Mary Lonergan is a visual artist based in Oakland, California. She creates bold abstracts, figures and landscapes through her use of vibrant color and texture.
Mary grew up in a small town in Northeastern Massachusetts. As part of a large, extended Irish family, she spent her summers at the seacoast and coveted Autumn afternoons in the forests of the White Mountains in New Hampshire.
Longing for a life of her own, Mary headed west where she made her way through various iterations of corporate positions in Silicon Valley media and tech companies. She craved a creative outlet and found it... in an old, abandoned warehouse. An art party was listed in a local newspaper ~ all paints and paper provided. She and several others showed up and began painting. This was the induction she needed.
Years later, Mary co-founded and curated an employee art program (Art Among Us) at CNET Networks, where she successfully coordinated installments of employee art and initiated a cooperative agreement with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), procuring annual memberships for all San Francisco employees. She has been a tenacious advocate for local charities and arts organizations including ArtSpan, Creative Growth, the Veterans Administration Medical Center San Francisco and Courageous Women Association / Courage House in Oakland.
Now a full-time artist, Mary shows locally in the San Francisco Bay Area and has participated in several international exhibits with OpenArtCode in London, Monaco, Florence and Paris. Her work is in private collections throughout the United States and in Australia.
Statement
My intention as an artist is to design an essential exchange between the art and viewer. I want the viewer to feel seen and understood through their interaction with this visual language.
In my practice, I use acrylics and ink to create color saturated paintings. Color has an immediate effect on the brain which we comprehend and participate in, even when we aren’t consciously aware of how deeply that transmission alters our experience.
My work frequently begins in abstraction, but a portrait or landscape can often emerge when the unexpected brushstroke triggers a longing from a lost connection or a remembrance of a place I once found beautiful.
As we continue to gather further evidence on the profound effect art has on our well-being, it is my hope that we’ll incorporate more art practices into our global communities. Art provides meaning, beauty and connection, none of which we can live without.
~ Mary Lonergan
repeat after me...GUTS + GENIUS / Oakland artist + collector.
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