Mary Graham - Visual Artist & Singer

Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. In this episode Emily interviews artist and singer Mary Graham about her journey from drawing as a child, to painting in high school and eventually moving to the Bay Area to study at the California College of the Arts. Mary discusses her recent residencies in Maine and Colorado, and exhibitions at the Berkeley Art Center and Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery. She delves into her impactful 'brown paper bag' series, which explores themes of colorism inspired by her father's stories and broader research. Mary also reflects on influential works by artists like David Hammonds and Betty Saar, and shares her inspiration drawn from the streets of San Francisco. The episode highlights Mary's creative process, community experiences, and the significant role of the emerging artists program at the Museum of the African Diaspora in her career.About Artist Mary Graham :Mary W.D. Graham an interdisciplinary artist working in painting, sculpture, and vocal performance. Utilizing art-making methods rooted in traditional techniques, she studies the notion of “the ancestors” as a conceptual medium through which historical, interpersonal, and introspective insight might be gained.Her conceptual development originates from the veneration of her own lineage, an off-shoot of the African American spiritual tradition of ancestor worship. The work expands to encompass themes of generational love, collective human origin, our relationship to history, and our relationship to the future (the unknown). Working primarily in figuration and portraiture, she utilizes a level of precision in her representation. Her compositions are minimal; the subtlety of the substrate, or the intentional application of color intend for focus to be drawn to the subject. The subtlety of this approach is meant to provide a contemplative environment in which significance might be derived. These aesthetic philosophies of simplicity, stillness, and precision are applied to her performance work as well, which is rooted in her training as a classical vocalist. Here, the human voice is utilized as a kind of clarion. The haunting melodies are structured to slowly fill space and time, drawing viewers in so that they might share in what manifests from the collective experience of song.Mary was born in 2000 and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania amongst a family of artists. She attended California College of the Arts where she received her BFA in Individualized Studies in 2022. Her travels for arts and cultural exchange have taken her around the globe to Mexico, Japan, Kenya, South Africa, Peru, Morocco, Indonesia, and India.Graham has been exhibiting, collaborating and performing nationally since 2006. She was a commissioned artist for projects at Burning Man from 2019 through 2023, performed at the Institute of Contemporary Art + San Francisco in 2022, and in 2024, opened her first solo exhibition at Museum of the African Diaspora as part of their Emerging Artist’s Program. Graham’s work has been covered by CBS News, 48hills and the MoAD Journal. She has been awarded residencies with Black [Space] Residency in San Francisco, California; Haystack Mountain School of Craft in Deer Isle, Maine; and Anderson Ranch in Snowmass, Colorado.Visit Mary's Website: MaryDGraham.comFollow on Instagram: @Mary.Graham.ArtTo learn more about the Beatiful Scars Exhibit at Jonathan Carver Moore CLICK HERE.For more on Archives Yet To Come at the Berkeley Art Center, CLICK HERE. --About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWilFollow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast--CREDITS:Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 LicenseThe Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com