Mary Pettis

Mary Pettis Mary Pettis Mary Pettis

Mary Pettis

Mary Pettis Mary Pettis Mary Pettis
  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • Newly Released
    • Studio Paintings
    • Plein Air/Alla Prima
    • "Watershed" Show Catalog
    • Commissioned Paintings
    • Purchased Paintings
    • For Patrons
  • Shows
    • Works - Now on Exhibition
    • Prior Group Exhibitions
    • Prior Solo Exhibitions
  • Visit Us
    • Our Studio/Gallery Space
  • About
    • Biography
    • Curriculum Vitae
    • An Essay By Mary
    • My Blog, "Layers..."
    • Interviews and Articles
    • What People Are Saying
  • Store
  • Contact Us
  • More
    • Home
    • Portfolio
      • Newly Released
      • Studio Paintings
      • Plein Air/Alla Prima
      • "Watershed" Show Catalog
      • Commissioned Paintings
      • Purchased Paintings
      • For Patrons
    • Shows
      • Works - Now on Exhibition
      • Prior Group Exhibitions
      • Prior Solo Exhibitions
    • Visit Us
      • Our Studio/Gallery Space
    • About
      • Biography
      • Curriculum Vitae
      • An Essay By Mary
      • My Blog, "Layers..."
      • Interviews and Articles
      • What People Are Saying
    • Store
    • Contact Us
  • Sign In

  • My Account
  • Signed in as:

  • filler@godaddy.com


  • My Account
  • Sign out

Signed in as:

filler@godaddy.com

  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • Newly Released
    • Studio Paintings
    • Plein Air/Alla Prima
    • "Watershed" Show Catalog
    • Commissioned Paintings
    • Purchased Paintings
    • For Patrons
  • Shows
    • Works - Now on Exhibition
    • Prior Group Exhibitions
    • Prior Solo Exhibitions
  • Visit Us
    • Our Studio/Gallery Space
  • About
    • Biography
    • Curriculum Vitae
    • An Essay By Mary
    • My Blog, "Layers..."
    • Interviews and Articles
    • What People Are Saying
  • Store
  • Contact Us

Account


  • My Account
  • Sign out


  • Sign In
  • My Account

Previous Solo Exhibitions

"Watershed" Exhibition


"Watershed", a solo exhibition of 80+ original plein air and studio oil paintings by Mary, will showcase the beauty, relevance, and character of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and surrounding watershed. 


"Long ago, I fell in love with the abstract shapes of the valley: the silhouette of the white pines against a vast sky, the contrast of natural stands of birch groves against the deep forest, the musical structural rhythms formed by the river pressing against its banks. I love its story, the historical and geological narrative stored in the layers of rocky sentinels lining the river. I care now more than ever that this local, thriving, wild, and scenic watershed be preserved and protected." ~ Mary


This exhibition draws upon the powerful tools of Expressive Realism to tell shared stories of our love affair with the river to future generations and to support the mission of Wild Rivers Conservancy (formerly the St. Croix River Association). 


25% of each sale will be donated to Wild Rivers Conservancy in support of their mission. 


Through our partnership, we seek to inspire a deeper awareness of, connection with, and appreciation for our wild and scenic waterways. Take home your favorite work of art and support the Riverway!


To learn more about Wild Rivers Conservancy, visit their website at wildriversconservancy.org.  

Mary Pettis, oil painter, expressive realism, plein air, realist landscape alla prima impressionist.

"Sunset Cruise", 24 x 18" oil on linen, studio and plein air, 2021

"Watershed" Online Exhibition Catalog

Mary Pettis, oil painter, expressive realism, plein air, realist landscape alla prima impressionist.

 We welcome you to take a deeper look at the paintings currently displayed in our "Watershed" Exhibition through this Online Exhibition Catalog.  Click the image to the left to start exploring! 


Within this online catalog you can:

  • Learn about the spirit of this exhibition through the words of Mary and and Deb Ryun, Executive Director of Wild Rivers Conservancy, 
  • Discover the inspiration and deeper meaning behind various works through Mary's words, 
  • Look at pictures of Mary, within the St. Croix Valley, while plein air painting, 
  • "Get A Glimpse" of Mary, and the subject of her paintings, through short videos recorded while out on location, 
  • Zoom-in to take a closer look at Mary's brushstrokes using the magnifier glass icon at the top. Move the slider left/right then click-and-drag to explore in more detail, 
  • Search for your favorite painting or subject through the search icon at the top, 
  • Inquire about purchasing a painting by clicking the "Inquire/Purchase" button.


