Mary Zeran Paintings 2024 by Mary Zeran

Mary Zeran Paintings 2024

Shibori

When my mother passed away, I lost the ability to create my landscape inspired work. This profound experience led me to explore a more immediate approach found within the paintings I have been making for over 14 years. While I used to cut up the prepared painted substrate, I came to realize that each sheet of ﬁlm possesses a strength that allows it to stand on its own. At their core, these works reﬂect my love for fabric, process, and color.

Because my mother made all my clothes growing up, my love of fabric started at an early age. I loved spending hours in fabric stores picking out the material for new outﬁts. Together, we would choose a template pattern, and I would watch as she transformed our purchases into clothing. Those moments became more than just the act of sewing fabric; the garments were infused with creativity, selfexpression, and love.

My fascination with fabric continued into adulthood during a visit to the Seattle Art Museum where I encountered an exhibition on Japanese textiles. This is where I learned about the blue and white fabric called Shibori, a dyeing technique that involves folding and sewing. Initially, I wanted to create my own Shibori fabric as a tribute to my mother. However, I realized that tie-dyeing felt too restrictive. I found I was more interested in what happened to the paint when it wasn’t absorbed by the textile. Keeping the paint ﬂuid longer, so that the color would have time to blend and ﬂow into each other, was more desirable. I found this way of working created more unexpected patterns than the more predictable customary Shibori patterns.

A spectrum of color, too, is a central theme in my work; I ﬁnd it impossible to limit myself to just blue and white. Instead, I revel in the interplay of colors and the emotions they evoke. I am fascinated by how one color interacts with another, and I strive to convey these moods and feelings to my viewers.

Ultimately, my work transcends the creation of fabric; it’s about the exploration of fabric as a concept. The driving forces behind my art are process and color. Through them, I seek to communicate the beauty of spontaneity, and the emotions color can elicit.