Artist Spotlight: MaryAnn Puls

Art

Apr 26

Written By

MaryAnn Puls lives and works in Portland, Oregon (which by the way is one of my favourites cities ever!) creates in 2-d and 3-d, and well, I just love it all.

I love the muted tones in her pieces, and how layered they feel. I find it so incredible that she remembers her first colour experience (read about it below), kinda gets you think about you remember your own! Truth be told, I don't remember mine, and it makes me love her story even more.

Let's get to know MaryAnn Puls...

Tell me a bit about your journey, were you always an artist?

My journey into art started off early as an observer, a little visual junkie at about age 4, with my first colour experience being robin’s egg blue, literally a robin’s egg. I remember being amazed by looking at the fragments of a found shell. It was not only the intense chroma but the quality of the surface that mesmerized me - I would of course not have been able to articulate that then, but was quite aware that this found object - with its unique colour, its prior location a nest and once home to a baby robin - was precious and extremely enjoyable to hold and observe. I was also drawn to interiors and architecture. I spent my first few years of school (umm, hate to admit in the 60’s) in classrooms with tall windows and wall-to-wall wood build-ins with alcove to hang our little coats. Being exposed to these and other visually interesting, well designed spaces left an impression on me. Ironically I recently discovered that the 1947 [Mid-Century Modern] house my husband and I purchased a decade ago was designed by the architects who designed those mid-century classrooms. They had only designed a few homes.

As designers we see an evolution in our style and aesthetic, I assume the same holds true for artists. What was your evolution like? How has it evolved?

Oh, Aesthetics! That’s a pretty complex subject! I think there are so many things that can factor into it. Are we born with it and it develops into something else? I don’t know for sure. My father painted landscapes as a hobby. I thought they were really good but looking back they were not my aesthetic. And most of the other visual art I was exposed to was (reproductions) of realism. I was interested in looking at “those works of art” but what I loved observing most was not necessarily art, but nature or everyday items and the combinations of those. When I was young and had to opportunity, I painted. I preferred it to crayons. I did not particularly enjoy colouring books. I suppose that was an aesthetics thing I was born with.

Skipping quickly ahead to adulthood...I started seeing a lot more real and significant art. Abstract art made me swoon, it was viscera and I connected to it. I would say that was one point of evolution or me. I had studied and worked as a graphic designer, then later started a serious but part time art practice and took more fine art classes. Eventually I became able to pursue my passion for visual art full time. I’m greatly influenced by what I observe and make abstract work using a variety of paints, materials and substrates to create in 2 and 3-d. No crayons.

What is the message behind your art? What do you want people to take away or feel through your pieces?

If there is a message or something I want to convey it is: to observe. And to enjoy the act of doing so.

Did you ever have insecurities with sharing your work? If so how did you get over that?

I could simply answer that with “yes! no! and I don’t think I’ll ever get over it”!

I think the issue and the answer is that I am completely, insanely insecure but at the same time I’m also some sort of an extrovert or masochist.

One time (actually every time to a lesser degree) I carried my work into a gallery to be hung (postcards printed, opening the next day...) and I was seriously contemplating running back out the door with all my work because it wasn’t going be good enough. I didn’t of course and it was a successful show.

Sometimes I come across a quote that speaks to my core so intensely I have to share it with others. Do you have a favourite quote that has touched you or pushed you in some way?

I often have to remind myself trust the process...trust myself. I also often think about something one of my instructors would simply say, “attraction value, attention value” and I would add to that - intention value. And the other thing I tell myself is, “do the work”, this probably from the book The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

What's been the toughest part about turning your passion/art into a business?

Time management or I should say the lack of it.

Who are your favourite artists or influences and why?

Oh there are so many! I’ll start with my earliest influences, artists whose work I first remember seeing in person - Robert Rauschenberg and Eva Hess. David Hockney. The Pacific Northwest artist, Fay Jones also has continued to inform my work.

I love folk and naïve art, the passion is so very evident. Trained or untrained, I’m influenced by the passion and creativity...of those who break the rules. Oh, there are so many. So many current artists I love but here’s a small list of some older, established well knowns I gravitate to: Philip Guston, Jennifer Bartlett, Helen Frankenthaler, Diebenkorn...Betty Parsons, Fairfield Porter, Gerhard Richter...Cy Twombly, John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, recently loved seeing Hilma af Klint’s work at the Guggenheim Museum. I also have a number of artist friends whose work I adore and have insightful conversations with: Marilyn Joyce, Roberta Aylward, Kristen Miller, Lisa Onstad, Yoonhee Choi. I’ll stop at 5...there are definitely more, sorry that I’m not mentioning everyone!

Five favourite things right now?