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Door County Art League Meeting: April 23, 2007
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DOOR COUNTY OIL PAINTER KICKS OFF ART LEAGUE SEASON
Door County artist Mary Bosman will be guest speaker at the Door County Art League’s first official meeting
of 2007 on Monday, April 23rd, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM at the Gibraltar Fire Department meeting room. The
public is invited as Mary, who describes her work as “impressionistic realism,” demonstrates how she uses a
limited palette of eight colors, a golden-toned ground, and a palette knife to make sunny oil landscapes that
have integrated, harmonious color. “It’s been my main medium for over 25 years. I like the control I have
with oil as compared to, say, watercolor and the clarity of color I can get sometimes with this limited palette,”
she explains.
Light is the subject of most of Mary’s work, whether a misty day or an early morning or late afternoon. In her
compositions, she loves the dynamics of diagonals and light and shade. She paints many landscapes of water
and sand, sometimes including children in the picture. Also, painting light has a spiritual significance in her
work. She feels each painting she does has an inner message and says that sometimes it’s not until the artwork
is finished that she realizes what that message is.
Mary paints on masonite prepared with a few coats of white acrylic gesso and then toned with a golden color,
which sets the stage for good light effects. She uses a small palette knife not only to mix colors but, many
times, to paint the entire picture. Mary says, “I also use a brush or my fingers if I need a quick small blending
job!” She confesses that she doesn’t make a lot of pencil sketches before she begins but remembers that, 25
years ago when she was learning, she made a lot of sketches to get her idea and drawing right before beginning
to paint.
Mary reaches deep inside herself for inspiration. She often sits alone under the Door County summer night
skies and contemplates the moon and stars. She sometimes saves landscape paintings from art magazines to
look through for ideas. She says it’s like visiting galleries but less overwhelming.
A self-taught artist who began drawing in third grade, Mary was undeterred by not receiving a formal art
education. In 1979 in her first Miller Art Museum juried show, she won an Outstanding Artist Merit award.
She decided at that moment to become “the best artist I could be. When I asked myself why, I remember
thinking ‘because I love it!’” Mary declares.
Mary credits Emile Gruppe, the colorist who painted Nantucket, as her first “teacher.” She bought four of his
oil painting books and studied them thoroughly when she first started in oil back in the 1980’s. She also
visited Gerhard Miller and James Ingwersen, bringing along her first attempts in the medium and says they
graciously offered sound advice. Furthermore, Mary has taken pastel classes with Emmett Johns and Ramon
Kelley.
Mary’s and her husband Pete’s home of 32 years was previously a grocery store owned by Don and Bea
Mathison in the 1940’s and ‘50’s, selling food to migrant cherry pickers. Their gallery is located on the west
side of Sturgeon Bay, near the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club, at 512 South Oxford Avenue. The hours are June
1st – October 1st, Wednesday through Saturday 10:00 to 3:00, or by appointment. The gallery features
Mary’s oils, pastels, and gouache paintings. In addition, Mary teaches painting at NWTC and works as a page
in the Door County Library.
There will be a show of Mary’s NWTC students’ art the entire month of May at the Fairfield Gallery in
Sturgeon Bay. Also at the Fairfield the first week of September, she will be part of a three-person show
entitled “Illumination,” depicting light and spirituality. Mary and her husband will be in the Wildlife Biennial
at the Miller Art Museum in June, and Mary will be in the Hardy Gallery Collector’s Exhibit in July. She is
represented at the Paint Box Gallery in Ephraim, the Fairfield Museum in Sturgeon Bay, and Wisconsin Arts
in Green Bay.
Mary says she is lucky to be a native of this beautiful place called Door County and that it is a privilege to be
an artist.
The Gibraltar Fire Department is located at 3496 County Road F in Fish Creek. For more information on the
League, go to www.doorcountyartleague.org or call Past President Jeanne Whildin at 920-823-2532.
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