My idea of the garden I wanted to create around my new home when I bought it in 1989, was a place to immerse myself, not a garden to be admired while sitting on the deck. I had no particular plan that I imagined. Instead, I let the woodland speak to me.
This woodland was filled with poison ivy, invasive vines, thorns and many broken branches and limbs when it called to me. Together for over three decades, it and I have worked to create a woodland garden for meditation. This is the journey.
So I’m standing in my studio basking in the golden warmth of just having completed my one month Solo Exhibition which filled three rooms in an historic mansion at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. I’d worked for years creating new work for this prestigious opportunity. And now the show was over, the work still owned by me was taken down from the walls, packaged protectively and transported to my home studio. I looked around me surrounded by all this new artwork. I remembered the journey of discovery as so many new ideas had begun to seep into my new work over time.
As I stood there looking around me with contentment at these 40 new artworks, a cold wave of concern trickled into my mind. Where would I put all my art? I’m a minimalist by nature. I can’t stand clutter and now every surface in my two room studio is covered with piles of work. Canvases are stacked, leaning against the walls. All the walls in my studio and home are already full. A sense of claustrophobia was rapidly taking hold. The warm glow I’d been feeling turned a cold blue.
I needed to immediately take action.
Are bringing a Seasonal Focus to the concept for this in-person exhibition.
Enjoy the buoyant color and interpretation of the season by a variety of Fine Artists.
There is a sense of joy, excitement, and awe when nature or human relations are nurtured through caring and kindness to allow everything to flourish and grow. This theme reflects the focus of both of these historic organizations. The National Association of Women Artists, as the first women’s fine arts organization established in the US, has been helping women artists grow by empowering them to expand their vision. This theme of growth also serves as the guiding force behind the efforts of the Flushing Bank in support of the needs of its customers. There is a synergy in these efforts.
Petersen’s Garden. 24×36″ Embellished Giclée on Canvas
Overwintering My Summer Tropical Garden is now posted on my garden blog.
I wrote about how I converted my darkroom into a plant room with sinks, counters and LED lighting.. I show a four month sequence of photos from my plant room to the deck where the plants spend their summer vacation.
Read about how I overwinter my tropical garden on my Garden Blog Here.
At this year’s Big Picture Exhibition, six Signature Members of the National Association of Women Artists were juried into the show. This is an incredible achievement since 94 artists submitted 214 images, out of which 36 works were selected to be exhibited by Juror, Simon Levenson. This is yet one more indication of the quality of the NAWA Signature members.
NAWA Signature Members at the ALLI Big Picture Show l-r: Karen Kirshner, Eileen Shaloum, Mary Ahern, Susan Rostan, Pam Waldroup and Constance Sloggatt Wolf.
Click here for the HAC Website
Bio: Mary Ahern is a classically trained artist who works in both digital and traditional mediums. Her work, which is inspired by her garden, invokes spiritual and philosophical questions beyond the canvas.
Statement: As a passionate gardener, my art is as intricately entwined as the gardens surrounding my studio. The lessons learned from the garden permeate my work.
With boldness in color & scale my art summons, with seeming simplicity, the complex questions of existence and purpose. These flowers represent a microcosm of the universe in their families and community as well as their quest for survival, eventual senescence and rebirth.
With a duality of macro and micro vision, my flowers invite the viewer to see, larger than life, the intricacy and purpose of their existence. And in their boldness, I suggest a contemplation of their relevance and ours in the social order of our universe.
Phantasm – Coral Sunset Peony. Oil on Canvas GW. 36×36″. $5,000.
The Museum is pleased to present the Emerging Artists Instagram Takeover Series 2022! Follow along and discover new and exciting contemporary artists as they take over the Museum’s Instagram account @heckschermuseum throughout the year.
September 28, 2022
24 hour takeover of the Heckscher Museum of Art Instagram Channel.
Learn about the artwork and inspirations of the artist, Mary Ahern.
As a passionate gardener, Mary Ahern’s art is as intricately entwined as the gardens surrounding her studio. Cultivating and tending these gardens is the first stage of creating the art that grows in her studio. Flowers represent to a microcosm of the universe in their cycles of living and loving, families and relationships as well as their quest for survival, eventual senescence and rebirth. With a duality of external and internal vision, she invites the viewer to see, larger than life, the beauty and intricacy of flowers and in their boldness, she suggests contemplation of their relevance and ours in the social order of our universe.
Online Reception and Awards Thursday, July 21, 2022 5-6PM
Volunteers make NAWA the successful organization it has been for over 133 years.
The generous donation of time, energy, wisdom and resourcefulness has its own rewards in building friendships, learning new skills and paying it forward.
We recognize these heroes with their own exhibition of their artistic creations.
Established in 1889 by five women artists in a NYC studio, NAWA is the first women’s art organization in America. NAWA provides exhibition opportunities throughout the year and throughout the country for its members and collectors.
Passion – Red Dahlia was one of the Oil Paintings featured in the Allied Artists of America 2022 Oil and Acrylics category for their online exhibition May 15, 2022 – May 15, 2024.
This 30″x30″ oil on gallery-wrapped canvas represented a departure in color and drama for the artist, Mary Ahern whose work is frequently in the meditative, cooler and lighter color palette..
View this powerful art exhibition online on the Allied Artists of America Website here.
Well received accolades and comments have been repeatedly offered for this unique work of art.
Passion – Red Dahlia. Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas. 30×30″ $3,500.