Posts Tagged ‘acrylics’

Mary Sanders is a Charleston-area painter who is best known for her portraits of people.  Her unique portraits include drips, smudges, and under-painting, giving them a sort of extemporaneous, abstract-art look – although they are at the same time detailed and full of personality.

Early Life
Sanders was born in Princeton, WV, in October of 1949.  She first witnessed the “power of art,” as she calls it, when she broke her mother’s 78 RPM recording of an opera and her mother cried.  While she received encouragement from her family to pursue her artistic talent, she decided to explore other talents because her sister was also interested in art and showed a lot

 of talent.  “It was my sister who was the artist,” explains Sanders.  “No two children could be the same thing.”

Her first formal training was much later, at Oregon State University in the early 1970’s.  She was an art major, with emphasis on pottery.  She enjoyed the tactile experience, but slowly moved toward drawing and painting later in life.  She is mostly self-taught.

Inspiration/ Admiration
Sanders is mostly inspired by art that she sees around her.  She currently works in her Charleston studio, which is in a basement equipped with “extremely bright lights.”  She is currently setting up a second studio, in Bath County, above a garage, with a beautiful view of two fields and a river. 

Sanders says her biggest challenge is finding time to work on her art.  As a “morning person,” she enjoys working in her studio first thing every day, but is usually driving to work at that time.   Instead, she tries to spend as much time as possible every weekend working in her studio when there are no distractions.  Her favorite piece of her own work is a self-portrait in watercolor.

Current/ Future Work
Sanders is currently between projects, and is very busy with her work as a Charleston lawyer.  She has exhibited her work at the Bath County Art Show for years.  She also juried into the 280 exhibit at the Huntington Museum in 2007, and the WV Artist Guild show in 2006.  She has participated in shows titled “The Little Known,” and “Artistic Stimulus” in Charleston, WV.