For best iPhone/iPad experience: turn phone to landscape and swipe left/right to turn pages. 

“Impressionist Sketches from Minnesota and Abroad" Solo exhibition at The Minneapolis Club

  

Mary Pettis has been painting landscapes both in and out of the studio since 1975. She has taught and painted in some of the most beautiful places in the world. Whether in France, Italy, China, or Russia, she says, “Minnesota remains my favorite place to set up my easel. From the beauty found in my backyard along the St. Croix River Valley, to the birches, lily pads, and cabins deep in the north woods, I love exploring how sunlight and color pours over objects and unites them, creating a vibrating visual dance.” 


This show is a compilation of studies that were mostly painted out of doors for the purpose of taking notes to inform her studio work. As is true historically with Impressionist works, many are also complete paintings, imbued with their own sense of charm and space, atmosphere and light. For this reason, “Impressionist Sketches from Minnesota and Abroad”, displaying in the Edward Curtis Gallery at The Minneapolis Club, is one of the first occasions this body of work has been available for public viewing in an exhibition.


Exhibition Dates: November 5 – December 31, 2019
The Minneapolis Club
749 2nd Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55402


Artist Reception: Friday, December 6th
Edward Curtis Gallery
5:30pm - 7:30pm

Mary Pettis, oil painter, expressive realism, plein air, realist landscape alla prima impressionist.

"Dancing Village Light", 12 x 9" oil on linen, plein air, 2019 (detail)

"Sharing the Harvest" Solo Exhibition at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, MN


Sharing the Harvest

by Andrew Webster


Internationally celebrated painter Mary Pettis has once again teamed up with the Minnesota Orchestra for an unforgettable visual and audible experience this Fall. Following Pettis’ impressive exhibition “Beyond the Surface” in June 2017 and “Color Harmonies” in March 2018, the artist will showcase her newest oils among a carefully curated selection of fifteen other pictures.


Hosted in downtown Minneapolis at Orchestra Hall, the exhibition will be presented during the performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 as well as Kevin Puts’ “Inspiring Beethoven” November 15-17, 2018. Like her previous showings with the Minnesota Orchestra, Pettis has created signature paintings that are thematically linked to the show, which seeks to highlight how artists continue to influence one another across mediums and generations.


“I am often overwhelmed by the dialogue I have with the paintings of so many artists who have preceded me—the Hudson River School, the American Impressionists, the Russian and Western European landscapists, and the Classical Realists,” Pettis says, “The thread of their influences continuously informs me when I paint.” For this exhibition, the artist has chosen to focus on her love for nature and, more specifically, the Fall season. “In September and October, I just love the fog and mists that rise in the morning,” Pettis continued, “and there’s this wonderful resurgence of moisture and atmosphere. Growing up on a farm in southern Minnesota, there was always this deep connection with the land, especially during harvest.”


Russian artists Aleksei Gritsai (1914-1998), Isaac Levitan (1860-1900), and Vasily Polenov (1844-1927) were particularly skilled in using mood as content and continue to impact Pettis’ art today. “When you look closely at my recent work, I’m seeking to use mood as content and metaphor as content, even though I’m still wrapping it around my representational and classical roots,” Pettis continued. “I feel like I’m in the ‘harvest’ phase of my life and career, so the Fall season is functioning metaphorically for me as well. I’ve been painting for forty-five years professionally and the last few Fall seasons, especially this year, I’m feeling more compelled than ever to bring together all my knowledge, education, and influences to create the paintings I know I want to create. I have a clear vision right now and these paintings are a
culmination of this career evolution.”


