James Harris Gallery | Mary Ann Peters "from a history of ruin"

Mary Ann Peters "from a history of ruin"

October 4, 2012—October 27, 2012 | Reception Thursday, October 4th, 6-8PM

James Harris Gallery is pleased to present from a history of ruin, an exhibition of new paintings, drawings, and prints by Mary Ann Peters. With her current body of work, the artist endeavors to “illuminate a familial and historical record by combining memory and nostalgia with current events.” In 2010, just prior to the events of the Arab Spring, Peters traveled in Lebanon and to Syria. A second-generation Lebanese American, her observations and reflections from this journey provide the different narratives that inform her new work. from a history of ruin is a juncture of place, memory, and artist-as-translator, conjuring multiple storylines that in combination mesh to provide a window into a complicated, and diverse cultural landscape.

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“I work from the premise that images are never neutral and that they sustain layered meaning from the inception of an idea to the completed piece. Historical narratives, architecture, science, personal heritage, politics and questions of perception have all played a part in my thinking over the years. I look for seemingly disparate elements that can coalesce and redefine a topic. I have traveled extensively, most frequently in non-Western cultures. Traveling has informed my understanding of the global roots of aesthetics. It consistently defines for me those social practices that provide outlines for cultural inquiry, including which ethical questions should be considered or supported. In the end I work to the afterimage of the viewer and the potential discourse that might ensue. The kiss of death for any artist is the work that no one can remember.”

- Mary Ann Peters

Mary Ann Peters lives and works in Seattle, WA She received an MFA from the University of Washington in 1978. Mary Ann Peters awards include University of Washington Artist Images Award (2024) the McLaughlin Foundation Fellowship at the Headlands Center for the Arts (2022), the Artist Trust Visual Art Fellowship (2021), the Camargo Fellowship in Cassis, France (2017), the BAR residency in Beirut, Lebanon (2016), the Stranger Genius Award in Visual Art (2015), the Art Matters Foundation research grant (2013), the MacDowell Colony Pollock/Krasner Fellowship (2011), the Civita Institute Fellowship (2004) and the Behnke Foundation Neddy Award in Painting (2000). She has been an advisor for multiple arts organizations in the Northwest and nationally.