"Love (and compassion) are the only engines for survival." ~ Leonard Cohen

Detail of “Peace and Struggle” Mural 
by Anas "Andy" Shallal 

@ Busboys & Poets, Washington DC

This mural takes the viewer on a journey through the civil rights movement. Some of the faces and events you see on the wall represent the struggles and triumphs of that period. The word “PEACE” at the center of the mural held by women suffragists and peace activists from the Women’s Peace Party provides a focal point for the room. At the top of the mural are the words of Langston Hughes’s poem, “Let America Be America Again.” This poem represents the hopes and aspirations of a true democracy.

"Grandma's for Peace" : Busboys and Poets Peace Mural : March on Washington : Washington DC

Detail of Andy Shallal's Peace Mural 

at Busboys and Poets in Washington DC

"Yup, we're in there....!"

New Banners for Women's March on Washington by UMVA's Artists Rapid Response Team

 

Learn more about Union of Maine Visual Artists

and ARRT! (Artists Rapid Response Team)

Check out some incredible banners 

created by UMVA's ARRT! (Artists Rapid Response Team)

Abstract art is created by the untalented....

"Abstract art is created by the untalented,
sold by the unscrupulous 
to the utterly bewildered." ~ Albert Camus

"And Still I Believe That Love Will Last"

© Mary Becker Weiss

My new work in creating abstracts from my early drawings and adaptation to the unpredictability of encaustics has encouraged me to loosen the reins and to actually let go of the reins altogether in trying to control the outcome of each piece. There have been happy surprises as a result, which may be a metaphor for life. ~ MBW

    

 

Abstracts 2010 - 2016 © Mary Becker Weiss

QUOTABLE QUOTES

• "This is pensive, smiling magic." ~ KT
• "You are full of surprises." ~ JF
• "Lovely, fine ~ deep." ~ SM
• "Your art work has made a lasting impression on me." ~ RA
• "Hey, man, you're definitely into border violation!"

Equal Protection of the Laws : The 14th Amendment : September 22 - December 16, 2016

Equal Protection of the Laws:
The Harlow Gallery in Partnership
with The Holocaust and Human Rights Center

On View September 22 - December 16, 2016

Michael Klahr Center

UMA @ Augusta

"Equal Justice" 

2016.09.22 Mary Becker Weiss

Themes depicted in this Exhibition relate to many areas of American society covered by the 14th Amendment, including due process, liberty, gender and sexuality, race, legal protections, equality in the workplace, housing, education, law enforcement, rights of the incarcerated, tolerance, local, state and federal representation. This exhibition is made possible in part by support from the Maine Arts Commission and the Maine Humanities Council.

Participating artists:
Augusta: Anthony Austin

Bangor: Jeanne Curran
Biddeford: Roland Salazar
Brunswick: Mary Becker Weiss
Camden: Claudia Noyes Griffiths
Falmouth: Anne Strout
Gardiner: Allison McKeen
Hallowell: Nancy Bixler
Lincolnville: Petrea Noyes
Manchester: Bruce Armstrong
Solon: Ramona du Houx
Tenants Harbor: Otty Merrill
Town Unknown: Julian Johnson
Waterville: Jen Hickey
West Rockport: Barbra Whitten
Wilton: Rebecca Spilecki
Winslow: Mimi McCutcheon

MECA : Create V: Annual Continuing Studies Student and Faculty Exhibition

MECA's 5th Annual Continuing Studies Exhibition showcases the work of both faculty and students in areas ranging from metalsmithing and jewelry, ceramics, painting, drawing, mixed media, found objects, sculpture, and more.  Around 100 artists are represented in the exhibition this year, which is sponsored by The Art Mart.