One may notice the moodiness of Pettis’ recent works through her palette, which is very tight in value and contrast. “You can have a beautiful melody in just an octave-and-a-half,” Pettis says, “you don’t always need to use the high- and low-key values.” Indeed, the artist’s mastery of color, value, line, and texture are on full display in “Road to the Sea”. At first glance, the viewer discovers a simple landscape composition that, upon closer inspection, reveals a world of subtle details. Welcoming the viewer into the scene is a dirt road, which recedes into the distance towards the sea. The road ends at an important intersection of several elements in the composition, including strong horizontal lines from the cliffs on the right side of the canvas and the horizon line itself. “All of the lines, including the vertical road, lead us to the tree,” Pettis suggested, “and the tree alone points to the truth: a patch of light in the sky. There’s a lovely triangular progression from road, to tree, to sky, to cliffs, and back to the tree.”


With a low horizon line, Pettis has placed equal importance on sky and land, each with its own unique color scheme. Through the sky, one finds a gorgeous array of blues, greys, purples, pinks, and whites. The softness and lack of definition creates a calming atmosphere that pervades the entire picture. Below, one finds warmer flashes of yellow and orange amidst a range of earthy greens and browns, all handled with an expressive brush. “I really wanted to translate a feeling into a visual experience,” Pettis continued, “Our daughter lives in Scotland, and we visited and took a hike from Stonehaven towards Dunnottar Castle. I was so struck by the experience—the contemplative nature of the environment, the simple color scheme, but with ribbons of yellow from the gorse bloom. Memory training has been a passion of mine and this painting was what I remembered from that hike visually and, more importantly, emotionally.”


“Placido (Calm and Peaceful)” is yet another masterful display from Pettis, which presents the viewer with a tightly-cropped scene of water lilies. Immediately one perceives the serenity of the composition; its stability established by reflections of blue from the sky, which forms a large upside down “T” shape. Dancing in a circular progression across this foundation are a series of pads and flowers—which display different stages of bloom. Whether it be the highlights of white, subtle notes of red and gold, or the pointing reed stalks, each element has been orchestrated together beautifully to guide one around the painting. “I really love the gradual, almost unperceivable transition between the reflection of the blue sky and surface of the water” Pettis describes. “For me it begs the question ‘Where does the sky reflection end?’ and ‘What is real?’ and I start to daydream about these connections to the natural world and my place within it all. It’s like our little frog in the bottom corner; what he is seeing is completely different from us.”


“I only paint what I feel,” Pettis concluded, “and landscape is the vehicle I use to highlight our shared humanity. I want my viewers to understand that there’s so much more to paintings often labeled as simply ‘pretty pictures’—to encourage and challenge them to look beyond their initial impressions of the piece and notice the universe within them. Art is a visual language; one only needs to open themselves and take a leap of faith to understand it.” 


Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, MN
November 15, 16, 17th, 2018

Information: www.minnesotaorchestra.org
1111 Nicollet Mall   |   Minneapolis, MN | (651) 465-7012

Mary Pettis, oil painter, expressive realism, plein air, realist landscape alla prima impressionist.

"Placido", 28 x 48" oil on linen, 2018

"Color Harmonies" Solo Exhibition at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, MN


The mutual influence that music and art have had on one another has persisted in waxing and waning degrees throughout human history. Sometimes art and music have reflected the same philosophical source. Other times, art and music have translated and borrowed ideas from one another. Individual artists and composers, at times, have taken it upon themselves to accentuate the relationship between visual and auditory art, growing their fields in innovative ways.


Mary Pettis has created a series of paintings to pair with The Minnesota Orchestra’s performance of Lyadov’s “The Enchanted Lake”, Respighi’s “The Fountains of Rome”, and DeBussy’s “La Mer”.* The series is an invitation to find the music within the images and to understand the vehicles of expression and the different means by which they manifest. 

In this exhibition, Color Harmonies, there are perhaps two overriding themes that connect in parallel ways the pieces selected by the Minnesota Orchestra with the paintings selected by the artist:


1). Debussy, Respighi, and Lyadov provide us with titles, (the sea, fountains, and lakes) that stimulate our visual imagination and memory. The water motif is particularly prominent as a vehicle for an immense range of emotions in both the music and the paintings.


2). Painting is a language similar to music; a way to share impressions of this elegant world. Artists share with composers a similar vocabulary, using words like tone, color, harmony, and texture. Pettis invites the viewer to look for the color harmonies and to notice the various feelings they invoke; to see the music in the images.


