Mary Romer Greenfield
Memory and communication have been an abiding concern in my artistic practice. The starting point for any image making is usually a sensory experience, though I draw inspiration from many sources, by re-reading letters from the past, photographic imagery, a day long walk along the coast, where the light falling on the land has a powerful effect on my mind
Having led a nomadic life as a child, in the Middle East and Africa I have a large bank of memories from which to draw. A vast sundrenched landscape to mysterious alleyways, together with a strong sense of loss experienced when one episode comes to an end and another begins.
In my latest series of works, Memory Cloud, I pose questions about the workings of human memory. The ever-shifting patterns of cloud in formation and dissolution are taken as a metaphor for the way in which memories advance, recede and subtly metamorphose. However vivid a scene may seem in the mind of the person recalling it, recollections are rarely fixed like a photograph coming out of the dark room.
To capture something of the evanescence and elusiveness of clouds, I have used semi-transparent glazes on canvas, combined for dramatic effect with oil colour applied with a palette knife. The intense yet subtle tones of the storm clouds were created using 18th century methods of mixing a warm or a cool black
I have read widely on the subject of Clouds, including
Hubert Damisch - Theory of Cloud and Luke Howard - The Modifications of Cloud, as well as examining the depiction of clouds by other artists such as Titian, Constable as well as landscape paintings by Dali and Caspar David Friedrich.
In my work I express the visceral tensions and clashes in the human condition as we experience it now, with the challenging flux of survival within an increasingly urbanised world. My work attempts to portray the balancing act we perform everyday of engaging with the fast pace of life and carving out enough time to stop and reflect.
2018
Born in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania, Mary’s childhood was spent in India, Southern Yemen and East Africa. She was educated in England and in France. In 1972 she moved to London whilst working as a bi-lingual secretary, she took advantage of the cultural events available to her, attending lectures in art history at the V & A and life drawing classes at Chelsea College of Art. She then worked for two years restoring antique Persian rugs for a well-known restorer in Chelsea. After bringing up her children, she enrolled to do a foundation course at Cambridge Regional College, and graduated with a Fine Art Degree from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge in 2004. In 2014 she completed an intense three week course in Fine Art Contemporary Practice at the Slade, UCL.
EXHIBITIONS
1997 The Mall Galleries - London
2000 The Global Cafe - London
Six (across) Four (down)
Cambridge Open Studios
2001 Cambridge Open Studios
2002 Wysing Arts Gallery - Cambridge
Group Show Boundaries
2003 Trinity Hall Cambridge
First Solo Exhibition
Towards the Light
2004 Eastern Open - King's Lynne
Cambridge Regional College - Degree Show
Michael House Centre - Cambridge
Wysing Arts - Cambridge
Group Show - Vital
2005 Cambridge Open Studios
Chateau de Clercy - Limoux France
The Mall Galleries, London – Art For Youth
2006 Dulwich Art Fair
The Mall Galleries, London – Art For Youth
Portsmouth Art Fair
2006 Eastern Open - King's Lynn
2007 The Mall Galleries, London – Art For Youth
Darryl Nantais Gallery - Linton Cambridgeshire
Christmas Show
2008 Angela Mellor Gallery - Ely
Spring Mist & Vapour
2009 Angela Mellor Gallery - Ely
Valentine
2010 i2art Gallery - Saffron Walden
Construct & De-Construct
Saffron Walden Open Studios
2011 Artshed - Hertfordshire
Mellow Yellow
Saffron Walden Open Studios
The Orangery - Holland Park, Friends of Holland Park Exhibition
2012 One Church Street Gallery - Buckinghamshire
Winter Open 2012
The Orangery - Holland Park, Friends of Holland Park Exhibition
2013 Chelsea Art Society, London, Selected Show
Cambridge Artworks - Cambridge
Selected for
Open Exhibition 2013
Angela Mellor Gallery - Ely
Two man Show - Objects of Light
2014 The Orangery - Holland Park, Friends of Holland Park Exhibition
Cambridge Artworks - Cambridge
Selected for
Open Exhibition 2014
Kelvedon Hall - Art Festival
The Slade, UCL
Blue Owl Art Gallery - Grantham
Make your Mark
Holland Park Tennis Club
Selected for
45th Eastern Open - King's Lynn
2015 The Orangery - Holland Park, Friends of Holland Park Exhibition
Angela Mellor Gallery – Ely,
Two man Show - Summer Light
The Mall Galleries, London – Art For Youth
2016 The Orangery, Holland Park, Friends of Holland Park Exhibition
Chelsea Art Society, London Selected Show
PaintSpaces Gallery, London – Cultural Rhythms
Lacey Contemporary Gallery, London Selected for
Summer Arts Prize Exhibition
2017 The Orangery, Holland Park: Friends of Holland Park Exhibition
PaintSpaces Gallery, London Solo Show
Memory Cloud
2017 Open Studio at Home, Essex Solo Show - Autumn
Cobbold & Judd Gallery, Suffolk, Winter Show
The Mall Galleries, London – Art For Youth
PROJECTS
Setting up West Hampstead Art Reading Group with 5 artists. This involved choosing art critical essays to be read by the group, with one person selected to give a short presentation on the writing followed by a group discussion.
Two artists and myself applied to Contemporary British Painters to have a show hosted by them on the acceptance of our proposal “Space for Being: Painting as Terrain”. Our proposal was accepted, with the inclusion of 4 other artists, two being members of CBP group. The exhibition will be held at The Crypt, St. Marylebone Church, London in December 2018. We hold regular meetings together as well as attending seminars and exhibtions.
AWARDS
Bank House Postcard Award 2006 - Eastern Open
Highly Commended - Holland Park 2011
COLLECTIONS
Trinity Hall Cambridge
Cambridge Regional College
Art Decoroom Ltd