About Me
Artist Statement
Some information about me and my work
Marie Wood studied and trained in Birmingham, and then worked in art education in both Birmingham and Cumbria for nearly 20 years. She has been working as a professional artist for 24 years and has been living in Mayo for 10 years, having moved from the UK. Marie has exhibited widely in public and commercial galleries throughout Scotland, England and Ireland. Her first solo exhibition was in a National Gallery of Scotland, Duff House; and twice she has exhibited works at The Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. Marie has works in private collections in Ireland, UK, America, Italy and France.
My work is a distillation of the spirit of the Mayo landscape, revealing a sense of the extraordinary, looking past the obvious and capturing the fleeting magical light.
The land/seascape images are my most recent works. They are all mixed media collage/painting. They reflect where I am to date in my quest to convey a sense of the place that is my home. Energy and passion are a constant presence throughout the works.
I delight in the pleasure of seeing; being totally in tune with my surroundings, and somehow trying to find the right alchemy between the medium, the subject and the moment.
My camera is my sketch book, and the photographs I take are often the starting point for working, influencing composition and colour of each new piece. I am not interested in portraying a likeness but want to create something which represents the total experience and excitement of that place, at that time.
I use prepared experimental painted and printed papers that create an unusual palette of textures and colours, these materials throw up unexpected pathways into the work. When applied, they take on a life of their own, creating a new order, an equivalence, which invariably develops its own dynamic aesthetic beyond the initial photograph, often more abstract, but beating to the time of the initial idea.
I continue to develop and experiment with ideas; each new work is almost like re-learning everything from scratch!
The sculptures could be described as "transfigurations" of objects lost then found. The works evolve either through initial aesthetic responses to the dynamics of individual pieces, which are then assembled and take on a new life and meaning.
Sometimes works are ideas based, rooted in memory and experiences of an Irish Catholic childhood, resulting in sculptures which are 21st Century Icons or Devotionals. These confront expectations and challenge the viewer, taking them beyond the familiar, sometimes witty but with gravitas! Sometimes they try to evoke an essence of place.
Colour is an essential part of my sculptures, using waxes and pure pigment, as well as pre-prepared papers, the works become three dimensional paintings.
Quotations courtesy of Benita Stoney
From her opening remarks at
“Capturing the Light” Custom House Studios, Westport 2019
• Jewel like, unsentimental, vital, accomplished and confident it sings with excitement.
• The tenacity and consistency of her engagement with “the terrible beauty of place”.
• Fresh eye on the visual riches of our home, its drama and its moods. Brooding, sulky, dark net shot through with silver light, and always spellbinding.
• The transmutation of experience into art, she doesn’t just tell you what the landscape looks like, but also what it feels like to be in it.
• Appears effortless, because she has fused the medium and the subject. Building up the images allowing the happenstance of the process to become part of the piece.
• The end result hovers between abstraction and representation; and this sets up a tension and a resonance enthused by her passion and vitality.
My work is a distillation of the spirit of the Mayo landscape, revealing a sense of the extraordinary, looking past the obvious and capturing the fleeting magical light.
The land/seascape images are my most recent works. They are all mixed media collage/painting. They reflect where I am to date in my quest to convey a sense of the place that is my home. Energy and passion are a constant presence throughout the works.
I delight in the pleasure of seeing; being totally in tune with my surroundings, and somehow trying to find the right alchemy between the medium, the subject and the moment.
My camera is my sketch book, and the photographs I take are often the starting point for working, influencing composition and colour of each new piece. I am not interested in portraying a likeness but want to create something which represents the total experience and excitement of that place, at that time.
I use prepared experimental painted and printed papers that create an unusual palette of textures and colours, these materials throw up unexpected pathways into the work. When applied, they take on a life of their own, creating a new order, an equivalence, which invariably develops its own dynamic aesthetic beyond the initial photograph, often more abstract, but beating to the time of the initial idea.
I continue to develop and experiment with ideas; each new work is almost like re-learning everything from scratch!
The sculptures could be described as "transfigurations" of objects lost then found. The works evolve either through initial aesthetic responses to the dynamics of individual pieces, which are then assembled and take on a new life and meaning.
Sometimes works are ideas based, rooted in memory and experiences of an Irish Catholic childhood, resulting in sculptures which are 21st Century Icons or Devotionals. These confront expectations and challenge the viewer, taking them beyond the familiar, sometimes witty but with gravitas! Sometimes they try to evoke an essence of place.
Colour is an essential part of my sculptures, using waxes and pure pigment, as well as pre-prepared papers, the works become three dimensional paintings.
Quotations courtesy of Benita Stoney
From her opening remarks at
“Capturing the Light” Custom House Studios, Westport 2019
• Jewel like, unsentimental, vital, accomplished and confident it sings with excitement.
• The tenacity and consistency of her engagement with “the terrible beauty of place”.
• Fresh eye on the visual riches of our home, its drama and its moods. Brooding, sulky, dark net shot through with silver light, and always spellbinding.
• The transmutation of experience into art, she doesn’t just tell you what the landscape looks like, but also what it feels like to be in it.
• Appears effortless, because she has fused the medium and the subject. Building up the images allowing the happenstance of the process to become part of the piece.
• The end result hovers between abstraction and representation; and this sets up a tension and a resonance enthused by her passion and vitality.
