Mary Calkins

Artist Biography

Although Calkins began her studies at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston in 1971, it was not until she returned seventeen years later with a renewed commitment to being an artist that she received her BFA in painting in 1994. It was during this time that she became very interested in printmaking and especially monoprinting. She also began to nurture an appreciation for Native American culture which led to a year of study at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Calkins combines techniques and approaches for unusual results, with one of her favorites being the incorporation of collage in her work. She states, "I enjoy incorporating collage and printmaking and find satisfaction in the intuitive development of relationships between torn, cut, and arranged shapes; imagery fragments; lines; colors and textures. I prefer to work in a nonrepresentational way, finding more pleasure in the journey of creation, the exploration and discovery, and the quality of the materials themselves, than the recreating of an object or subject.” The resulting images are rich with texture, color and environmental and historical influences.

Mary Calkins Art, Prints and Posters Collection