Mary Iselin

Artist Statement / Biography

Artist Statement

Light. Luminosity. Color. Spirit.
These are the qualities which suffuse the paintings of Mary Iselin.

Mary Iselin is a professional artist whose paintings in oil are luminous and filled with light. She sees the horse as a bridge connecting spirit with everyday reality. The sheep and lambs which become her models are chosen for the ability of their fleece to 'take the light.' And her landscape motifs are selected for their special qualities of light, color, and atmosphere. 'I paint horses the way some artists would paint a bowl of fruit: as a vehicle to explore light, color, atmosphere, and, most of all, spirit.'

Biography

The longer I paint, (and I have been painting most of my life), the more I feel that the point is to just paint. Techniques can be learned, styles can be copied, but, when all is said and done, it is the artist's honest response to his motif that creates art.

Mary Iselin is known for her light-filled, luminous paintings of lambs, sheep, and other farm animals, as well as for her plein air landscapes. She has spent the last forty years on a working farm in the Mondadnock region of NH, so her subject matter is all around her, and she knows it well. She feels extremely grateful to have outside animal chores to attend to twice daily, at dawn and dusk, because that is when the light is most inspirational. And each spring she awaits the birth of her new models.

Iselin is a full-time artist, and is represented by 3 Pears Gallery in Dorset, VT; Creative Encounters in Keene, NH; Vermont Artisans in Brattleboro; and several other galleries throughout the region. She is a former faculty member at Sharon Art School/New Hampshire Institute of Art, and her work is collected worldwide.