(805) 899-4330
Meet the Artist
Mary's paintings are regularly on display in Santa Barbara County including the Mayor's Office, Ridley Tree Museum, Westmont, U.C.S.B. faculty lounge and Women's Center, City College Small Image Show, Faulkner Gallery, Casa now Vision, Kate School, Karpeless Manuscript Library, Art Walk, Channing Peake Gallery, Cabrillo Inn and Baccara Hotel (both A.A.C. and Scape shows) and recently the Distinctive Art Gallery. Mary's art is also displayed at Glenn Dallas Gallery, Santa Barbara Tennis Club, and virtual galleries such as Santa Barbara Visual Artists, Goleta Art Association and Abstract Art Collective.
Surfing
Two Surfers
Surfer
Face
A Glow
Summer Blooms
In Full Bloom
Passion
As The World Turns
Growth
Jazzy
Emerging
Walking In The Sky
Tiger
Strumming
Climb Every Mountain
Lit Up
Diving Seals
Butterfly
Fish
Framework
Tower
Dancers
Elephants
Lion
Musicians One
Musicians Two
Musicians Three
Musicians Four
Bouquet
Orchid
Mother and Fledgling
View of the Pacific
About Mary
Mary's mother was an artist and handed her colored pencils when she was young enough to crawl under the table to make sure she got her grandmother's legs and feet right on the paper. She did oils after marriage when her children were very young but they woke up and she had to put it all away. She has been painting seriously since 1994 in Santa Barbara, California. She fell in love with watercolor and mastered it. She then took up oil monotypes and collage. She enjoys figure painting. After viewing Mary's abstracts her teacher Thomas Van Stein encouraged her to do abstracts.
Mary has branched out to show in the Administration Building in Ventura and Dab Art Gallery as well as President Reagan's one hundred year old birthday celebration at the Next in Manhattan. Mary has had half a dozen one woman shows including the Santa Barbara Conference and Visitor's Bureau, Sansum Diabetes Institute, and Alta Vista Foundation.
Her patrons include a number of states in the U.S. as well as England.
Mary has an M.F.A. from Columbia University School of the Arts and studies regularly with visiting artists in Santa Barbara. The latest workshop she took was with Peter Bradley. She has also studied with Skip Lawrence, Gerald Bromer, Robert Buridge and Ruth Armetage.
Joseph Woodward, Art Critique of the Santa Barbara New Press, called Mary "a California artist" and praised her painting of surfers. "Sweeping washes of blue and white paint are freely flung in a way verging on abstraction, as if she is trying to capture the spirit as much as the actuality of water in a big wave."
Awards
Mary's oil monotype won a prize from Barry Burkes awarded at the Carpinteria Art Center Gallery. "Koi Fish" is a prize winner at the Step One exhibit at the Cabrillo Arts Center. Another watercolor, "Surfer" is a winner in the Semana Nautica Art Show.
Affliliations
Santa Barbara Visual Artists
Goleta Art Association
S.C.A.P.E.
Carpenteria Art Association
Abstract Art Collective
Education
Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts
Arcadia University
Books Published
Mary Freericks, poet, teacher and artist is the author of three books of poetry. Blue Watermelon, 2017, and Cheer For Freedom, 2019, both focus on her childhood in Iran and immigration to the United States. Her latest book, Furs for a Vegetarian, 2020, focuses on her artist Russian mother.
All are available on Amazon.
Visit Mary's poetry website for more.
