Mary E. Morris

The gesture of the human figure has been at the essence of my expression in visual art. My many years of ballet as a young girl have echoes in my work. No longer a dancer, I find myself drawn to the gesture of the brush stroke, the essential lines and forms to express movement and human emotions.

I work best when I get into a rhythm, loosing my conscious self into the forms and colors. I am drawn to transparency in materials as well as concepts. I began with watercolor and rice paper, mounting it to glass. I later transitioned to painting directly on glass and Plexiglass. Monotype became a natural transition as a form, with its fluid surface. Water has also become a repeating element in my figure ground relationships. It has multiple meanings in my imagery, as an essential element to life, feminine, fluid and cyclic.