Color Harmonies is a continuing celebration of the return of representational art to the realm of musicality. It is a reminder of our shared human experience, of the universality of emotional expression, and the fulfilling connections that the arts provide us. As a continuation of the co-evolution of music and art, it is designed to satisfy the viewer on both an intuitive and an intellectual level.


This exhibition takes place at Orchestra Hall on March 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, in tandem with the concerts being performed by the Orchestra, and echoes and develops sentiments similar to Mary’s 2017 OH+ Exhibition: “Beyond the Surface”.**


*Also being performed in March: Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 3.”


Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, MN
March 1, 2, 3rd, 2018 

Information: www.minnesotaorchestra.org
1111 Nicollet Mall   |   Minneapolis, MN | (651) 465-7012

Mary Pettis, oil painter, expressive realism, plein air, realist landscape alla prima impressionist.

"Rippling Light - Ponte Vecchio", 18 x 28" oil on linen, 2017

"Beyond the Surface" Solo Exhibition at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, MN


In Beyond the Surface, artist Mary Pettis draws upon the music and philosophy of Debussy to create a series of paintings to celebrate his  Images For Orchestra, being performed by the Minnesota Orchestra on  June 8, 9, 10  at the beautifully refurbished Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 


By invoking the works of the past to inspire works in the present, Debussy and Pettis have created a collaboration across time, his fluency of the musical language inspiring her paintings. Pettis emphasizes the musicality of visual arts as a vehicle of deliberate expression. And like Debussy's compositions, this exhibition is designed to satisfy the viewer on both an intuitive and a technical level. It is for this reason that  Beyond the Surface  exemplifies a large, ground-breaking movement in contemporary art: Expressive Realism.


This movement is a fusion of the purest elements of art (such as color, texture, and form) and familiar, timeless subjects. Debussy (who always wanted to be a painter) is an appropriate choice for this  show.  As  Debussy invited his audience to look for images in the music, Pettis invites the viewer to see music in the images.  Debussy often used nostalgic images and songs as source material for his tradition-breaking style. Mary uses a similar approach: she translates the visual world into evocative sensory experiences. Expressive Realism employs, rather than shuns, the artistic language uncovered by the modern art movement. The result is an intensely fulfilling visual experience, both for the art novice and for those who are drawn to spend the time to look beyond the surface.


While seeing the MN Orchestra's performance of Debussy's "Images" requires tickets, Mary's exhibition is free and open to the public. Of course, if you can do both, it offers the opportunity to explore the experience of the intersection between his beautiful music and the paintings inspired by it.


Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, MN
June 8, 9, 10th, 2017 

Information: www.minnesotaorchestra.org
1111 Nicollet Mall   |   Minneapolis, MN | (651) 465-7012

Mary Pettis, oil painter, expressive realism, plein air, realist landscape alla prima impressionist.

"Largo - With Expression (St. Croix River in Winter)", 28 x 48" oil on linen, 2017

Solo exhibition at The Minneapolis Club

The Minneapolis Club is “thrilled and honored “ to host a Solo Exhibition of local artist Mary Pettis' works during the month of November. 


“When I paint I truly feel, in the present moment, the great relations among all things”, says Pettis. “Every subject becomes a metaphor for something deeper and more intangible. I hope that those who view my work, whether briefly or for decades, will feel these sentiments. My inspiration is the hope I hold that my work will help spread peace, contemplation, tranquility, and joy.”


The Minneapolis Club urges people to, ”Stop by to see these incredible works in person, or join us in the Edward Curtis Gallery from 4-7 pm on November 17 for a reception and hear from Pettis herself about her newest paintings and plein air sketches.”


Exhibition Dates: November 1 – November 30, 2017
The Minneapolis Club
749 2nd Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55402


Artist Reception: Friday, November 17th
Edward Curtis Gallery
4:00pm - 7:00pm

Mary Pettis, oil painter, expressive realism, plein air, realist landscape alla prima impressionist.

"Rippling Light - Ponte Vecchio", 18 x 28" oil on linen, 2017 

Subscribe

Sign up to hear from us about new works, upcoming events, and workshops.

Contact Us

Submit questions and purchase inquiries here

Attach Files
Attachments (0)

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Cancel

Copyright © 2023 Mary Pettis Galleries - All Rights Reserved. No images may be copied or used without the written consent of the artist. 

Powered by GoDaddy and JNK Art Partners

  • .