THE ART OF EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

the abstract art of emotional connection

WITH MARY GRACE WOLNSKI

BY: SARAH WATLINGTON

everything

One of the most beautiful and powerful phenomenons of our world is the artist’s ability to capture the un- tapped emotion that our souls are constantly longing for. When an artist surrenders to their own heart’s desire -- the one that tells them they were born to create -- artistry becomes more of a way of life. It molds artists into what they never thought they could be and leads them into places they never thought they would go. Mary Grace Wolnski has experienced that firsthand. and her story is one that deserves to be told.

There are times in life when you encounter a person who seems to have something important to communicate before even saying a word, Mary Grace is one of those people. The oldest of eight children, Wolnski draws inspiration from her big family.

“I feel like even though my parents were not explicitly creative, they nurtured and fostered a creative household,” Wolnski recalls. “ I think a lot of my siblings and I had that creative bend, and so yeah, I feel like my parents really encouraged us by making a space for whatever we wanted to be. So I have four sisters and three brothers, and we grew up in a tiny house together, kind of grew up on top of each other and that kind of shaped so much about who I am.”

Almost eight years ago, Mary Grace borrowed her brother’s paints on a whim. Since then, her life has been devoted to her art. “I just went and got my brother’s paints from his bedroom because he was an artist. And I just started kind of like playing with color, but it wasn’t in any way technical, it was just like, very much an abstract approach. But yeah, I started and felt connected to it immediately. Like, dang, this just fits.

“I would say that I began considering myself a freelance artist in February of 2016, that’s when I quit all my other jobs and just went full time with painting. Yeah, that’s when I jumped in and said ‘I’m gonna do this for a living and see how it goes.”

Her unique style, an abstract combination of bold color and texture, is accompanied by a passion to create raw, unbridled and bold art that speaks to its consumers. Wolinski had not received formal training before that day, but since has studied in Italy and Scotland. In Florence, Italy, Mary Grace learned the art of technical drawing which proved to be outside of her comfort zone, but greatly enriched her practice. In contrast, she describes her time in Scotland as “one of the most valuable things that I’ve done throughout my art career.”

“My classes in Scotland for sure pushed me into new mediums, I was strictly doing oil paint on canvas before going there. So those classes pushed me into working with different textures--papers and fabrics which opened up a new world of tools for expression for me. There are so many things that affect the visuals. But taking courses like those have really pushed my work further and strengthened it.”

With each brushstroke, Mary Grace communicates with her audience; speaking nonverbal words of wisdom, sorrow, joy, neglect, hope, all through texture and color. “I would say that most of my art is very emotionally driven, very much so. I like to approach my paintings in a very intuitive way ... every once in a while, I’ll have a very specific vision and plan it out before painting. But, when I am my happiest making art, I begin with a loose concept that I feel emotionally connected to, but no perfectly sketched plan or

under painting, nothing is inhibiting me, it’s just expression onto canvas, pretty much. So, I feel like no matter what medium I’m working in, it feels best to me when there’s a freedom of expression and nothing too technical.”

Few people can communicate such strong feelings without opening their mouths, but Mary Grace does every time she picks up her paintbrush. The power of feeling is strong and present in each piece. Painting is her preferred form of expressing her creativity, but Mary Grace is also one with words. “Words are a huge part of my whole creative process, I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily a poet but it matters to me the words that I attach to my pieces,” she says. “That’s always been a thing for me, the way I title my pieces and sometimes I’ll add a little written prose or some strand of words--I would definitely say that’s important to me despite my lack of technical training in writing.”

An instant curiosity when considering the mind of an abstract artist is where they draw inspiration, and the art of Mary Grace is no exception. “It’s interesting because visually it changes through the years, certain visuals are really inspiring to me, but the root of what usually drives me are things that seem real and exposed, like there’s some element of rawness in them...that could be anything. From a film or a photograph, or it could be an authentic moment with somebody that takes me aback. I think that’s one of the things I’m most passionate about--seeing the unscripted, unbridled, raw, exposed, nuanced moments in people and in life on earth and diving into the realness and emotion there ...but then, I would also say that color is also a huge thing that drives my art. If I see a combination of colors that speaks to me, that can be a huge driving behind a painting.

I have always felt heavily affected by and connected to color and feel it is a form of expression in itself. Colors and different combinations of colors create feelings which makes it one of the most important tools to me in my work. I can feel very sensitive to when it is not quite ‘right’ and will work until it’s there--saying what I want it to say.”

Beneath all forms of self-expression lies a certain level of fear: a fear of failure, of losing support or self. “It’s kind of a beast that I’m always trying to make sense of, and it kind of depends on each piece. Sometimes I have so much confidence in a piece and hardly anyone will react to it, and I will not be bothered at all, but a lot of times I so badly want what I feel connected to and what I feel is the most purely expressive to move somebody else in the same way. There’s kind of this rule with art where it’s best to create and let your mind go and then analyze the work later... like a stream of consciousness on canvas.

“If I could go back and tell myself to trust what comes naturally I would. Through the years I feel like I’ve become more uptight and buried my natural instincts, and now I second guess too much. So I would tell myself to follow those natural inclinations.”

Some artists have to consciously insert emotion into their pre-established ideas, but for Mary Grace, the driving force behind her work is the emotion already within her. The inevitability of establishing an emotional connection with her art is the promise behind each Mary Grace Wolnski painting. Bold use of color and texture communicate the depth of her heart, while still speaking into the soul of the beholder.