Artist Presentation - Mary Morrison

Mary Morrison is an Artist based in the Scottish Borders,  currently based at the wasp Artist Studios in Selkirk.  She is originally from the Isle of Harris,  which is the largest Island in the Outer Hebrides.
All the work she produces is done using Oil paint, sometimes just oil, other times she uses mixed media, such as oil and ash, silver leaf, turpentine or  pencil as well as other mediums. She also uses maps, poems and quotes from books when creating a collage. She likes to work on a flat surface, preferably the floor so that she has more space to move her art. Morrison also describes her work as, not fully abstract but uses the landscape as the main part of her work.
Throughout her work, Morrison has been influenced by many people. One person was Agnes Martin,  an American abstract painter, who used meditative geometry throughout her work and provided a sense of gentle and quiet in each piece.
In 2007 she started cutting out section's of Gaelic song books and sticking them to her work. As music was also a large influence,  she also used sections of songs within some of her work as well.

      Cosmos- oil, mixed media on canvas
Within this artwork,  is a circular stave with dropped paint on it to represent music notes.
Morrison explained that she used alot of silver pigment throughout her work and that she wants her paintings to create a sense of mystery,  rather than being too obvious. Below are another two examples of her work influenced by music.

   Sea Music - Undertow oil, shellac,                pigment on canvas

                      Wave - oil on canvas

Another inspiration came from the work of John Schueler, an American Painter who painted large canvases of the quick transition in weather and used landscape within his work.
Mark Rothko, an American landscape Artist,  Shirazeh Houshiary, an Iranian Artist who provided a sense of geometry and spiritual within her work. And Anish Kapoor, a British Artist and Sculptor were also an inspiration to Morrison.
"Tide tables"  is a series of paintings which include measurements of the sea. Some paintings in this series include, "morning tide 2" and "high blue day on Scalpay 1"

morning tide 2- oil and mixed media on canvas.

High blue day on Scalpay 1 - oil, collage on paper
The image above includes poetry by a Scottish Poet, where she created the feeling of the Poem which was based on Scalpay, ( the place she grew up).
Throughout the next series of work, Morrison used sections of maps within her work."Out West" was based on a story that her sister had written and contains a map reference in the corner. The maps within her work are used to represent where she grew up so there is a personal connection within each piece.
When Morrison was asked to take part in an exhibition,  entitled Utopia, she was very pleased and created works entitled, "Utopia 1", "Utopia 2" and "Navigation - Utopia"
Another exhibition which she participated in was, "Fonn", this was held in Stornoway,  in the Scottish Highlands.  The work presented included "sea heart"

    Sea heart - oil, mixed media on paper

Another paintings presented at this time were,  "Shadow Maps". This was a series of paintings using darker colours such as greys and blacks rather than the vibrant blues which was mostly used.

Black shore- oil. Mixed media on board 

After her work being seen at Stornoway,  Morrison was invited to another exhibition,  "Bard Mhealboist Project"

At this stage, Morrison made work inspired by the Poem of Murdoch Macfarlane aswell as focusing on connecting with the landscape in a subtle and symbolic way.

A few other paintings which Morrison included in her presentation were 

Road - Croft Markings,  Scalpay,  oil on card

Utopia 1 - oil mixed media on board 

Compass - oil, mixed media on canvas

Luskentyre - oil, Ash, pigment on paper

Overall,  Morrison provided a very informative presentation.  I quite enjoyed her style of work as well. Maps, graphs and tide lines are not really an interest of mine, but I liked the fact that her work was relevant to her childhood and location where she grew up. I thought the use of oil was interesting having been mixed with a variety of media. It provided a light,  soft feeling, whereas my understanding of oil paint is that, it is usually quite dense and heavy. I definitely related to the use of vibrant colours and  really enjoyed the unique wavy patterns within each piece.  There is an exhibition being held on the 1St and 2nd of October next month, at the Wasp studios in Selkirk.  I am very keen to view these artworks in person. I would like to admire the work close up to gain a real sense of the harmonious tones and movement used throughout.