ARTIST BIO: Mary Blackshaw
Mary will be exhibiting her work for sale with the Woodstock Artists Collective at St Mary Magdalene's church in Woodstock during the Artweeks period. Artweeks will also be an opportunity to participate in talks and workshops by Mary all about the process of natural art. Forgotten or less used techniques such as creating pigments from a variety of local found resources. Mary will also share how to create different artists materials and how this has influenced her own art practise. For further information go to www.maryblackshaw.co.uk or find her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/maryblackshaw/?hl=en-gb
Venue: St Mary Magdalene's church in Woodstock with the Woodstock Artists Collective.
since I was little I watched my father use earth pigments and other naturally made and resourced materials to create Greek Orthodox icons.
From then on, I have been enthralled by the origins of the products and the ritualistic like processes of making a muddy rock into pliable paint.
Overtime I have furthered my own knowledge of traditional and new methods of creating artists products from anything around me, the more local the better- from charcoal to draw with to pigments to paint, it is all a wonderful artistic alchemy that I love to make and share.
I trained as an apprentice to my father for many years who was a Greek Orthodox Iconographer. This has inspired a love of finding meaning in the shapes and forms around us, manipulating and accentuating what we see to make new images.
I live in Oxfordshire with my husband, two young kids, and the loveliest old lurcher dog.
If you would like to find out more about my process, discuss an exhibition, or are interested in an art piece, please do get in touch.