                   

Details of "Among Them But Not of Them"

© Mary Becker Weiss

From Pentimento Series : "Love Letters" : Fine Art Photo Montages on Canvas with Encaustic

"Old paint on canvas, as it ages, sometimes becomes transparent. When that happens it is possible, in some pictures, to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman's dress, a child makes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on an open sea. That is called pentimento, because the painter 'repented,' changed (her) mind. Perhaps it would be as well to say that the old conception, replaced by a later choice, is a way of seeing and then seeing again." ~ from Lillian Hellman's "Pentimento: A Book of Portraits" 1973

Detail of "We'll Always Have Paris," "Life Warriors Spirit Dancers," "Muse," "Mississippi by Myself," "Go With All Your Heart," Detail of "A Love Letter to Sarah Ballou" and "Spirit Dancers Topsham" 

© Mary Becker Weiss

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Assemblage of Antiques, Ephemera and Found Objects: "It's All in the Detail"

"A Love Letter to Victor Hugo" 

© Mary Becker Weiss

"This montage was inspired by a passionate letter written in 1847 by a young French actress named Juliette Drouet to Victor Hugo, with whom she had a liaison for more than 50 years. 

In the beginning, I was furious with Juliette's acquiescing her life to Victor Hugo. I fought with the re-assemblage of the clock on canvas and it resisted me tooth and nail. Out of frustration, I put the project aside for weeks. 

Slowly I began to perceive Juliette's love of Victor Hugo not as a surrendering of her life to him, but on the contrary, her embracing something that was larger than either one of them. A receiving and giving of unconditional love, love that could not be measured or defined or predictable. I went back to the assemblage, now seeing it from a completely new perspective. 

I laid the structural panels aside, moved the hands away from the center (you have NO IDEA how difficult that was for me!) In other words, A Love Letter to Victor Hugo took on a life of its own ~ undefined, unconventional and completely vulnerable. A light bulb went off.

I have to say it was an artistic turning point for me. A Love Letter to Victor Hugo is an homage to Juliette Drouet, a metaphor for her willingness and ability to remain vulnerable for more than fifty years. A life lesson learned so many years later ~ that Juliette Drouet's surrender was not a measure of her weakness but rather a measure of her strength." ~ Mary Becker Weiss 2012

See more assemblages....

"We'll Always Have Paris" © Mary Becker Weiss

"Imagine the Possibilities" 
© Mary Becker Weiss

"Emotional Baggage" 
© Mary Becker Weiss

Testimonials:

MS from Maryland says: "Your assemblages are particularly strong. I love the detail and cleanness of the small pieces, intimately put together in Two Perspectives and One Vanishing Point. It is somehow very soothing." ~ MS

From a visitor in the Brunswick Outdoor Art Festival: "Your assemblages remind me of that Joseph Campbell guy (Cornell) ~ you know that hermit who lived in his mother's basement all his life."

R. M. from South Bristol said...
Mary, the lower portion of your "magic box" assemblage plunges my mind into the memories of travel all the way back to my days as a North Dakota farm boy who 1st opened the drawer (previously always locked) to my foster father's great old desk. In the drawer was stuff of "wonderment" for me. The top portion of the "magic box' sends my mind out over the travel memories that can never be forgotten. I hear train whistles and see images that only can be experienced 1st hand.

"Undaunted" 
© Mary Becker Weiss

“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists. It is real. It is possible. It is yours.” ~ Ayn Rand

"Woman Soul Leadeth Us Upward and On." ~ Goethe

"Woman Soul" 

© 2016 Mary Becker Weiss

"All things transitory
But as symbols are sent:
Earth’s insufficiency
Here grows to Event:
The Indescribable,
Here it is done:
The Woman Soul leadeth us
Upward and on!" ~ Goethe

"All things transitory

          But as symbols are sent:

        

        Earth’s insufficiency

          Here grows to Event:

        The Indescribable,

          Here it is done:

        The Woman Soul leadeth us

        

          Upward and on!" ~ Goethe

"Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling." ~ Whitman

Can't get enough of Whitman?
His handwritten manuscripts
are a treasure!

Overview: 2015-2016 Exhibitions, Projects, In the News

EXHIBITIONS:   

        

  

     

COMMUNITY PROJECTS & INVOLVEMENT:

IN THE NEWS:

 

LOOKING BACK:

Spring Tulips at Last | Art Talk | Big Music

"Tilting Windmills" and "Exploration" an Homage to Roger Majorowicz

"Abstract Art is Created by the Untalented..."

Maine Arts Journal: UMVA Quarterly, Spring 2016

Neurotica submissions to Maine Arts Journal UMVA Quarterly, Spring 2016

by Lesley MacVane and Mary Becker Weiss