Mare McClellan

Gallery Representation

2000 - Present Hrefna Jonsdottir Gallery, Lambertville, NJ

Selected Exhibitions

• 2006 Phillips Mill Annual Juried Art Exhibition, New Hope, PA
  Award for Contemporary Work
• 2005 Phillips Mill Annual Juried Art Exhibition, New Hope, PA
• 2004 Phillips Mill Annual Juried Art Exhibition, New Hope, PA
  Award in memory of Ellen Pearson Sutton
• 2002 Phillips Mill Annual Juried Art Exhibition, New Hope, PA
• Trenton City Museum, Ellarslie Invitational 2002, Trenton, NJ
• 2001 Artsbridge Annual Juried Show, Prallsville Mills, Stockton, NJ
  Awarded James A. Michener Art Museum Purchase Prize
• 2000 Phillips Mill Annual Juried Art Exhibition, New Hope, PA
• Coryell Gallery Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Lambertville, NJ
• 1999 Phillips Mill Annual Juried Art Exhibition, New Hope, PA
• Hunterdon Museum of Art, Hunterdon County Cultural Commission Biennial Art Exhibition, Clinton, NJ
• Bianco Gallery Juried Exhibition, Buckingham, PA
• 1987 La Rue des Reves, JAMP window installation, New York, NY,
• Gracie Mansion Gallery, Small Works Group Exhibition, New York, NY
• Now Gallery, Small Works Juried Exhibition, New York, NY
• 1986 New Museum, Museum Store, Juried Ornament Show, New York, NY
• 1985 Five and Dime Gallery, JAMP exhibit, New York, NY

Design Experience

• 1985-1991 Artist collaboration JAMP
• designed and constructed liminted edition sculptural wearable art
• shown in galleries and shops around the world including Henri Bendel, Martha International, NYC; Janis, Chicago; Joyce Boutique; Hong Kong
• featured in publications including Vogue, Elle, WWD, Essense, Pronto
• accessorized couture runway shows of NYC designers Bill Blass and Mary McFadden

Education
1983 BA Fine Art, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

"During transitional states like dusk and dawn, I find it easiest to sense that things are not as solid as they seem. Everything is composed of vibrating particles and waves, always in formation and changing. I am interested in making paintings that call attention to these qualities of lightness and impermanence within seemingly solid appearances.

I develop a surface structure using acrylic paints applied in layers of textural pastes and transparent glazes. I also use reductive methods like sanding to reveal what is beneath the surface. For me the process echoes the endless cycles of creation in nature, building up and dissolving through time and space.

I work intuitively. I am exploring grids and repetitive patterns for their rhythmic vibratory formations. While structure and order are inherently measured and about limits, they can paradoxically lead to experiences of boundlessness and floating lightness. The focus and concentration of meditation makes possible similar states of awareness. Noticing this transcendent vibrancy is very meaningful to me.

I am fortunate to live and work in the studio of the late William Lathrop (1859-1938), noted painter of the New Hope Impressionists in Pennsylvania. I was drawn to this area in the 1980’s for much the same reasons he was in the early 1900’s – proximity to the city and the light and beauty of the Delaware River and its environs. The river and my meditation practice have informed and inspired most of my painting."

- Mare McClellan, 2008