BREAKING NEWS:       PEN Women Juried Exhibition at Honolulu Country Club May 22-June 25

Four of Mara's new paintings are on exhibit at the Honolulu Country Club from May 22nd, 2011 until June 25th, 2011 in a show of work by PEN Women, juried by Jon Hamblin, painter, photographer, and teacher of visual arts at Mid-Pacific Institute.

The Honolulu branch of the National League of American PEN Women sponsors a juried exhibit of members' artworks every other year. This year's theme is "When I Was a Kid" (http://www.nlapwhonolulu.org/artshow.htm).

Mara's pieces include two in her new Bear-inirvana Sutra series that is based on the idiosyncratic drawings of bears she produced obsessively as a kindergartener--for which she was well-recognized even years later by her former classmates. The Bear-inirvana Sutras take their color and composition from the frontispieces of Japanese Buddhist sutra scrolls of the Heian period (794-1185 C.E.).

A third piece is a new format in the Flowery Mead series: a reduction from the 48"x36" of the "Refrigerator" Flowery Meads to a size and format suitable for office cubicles. They still rely on pairings of her favorite childhood flowers, in this case "Dandelions and Dayflowers". These also happen to be flowers mentioned as growing in the garden of Oki Toshio, the protagonist of Yasunari Kawabata's 1961-1965 novel Beauty and Sadness (Utsukushisa to Kanashimi to). The final work, like the sutras 8"x6", is also of beloved wildflowers ("Knotweeds and Dayflowers: Oki's Garden") on a gold background reminiscent of Japanese Rimpa paintings. Margo Goodwill and Elsha Bohnert chaired this year's show. The opening reception is June 5, 2011, from 5-7 pm.

                                     4 Paintings Published in the Polish philosophy journal Sztuka i Filozofiia

Four of Mara's paintings were just published in in the Polish philosophy journal Sztuka i Filozofiia , published by the University of Warsaw's Institute of Philosophy. The paintings include "White Music," recently purchased by the University of Hawaii Library and Information Science Program Alumni Group (see below); two from the Landscapes of Fear series, "Where Are the Mothers for Us?", recently donated to a preschool in New Jersey, and "Twist of Fate;" and "Roadside Wildflowers: Queen Anne's Lace and Wild Chicory" (in a private collection in Traverse City, Michigan), from the series Refrigerator Paintings: Recovery after Grief.

OTHER NEWS:

Mara's Paintings at the PUNAHOU CARNIVAL ART GALLERY

Friday, Feb. 4 & Saturday, Feb. 5 1601 Punahou Street, Honolulu (808) 944-5711

Two of Mara's paintings will be shown, 1 from the Centrifugal/Equilibrium series, the second from the "Windows on the Weaving of the Self" sub-series of the Bridal series. The Punahou Carnival Art Gallery , part of the annual Punahou Carnival, helps support the financial aid program at Punahou School. Proceeds from each piece of art are shared evenly between the contributing artist and the Carnival fundraising effort. Follow the carnival on Twitter to keep up on planning and other Carnival notices.

This year marks the first time Mara's painting will be shown at the Punahou Carnival Art Gallery, one of Hawaii's premier venues for artists.

7 Paintings Purchased for the Library & Information Science Program at University of Hawaii-Manoa.
The University of Hawaii Library & Information Science Program Alumni Group purchased seven of Mara's paintings and donated them for the newly renovated quarters of the Library & Information Science program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The paintings selected include "White Music," three from the series Refrigerator Paintings: Recovery after Grief, an "anti-calligraphy" entitled "Ongaku" (music), "Confucianism Overwhelmed" and "Chrysanthemum Fountain."

Rosemal Set Design for TAG's Ghosts Mara and Scott Robertson collaborated on the Rosemal painting of the set for TAG's (The Actors' Group) October 2010 production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts. Rosemal is a Norwegian style of painting used widely in interiors of rural houses. Based on either geometric patterns or florals, with occasional ventures into well-dressed human figures, Rosemal is stylized, colorful, and imaginative, rarely reproducing actual flowers and plants.

Mara's and Scott's Rosemal set was purchased by Roger Jellinek and Eden-Lee Murray for their new office in rural Kahaluu. Murray is the well-known actor, director and education director at the Hawaii Theatre center, Jellinek is the director of the Hawaii Book and Music Festival. Proceeds of the sale went to TAG (The Actors' Group), the award-winning leader in serious theatre in Hawaii. (TAG won 19 Po'okela Awards from the Hawai'i State Theatre Council for its 2009-2010 season.) For more on Rosemal see The Illinois Norsk Rosemaling Association. Another very informative site is that of Rosemal artist Lois Mueller.

HISTORY
Mara's studio opened to visitors in October 2005 and 2006 in conjunction with the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (POST).