Fall Sunset
5 x 7 in.
Oil
$325

Using the ever-changing color and light of an impression, the artistry of Mary Bentz Gilkerson’s paintings connect people to the experience of place.

“Almost daily for the last seven years I’ve made a small painting inspired by the landscapes I travel through, mainly near the roads and highways around Columbia, SC, especially Lower Richland,” says Gilkerson.

Mary is drawn to the ordinary spaces we move through, especially ones that are within view from the road.

“In a roadside view I find a strange intersection of nature and culture. We move so fast that we don’t take time to observe the world around us in the way that people did before modern transportation and technology came along. In my work, I seek to focus on the shifting patterns of light and color that tell us what time of day and season it is, to note the small and subtle, as well as the large and grand.”

Gilkerson holds an MFA in drawing and painting from the University of South Carolina. A native South Carolinian, she lives and works in her Columbia studio after retiring as a professor of art at Columbia College. She has received grants from the South Carolina Arts Commission and the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties in addition to having been selected as a Southern Arts Federation Fellowship Finalist. Her work is in the permanent collections of Morris Museum, McKissick Museum, Palmetto Health, Morris Communications Company, and Seibels Bruce Group, among others.

See more of Gilkerson’s work and join her email list at marygilkerson.com/smalls.

Also view Gilkerson’s work at if ART Gallery in Columbia, SC and online at ifartgallery.blogspot.com/.

Join Gilkerson’s free community for artists at www.facebook.com/groups/ArtWorkLiving/.