Block title

Share:

About Mary

Baltimore City

Mary Alessi's picture
Mary Alessi is a visual artist living and working in Baltimore, Maryland. She studied painting and art history at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she received her BFA in 2009. Mary's artwork stems from her love of nature.  Inspired by her own growing collection of house plants, she has also always admired the precision and detail of botanical illustration, as well as the dreamlike playfulness of Surrealism.   For her latest series of acrylic works on panel, she is working... more

Windows

These paintings form a series of constructed windows and broken images. They focus on opposites, like genre -still life vs. landscape- and themes involving natural vs. unnatural, rooted vs. locomotive, finding a balance.

Altering Altarpieces

The Altering Altarpiece project began as four memorials, each stemming from a personal loss, and each drawing from Medieval art historical and contemporary Western funerary practices. For its resolution, the project necessitated a secluded, dark room with two church pews and a slight frankincense scent. In each corner of the room, stop-motion animation videos were synched up and playing on loop; calendar pages advanced and held at four specific dates on the first screen, then a small altarpiece opened and closed to the sound of bells in another corner, and the Altering Altarpiece Animations were projected on the largest wall.

Altering Altarpieces - Installation Views

The Altering Altarpiece project began as four memorials, each stemming from a personal loss, and each drawing from Medieval art historical and contemporary Western funerary practices. For its resolution, the project necessitated a secluded, dark room with two church pews and a slight frankincense scent. In each corner of the room, stop-motion animation videos were synched up and playing on loop; calendar pages advanced and held at four specific dates on the first screen, then a small altarpiece opened and closed to the sound of bells in another corner, and the Altering Altarpiece Animations were projected on the largest wall.

Rooms Play I & II

Images 1 - 5:

In 2010, I collaborated with The Copycat Theatre and numerous artists on a multi-room, multi-performance/installation piece called 'Rooms Play'. The audience, instead of watching a linear stage-like performance from a fixed point of view, passed through a labyrinth of about 20 rooms, designed/ installed/ and performed-in by the artists in such a way that a narrative could develop, yet was a completely unique experience for each viewer. The room I curated was essentially a thunder-storming forest towards the beginning of the labyrinth. I utilized timed strobe lights, a thunderous audio track, and a riddle-inquiring bridge-keeper, collaborating performer Monica Mirable.

Images 6-10:

In March 2011, I collaborated with The Copycat Theatre and 50+ artists on the 2nd installation of Rooms Play which took place during Baltimore's 8th Annual Transmodern Festival. I curated two rooms towards the end of the labyrinth. The first was a sideways evaluation clinic, the second was an upside-down recuperating room. I created a nature-themed audio track and incorporated the scents of lavender, rosemary and coffee grounds in separate corners.

Connect with Mary

Mary's Curated Collection

This artist has not yet created a curated collection.