Mary Iselin Fine Art

About Mary Iselin

Mary is an artist who lives with her husband George on their farm in Marlblrough, New Hamphshire. Mary Iselin is known for her light-filled, luminous paintings of lambs, sheep, and other farm animals, as well as for her plein air landscapes.

Mary Iselin  is a professional artist whose paintings in oil are luminous and filled with light. She sees the horse as a  bridge connecting spirit with everyday reality. The sheep and lambs which become her models are chosen  for the ability of their fleece to “take the light.” And her landscape motifs are selected for their special qualities of light, color, and atmosphere.  “I paint horses the way some artists would paint a bowl of fruit:  as a vehicle to explore light, color, atmosphere, and, most of all, spirit.”

“The longer I paint, (and I have been painting most of my life), the more I feel that the point is to just paint.  Techniques can be learned, styles can be copied, but, when all is said and done, it is the artist's honest response to his motif that creates art.”

Mary Iselin is known for her light-filled, luminous paintings of lambs, sheep, and other farm animals, as well as for her plein air landscapes.  She has spent the last thirty years on a working farm in the Mondadnock region of NH, so her subject matter is all around her, and she knows it well.  She feels extremely grateful to have  outside animal chores to attend to twice daily, at dawn and dusk, because that is when the light is most inspirational.  And each spring she awaits the birth of her “new models.”

Iselin is a full-time artist, and also makes time to teach at the Sharon School of Art in Sharon, NH.  She is represented by Monadnock Fine Art Gallery in Keene, Sharon Arts in Peterborough, The Young-Constantine Gallery in Williamstown, VT, and Equidae Gallery in Saratoga, NY.

Mary Iselin—Resume

Galleries:
Monadnock Fine Art Gallery, Keene, NH
Young and Constantine Gallery, Willmington, VT
Sharon Arts Gallery, Peterborough, NH
Art 3 Gallery, Manchester, NH
Equidae Gallery, Saratoga, NY
Saratoga Saddlery, Saratoga, NY
Mill brook Gallery, Concord, NH

Invitational and One Woman Shows:
Monadnock Fine Art Gallery, Keene, NH: Featured Artist (Solo Shows),  May, 2011; May, 2010;             April, 2009; June, 2008
Lexington Historical Museum, Lexington, KY, American Academy of Equine Artists Invitational,    Summer, 2010
Green Mountain Horse Association, “Horses of the Heart” (three artists), Summer, 2019 and 2010
Chesham Arts, Chesham, NH, Solo Show, December, 2010
Sharon Arts Gallery, Peterborough, NH:  Featured Artist, December, 2010; December, 1208
Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, VT:  Solo and Small Group Shows, February, 2011; December, 2008; and July, 2007
Kim and Scott Cunningham Gallery, Jaffrey, NH:  Solo Show, June, 2011;  Monadnock Barnyards (five artists),  Summer, 2010 and Autumn, 2007
Hole in the Wall Gallery, Raymond, ME:  Three Women Show, Summer, 2005
Kim and Scott Cunningham Gallery, Jaffrey, NH:  Four Invitational Shows, “Vessels,” “Self Portraits,”   
"The Horse in Art" and "Man's Best Friends," 2001-08
Mill Brook Gallery, Autumn, 2010
Redmond-Bennett Gallery, Dublin, NH:  Annual Monadnock Art Tour Preview Exhibition, Annually
Sharon Arts Gallery:   Invitational Holiday Show, “Celebrate”, 2003-04

    

White Gallery at Husson College, Bangor, ME:  One Woman Holiday Show, 2003-04
“Monadnock,” Invitational Show featuring the Mountain, Chesham, NH, 2003
Quechee Gallery of Fine Art, Quechee, VT:  Featured Artist, 2002
Harrington-Turner Gallery, Bennington, VT:  One Woman Show, 2001
Diamond  T Gallery, Baldwinville, MA:  One Woman Show, 1997
Exhibit of Illustrations for “The Grass Elf,” a children's picture book, for the Monadnock Waldorf
Community, 1996
Awards:
Second Place, Oil and Acrylic, Keene Art in the Park, 2010
Honorable Mention, Oil and Acrylic, Keene Art in the Park, 2008, 2009
Second Place Oil and Acrylic, Keene Art in the Park, (Richard Whitney, Juror), 2007
Peoples' Choice Award, Keene Art in the Park, 2006
Special Merit Award, South Portland Art Festival, 2006
Peoples' Choice Award, Stonewall Farm Annual Fine Art Auction, 2005
Best in Show, Wilton, NH, Annual Mini Exhibition, 2004
Best in  Oil and Acrylic, Stratton Arts Festival, Stratton, VT, 2003
Best in Oil and Acrylic, Keene Art in the Park, 2002
Best in Show, Best in Oil and Acrylic, Massachusetts Equine Art and Photography Exhibit, 1997, 1998,
and 1999
Honorable Mention, Art at the Classic, Grass Valley, CA
Best in Oil and Acrylic, Vermont Equine Expo, 1998
First Place, American Morgan Horse Art and Photography, 1998

Regular Participation, Exhibition, and Sales, Past and Present
Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, VT
Monadnock (formerly Dublin) Annual Art Studio Tour
Various Plein Air Events, Including  Southern Vermont Art Center, Sharon Art Gallery, Stonewall Farm , Various Garden Tours
Monadnock Artists' Guild Annual Show and Sale
Equine Affaire, Springfield, MA
Stratton Arts Festival, Stratton, VT
Art on the Mountain, Haystack, VT
Pound Ridge Art Festival, Pound Ridge, NY
Keene Art in the Park, Keene, NH
Hollis Art Festival, Hollis, NH

Other:
“Rural Heritage TV”:  Featured  television interview highlighting Iselin's art
CD Cover:  “Towards Winter” (Hammer Dulcimer)
CD Cover:  “Holiday Traditions” (Piano)
“Anvil” Magazine:  Four front covers featuring Iselin's artwork for the national publication serving the
farrier industry
“Christian Science Journal”:  December, 2000, featuring her painting, “December Sheep'
“Equine Vision”:  National magazine on Equine Art, feature article, “Mastering the Light,” an article
about Iselin's artwork
“Equine Image”:  National magazine, many reproductions of her paintings
Farriers' Greeting Cards:  International company, featured  “Wet Snow” as an often-reprinted greeting
card
Artist in Residence:  Stonewall Farm, Keene, NH, 2005

Freelance Illustration:
“Trailblazer” Magazine
Badger Balm Corp., Gilsum, NH
Hannah Grimes Corp., Keene, NH
Stonewall Farm, Keene, NH. Many smaller groups, publications, and institutions

Education:
BA, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
1990's:  Workshops with Alex Farquarson, Peter Granucci, Robert Collier, Shannon Sternwies, Koo Schadler, Dennis Sheehan, others 1970's: Intense study with Robert Higgins, Boston area

Iselin is a full time, professional artist.  She is also a faculty member at the Sharon School of Art in Sharon, NH, where she teaches oil, plein air painting, and variousclasses concerned with working in a series.