Water & Light
The Arts Council is excited to announce Water & Light, featuring elemental light forms by Michael Crawford & watercolor by Mary Skow.
You’re invited! Join us for an opening reception and ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the arrival of the exhibit, in partnership with Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce.
Wednesday, February 28, 2024 | 4:30 – 6:00 PM | The Arts Council
Michael Crawford
Light touches. It goes in and stays, or bounces off, leaving colors behind. It goes through and twists and bends. Light lands in the eye telling tales of its past, inviting insight. Michael E Crawford is a pioneer in light-in-space, using elemental light — a pure thin beam of one-color light bouncing off objects from nature, holographic techniques, and handmade lightsensitive emulsion on glass, to create forms imbued with color, color brought forth from within the light that illuminates each piece. This work employs the inherent qualities of material light to record and encircle entire wavefronts of light within the emulsion. In each exposure, the light guides the reflections and refractions off familiar objects to uncover, by the patterns that emerge, insights into their nature, and into how we visually apprehend.
Conceived and born in Texas, chasing pattern and seeking light and color, Crawford records the pathways of single-color light beams to illuminate and reveal the structures of the natural world.
Mary Skow
Mary began watercolor painting as a new hobby in 1997 when she studied briefly with Rose Marie Lindsay of Bryan and Ed Hoag of Calvert, TX. She has continued her art study with Stan Miller in Seattle, WA, at the Georgia O’Keeffe Ranch near Santa Fe, and in Dallas under the guidance of her friend and mentor artist, Jody Martin. After a career in Early Childhood Education teaching primarily at St. Thomas Early Learning Center, she thoroughly enjoys this new chapter of her life in retirement, painting most days in her sunny home art studio.
Whether it’s a stack of old books, an early morning sunrise or a woman weaving a basket, Mary often finds inspiration for her paintings in nature and moments in everyday life. “I paint because I’m grateful. God has blessed me with family and friends, many of them breast cancer survivors (of which I am one). I paint each month with the senior residents at Crestview Arbor Oaks in Bryan and often teach small classes for groups of women. I feel my purpose is to bring confidence to others and show them that they too can paint a beautiful sunset. Watercolors allow me to create empathy and a beautiful mood with the fluid transparency and movement of the water. What happens on my canvas is often unpredictable and I’ve learned to go with the flow, letting the drips and shapes become part of the finished painting. Watercolors are perfect for creating light-filled windows and capturing the beauty of God’s gift of nature to us.”
Mary’s paintings have been collected by art enthusiasts in the Bryan/College Station area and across the U.S. In 2022 and 2023, Mary was commissioned by the city of Bryan, Texas to paint 12 Bryan Legend businesses as a recognition of their achievements. She lives in College Station, TX with her husband, Loren and fluffy goldendoodle, Gabby.
Facebook: Mary Skow Art Studio
maryskow@gmail.com