07 Jan 2018 Art on the Green plans reception for artist Jan. 11

Posted at 11:58 AMh in Events by

Art on the Green will host an opening reception 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11, for a show by Dr. Mary Ann Stafford.

Her abstract watercolor and pastel works in intense colors suggest sky forms and landscape elements in a style Stafford calls “Romantic Realism.”

According to AOTG, a large family and teaching career kept Stafford from pursuing a serious career in the fine arts until retirement in 1993.

Her education credentials include bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English; art hours from Kansas City Art Institute and the University of Arkansas; and an EdD in secondary education with an emphasis in art education. She taught high school English, humanities and art for 16 years, was an assistant principal for five years and was staff development coordinator at the Arkansas Department of Education until retirement.

Since then, she has been painting full time and has taken several workshops from nationally recognized artists. She has been juried into many regional and national shows and featured in solo shows in Fort Smith, El Dorado, Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Stuttgart and Hot Springs. She enjoys working with watercolor, collage and mixed media, but pastel is her chosen medium because it is both a drawing and painting medium, both of which she loves. The versatility and immediacy of the medium are most appealing to her; her favorite method of working is layering hard and soft pastels over an underpainting. Since teaching more drawing classes as of late, she is currently working with pen and ink on a watercolor background, and in colored pencil.

Stafford is a signature member of the Arkansas Pastel Society and received signature membership in the Pastel Society of the Southwest (Texas) in 2006. She also received diamond membership in the Mid-Southern Watercolorists in 2008 and membership in the Arkansas League of Artists in 2012.

Please RSVP for the reception to 501.205.1922 or 501.499.3284.

Art on the Green is located at 1100 Bob Courtway Drive, Suite 1, in East Conway.