Mary Hughes
MFA ’97 Fine Arts 2D
In this body of work, I explore the concepts of mapping, mark-making and the passage of time. The drawings and paintings are built upon meandering lines formed in reaction to previous layers, recalling contour maps, topographical lines, and nautical charts. The organic forms reference the landscape while also referencing abstract patterning – mark-making as an act of confirmation. Some environments appear self-contained while others seem part of a larger universe. Simultaneously, the “maps” represent the passage of time and the wanderings of the mind.
Mary Hughes is a native Bostonian who began her painting career at ten years of age when on vacation in Maine with her grandparents. Her grandmother, an amateur painter, gave her a postcard of the Atlantic coast with a wave crashing on rocks, which Mary meticulously copied in oil. Thankfully, her awkward teen years involved high school art classes and summer art programs at local museums and art schools. That eventually led her to the painting program at Boston University, where she earned a BFA. She later pursued an MFA at Massachusetts College of Art.
