July Artist of the Month
Meet Mary Erickson
Mary Erickson grew up in a small town outside of Rochester, NY and has always loved to draw. She recalls writing letters, embellished with her drawings, to her grandmother. Her grandmother said to her, “I hope you do something with your art someday,” and to this day she recalls those words.
In high school, she had a very influential art teacher who hoped that she would attend an art school for college. Erickson thought this might limit her too much so she attended the College of the Holy Cross as a math major. Art, however, was calling to her again. She had a difficult decision because she was accepted to Syracuse for their art program but had already fallen in love with Holy Cross; she stayed at her beloved school as an art major focusing on graphic design. After graduating, Erickson did a tutorial in painting and printmaking with a professor at Holy Cross and realizes now, “they really created a graduate program for me”.
Erickson then worked for many years in graphic design, first at a paper company in Westborough and then at a small studio in Newton. After these jobs, she worked freelance for many years. She married and had two children and life was much different, but she did not stop creating. Living in Natick, she began taking classes again and found there was so much more to learn. At the Danforth Art School, she developed a love for monotypes. When taking Clara Dennison’s Printmaking class, she was mesmerized by watercolor paintings on the walls. Now working mostly with watercolor, she ponders, “I love the looseness and spontaneity of it…watching the colors mix on paper.”
Erickson continued on at the Danforth in an advanced watercolor painting workshop taught by Elizabeth Magilligan. The group had become very close after years of painting together and when Magilligan stopped teaching they formed their own painting group meeting in a hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. The group, eventually called the Watercolor Connection, has painted together weekly for the last 12 years. To Erickson, “painting with my group is sacred time.”
Erickson works now as a Visitors Services Coordinator at the Danforth. She has done some teaching at Five Crows in Natick and at a South Natick art camp. She has exhibited at with the Watercolor Connection and solo at Bacon Free Library, Morse Institute, Natick Town Hall, Center for the Arts in Natick, Grace Chapel, the former Sherborn Inn, the Woodshed Gallery, Rhode Island Watercolor Society, Charles River Coffee House, Amazing Things Art Center at Starbucks, Strip T’s Restaurant, Herrell’s Ice Cream, Westwood Library, Natick Community Center, Wellesley Community Center and the Wellesley Free Library. She has done commissioned work, has sold work through open studios and is now working on getting her website up and running. At the Rhode Island Watercolor Society she was awarded Second Place in their 2011 Winter Show, and received a Third Place award at the WSA Spring Show 2019. Very recently, Erickson was accepted into the Rhode Island Watercolor Society’s 2020 National Watermedia Show. Look for her art on the walls of the Sweetwaters Cafe when it opens soon in Natick Center. While she would love to exhibit more, she realizes, “I paint because I need to paint.”
Erickson “love(s) painting, love(s) the process…it is therapeutic and overall wonderful!” She has developed a great interest in what the arts can do to help people’s mental health and is involved with a grassroots organization called PeaceLove whose purpose is to empower people to make art and share their stories– to help create peace of mind through expressive arts experiences.