Doing Nothing/Nothing Doing draws from Mary Kostman’s experience in the expressive arts (dance, art therapy) and the healing arts. She is known for her unorthodox combination of media, as exemplified in the show’s signature piece – a 46” x 46’” watercolor painting with charcoal. In her watercolor silkscreen monoprints, she juxtaposes symbolic figures against a fluid, sensual
 Seeking the Holy Trail I |
background, thereby illuminating her struggle to reconcile the limits of the body with her search to connect with the boundlessness of the cosmos. Her watercolors are bold, playful, introspective and sensual. Her silkscreens transform everyday objects through placement into wild fields of color.
Kostman’s paintings reflect her relationship to a particular moment – a movement, an emotion, a gesture. Her body of work is defined by the confluence of shape, color and movement. This new body of work was provoked by the recent increases in tornadoes and hurricanes in MA, and the changing weather patterns worldwide. She has also been exploring the issue of how to convey “emptiness, nothingness, spaciousness, the void” through paint.
Kostman’s career has spanned photography, textile design, painting and printmaking. She has directed a community art center and was a key member in developing Vehicule Art, the first conceptual art gallery in Montreal. She delights in leading workshops (Paint Your Essence ™) that empower us to discover our innate creativity.
Her work has been exhibited in the United States, Canada and Israel. She is a member of the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston, the Concord Art Association and the Cambridge Art Association. Her studio is in Saxonville Studios at the Mill, Framingham (Open Studios – November 12 -13, 2011).
Highlights of 2011 were a show, Shape Shifter, of sixteen silkscreens at the Lincoln Library as well as an award from the Providence Art Club for her watercolor, “Storm Bloom”. The juror was Jane Goldman, founder of Mixit Print Studio, Somerville. In 2004 she received a fellowship for a residency at the Vermont Studio Center and in 2001 she received honorable mention in the Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show, juror, Maxwell Anderson, Director, Whitney Museum, New York.
Contact Information:
Saxonville Studios
1602B Concord Street, Framingham, MA 01701
info@marykostman.com
www.marykostman.com