use in her compositions. Constructing the flower upon the screen the way it grew, but creating the work larger than life.

“How exciting is it that you can have something like this” Here look,” Ahern said with her nose nearly five inches from the frame. “The little bells they just curl out. Nobody would ever see that, they are this big” she continued pressing her index and thumb together, ” and its two inches from the ground. Its so exciting I mean, I just constantly get excited by it.”

Ahern works in her studio in Northport surrounded by her gardens. In these gardens she grows the source material for liftimes of art. It is where she pulls all her passions together to produce artwork meant to enliven the universe. Ahern’s prints are output to 100 percent archival canvas or fine art paper using pigmented inks. The combination of products has been tested by the firm of Wilhelm Imaging Research for archival permanence. Their published findings state that these products, when used in combination, will last a minimum of 90 years.