Mary Carlson

Using a wide range of mediums, materials, and subject matter, artist Mary Carlson makes everything from hand-sewn American flags, a giant crocheted pink octopus, and carved life-size trees to altered furniture. She has created a “saints and demons” series based on depictions of heaven and hell found in Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and paintings. She finds this imagery inspiring, meaningful, and still relevant in our times. Her work has been described by The New York Times as “wonderfully soulful” and “as spiritually infectious as they are appealing.”

Carlson has received a Tiffany Foundation grant, a New York Foundation of the Arts grant, and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. She has been in residence at Civitella Ranieri Foundation (Italy), and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s Arts/Industry at Kohler Co. (WI), and she received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. Her work has been exhibited at Kerry Schuss Gallery (NY), Elizabeth Harris Gallery (NY), Studio 10 (NY), Art/Omi (NY), Bill Maynes Gallery (NY), Lesley Heller Gallery (NY), Islip Museum (NY), Pulse Art Fair (NY), and Sarah Bowen Gallery (NY), among others. Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, L Magazine, ArtCritical, Artopia, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Boston Globe, and Art in America, among others.