Center Mass

Mary Ciemerych

Bio

Mary Ciemerych is an artist and art educator in the Metro Detroit area. She is a Wayne state alumnus with a bachelor’s in visual arts education with a minor in sculpture. Watching her dad and family make art as a small kid helped inspire her to create at a young age and helped instill a passion for the subject early on. Though she didn’t pick up 3D work until late into college, she found a passion working with the media and now continues to work primarily sculpturally. In the classroom she tries to help students develop a passion for art and aid them in exploring themselves through the creative process. She tries to find techniques that inspire certain students to push them to explore more with their process in order to help aid the next generation of young creatives.

Project Statement

Inspired by a quiet moment in nature one may experience while visiting a deceased loved one, visitors are invited to press through greenery to find and explore the forms within, as one might run their fingers through long grass. As the viewer sifts through plants and organic matter, this creates an aroma of being outdoors, calling the viewer to use touch and smell to fully connect with the artwork.

Creating this piece was an exercise in considering how I process loss, as well as how important it can be to just sit with yourself to help this process. Sitting outside can be both calming and nostalgic for a myriad of reasons, so it is only natural that it helps to heal.

Visual Description

A woman wearing a short strapless dress sits in the middle of a circular bowl. Her left leg is outstretched in front of her while her right leg tucks under it in a bent position toward her body. Her left elbow rests on her left knee and her right arm rests against her stomach. She has hair down her back in loose curls and her face is obscured by her bangs. She sits surrounded by various plants, greenery, and rocks.