MARY SWEENEY
Artist Statement Past Solo Exhibitions: Past Group Exhibitions:
My purpose in making art is to evoke empathy in the viewer. Concern for our relationship with the planet is a generative theme present in my work.
The images I choose are often a stand in for the human figure, and allude to contemporary social concerns of power and vulnerability.
The ceramic leaf piles are made from thousands of leaves that have fallen to the ground in my back yard. I collect and coat the dry leaves in porcelain slip. This incases the leaf and the firing process burns away the organic matter leaving a permanent manifestation of the seasonal leaf.
Extracted from the natural cycles of growth and decay, the piles of leaves become a frozen moment in time, and a meditation on transience and permanence.
www.maryjsweeney.info
CV